Abstract:
Despite South Africa’s adequate legislation for protecting the right to education of people
with disabilities, the National Development Plan (NDP) of 2012 found that there are still
cases of this right being infringed. In 2015, Hodgson and Khumalo, two Section 27 reporters,
identified challenges at schools for the visually impaired, such as insufficient basic assistive
devices, a lack of accessible textbooks, lack of funding, serious staff shortages, inadequate
orientation and mobility instruction, and teachers who are incapable of reading and writing
Braille (Hodgson & Khumalo, 2015). One of these challenges, insufficient teacher
development, is the rationale for this study. The study is part of research that informs the
programme outline for an advanced diploma in visual impairment studies. The purpose of
the study was to identify the core competencies (knowledge, skills and values) that teachers
of the visually impaired need. A competency in this sense refers to “an ability to carry out a
specified task or activity to pre-determined standards of attainment” (Buultjens, 1997). These
competencies had to be based on or aimed at the unique needs of the visually impaired
learner. For this purpose, the experiences of different stakeholders in the visually impaired
community were explored. The project team visited 17 schools in five provinces. These visits
involved 240 teacher participants and around 40 experts in the field. Participatory reflection
and action (PRA) workshops were conducted following an action research design. It was
reasoned that a consultative and collaborative approach would have results that would lead
to a programme outline to address the practical, everyday challenges of learners and
teachers. Because the researcher is a full-time teacher, she could unfortunately not join the
team on all the visits. However, she conducted individual semi-structured interviews with four
parents, two school-leavers, three blind adults, two occupational therapists and three
teachers. Participants were encouraged to have the holistic education of a visually impaired
individual in mind when answering the questions. In the data analysis phase of the study, the
researcher chose to use applied thematic analysis (ATA), which is a type of inductive
analysis of qualitative data that can involve multiple analytic techniques. Three themes were
identified after the analysis: values and attitudes, accessibility and transition. It is hoped that
the competencies identified by the participants will feed into the framework of a practical,
high-quality programme outline for an advanced diploma for teachers of the visually impaired
so that young adults will be enabled to access society and the world of work as holistically
functioning individuals.
