Title:
RNIB survey of VI services in England and Wales 2012: report for Wales
Author:
Sue Keil
Publisher:
RNIB
Year of publication:
2012
Background
In the summer term of 2012 RNIB carried out a national questionnaire survey of Visual Impairment (VI) education advisory services for blind and partially sighted children in England and Wales. This was the fifth RNIB survey of VI services, dating back to 1995. The aims of all the surveys have been to obtain:
1. An estimate of the numbers of blind and partially sighted children who receive specialist educational support.
2. Information about where pupils are being educated and the type of educational provision they receive.
3. An overview of the policies and practices underpinning their educational provision.
An additional aim of the current survey was to follow up on the findings of two RNIB surveys that had been carried out in September 2010 and April 2011 to find out how local authority cuts were affecting VI services and the impact on provision for children and young people.
Key findings
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11 questionnaires were returned for Wales, representing 64.7% of VI services and 68.2%% of local authorities in Wales.
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From data provided by 11 VI services we estimate that the total number of pupils with visual impairment up to the age of 18 supported by all VI services in Wales in the summer term of 2012 was 1,637. This is twice the number of pupils in Wales with a statement or on School Action Plus with a visual impairment as their primary (main) SEN detailed in the published statistics taken from the Schools Census (National Statistics for Wales, 2012).
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39 children and young people were identified who used braille as their sole or main literacy format. Approximately 2.5% of pupils in Years 1 to 11 were braillists.
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Most pupils were educated in mainstream schools. 74% of primary aged (nursery/reception to Year 6) and 66% of secondary aged pupils (Years 7 to 11) were in mainstream settings, including VI resourced schools.
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Over a 14-month period from April 2011 to June 2012, two VI services had experienced changes to the way that they were funded. In both cases the change had been an increase in the amount of centrally held funds delegated to schools. In the same period, two services had between them lost a total of four staff posts through vacant posts being frozen or because staff that had left voluntarily had not been replaced.
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Overall however, the organisation, funding and staffing in the majority of the VI services surveyed appeared relatively stable at the end of the summer term 2012, with services in Wales apparently less affected by public sector cuts than some of their counterparts in England.
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