British Journal of Visual Impairment

This study aims to investigate the literacy skills of Braille readers in the areas of reading fluency, reading and listening comprehension, and spelling. A total of 119 German-speaking, Braille readers aged between 11.0 and 22.11 years were tested for this purpose. Data collection was carried out using a questionnaire, psychometric tests, and self-constructed assessments. Wherever possible, the results were compared with the standards of sighted peers. Regarding reading fluency, Braille readers performed significantly slower than print readers. In terms of spelling, the Braille users performed within an average range of sighted peers. Furthermore, a positive correlation was obtained between Braille reading fluency and spelling, whereas the use of auditory aids (e.g., speech output) showed a negative correlation with Braille reading fluency and spelling. In addition, a comparison between listening and reading within the study sample revealed that reading Braille proved to be better for comprehension, although listening was significantly faster. In conclusion, the findings provide evidence that Braille reading skills are important for the development of literacy skills in general. Nevertheless, listening skills are important and need to be systematically promoted.

This study aimed to clarify the practices and perceptions of itinerant teachers of students with visual impairments (TVIs) in inclusive education following three different types (i.e., school-based, school-based single role, and centre-based), identifying the salient factors that enable them to fulfil their roles. To date, the majority of the existing research has focussed on centre-based itinerant TVIs, with scant attention paid to the other itinerant types. This study mitigates this lack of research. Designed as an exploratory study to provide a useful reference for future research, the study employed a qualitative research design using semi-structured interviews with nine German TVIs. The results showed more similarities than differences among the three types of TVIs in their daily tasks, needed qualities and skills, and overall perceptions of the job. Two crucial elements enabled these TVIs to work effectively: the existence of a large community of TVIs and TVIs possessing good ‘collaborative skills’. The school-based dual role seemed to provide much-needed emotional and technical support. Further investigations are needed on the factors that contribute to a good ‘team’ or a ‘community’ of TVIs and on the effectiveness of the school-based dual role.

Following the German parliament’s ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in 2008, inclusive pedagogy has become increasingly relevant for educational science and educational policy. Empirical studies of classes which combine students with and without visual impairment mainly focus on questions of performance and well-being, while not directly examining classroom interactions. Our research seeks to address this notable lack of in-situ studies, using a selected case as an example and illustrating the potential of such an approach through reconstructing the contradictory expectations of inclusive teaching as a specific conflict of norms. This approach ought to demonstrate the potential insights to be gained by reconstructing and interpreting relevant communicative processes of meaning-construction. Based on transcribed interactions in an inclusive fifth-grade class, we interpret the scene of classroom instruction with regard to the normative conflict between the egalitarian promise of participation and a non-egalitarian focus on performance. Adopting a methodology of second-order observation, as outlined in Systems Theory, allows us to conduct an analysis of normativity in order to understand which norms prevail in interactions with students with and without visual impairment. At the center of the analysis is not only the common discrepancy between an inclusive school’s policy and its interactive implementation. Rather, our interpretations also show how the ableist norm of performance is navigated and negotiated among all participants in classroom communication and how the multitude of norms and expectations surrounding inclusive teaching come into conflict, that is, in the paradoxical structural tension between the operational necessity of establishing a separation between students and the policy imperative of decategorization.

This article focuses on semi-narrative guided interviews with students with visual impairment (VI) who attend a state-approved special school for students with VI at the time of the interview, although they had different previous experiences in both segregated and inclusive schools. We are conducting a qualitative analysis from the perspective of teenagers concerning how they negotiate institutional ascriptions of (dis)abilities. We have selected interview sequences of two young people: (a) Kai: self-confidence and internalized self-doubt and (b) Felix: between fighting and claiming ableist divides. Our analyses reveal the different ways of how Kai and Felix each contest the ableist divide they constantly have to cope with. Kai does so by sticking to her self-concept and ambitious life plans; Felix does so by ridiculing how the institution ascribes neediness to students.

Chemical formulas are represented with the help of Lewis structures. To illustrate reaction mechanisms, these structures are provided with arrows and the new structural formula is recorded. This procedure presents blind pupils with several hurdles:

- How do these structures come about?

- How can students spontaneously create tactile formulas in class?

- How can the movements shown by arrows be traced?

For the representation of atomic symbols, for which the element symbols from the periodic table are normally used, magnets were developed that differ in shape, color, and size. Since only a handful of symbols occur regularly and in large numbers in school, only a few symbols have been permanently assigned, some are variable and can be used appropriately defined for the respective teaching situation. With this symbol set, it is possible to quickly and individually manufacture almost all molecules relevant in school. These magnets allow the independent determination of reaction mechanisms in the further course of the lesson. Due to the mobility of the elements on the magnetic base, electrons and atoms can be moved and thus result in a new bonding situation that is reinterpreted by the students. The advantage of this procedure is that the pupils do not just paint arrows, but consciously think about all processes and can also make mistakes. When analyzing intermediate products, you can determine that your actions were either not compliant or compliant but not effective. This enables individual active learning in the classroom.