Promoting
social inclusion of pupils with visual impairment in
mainstream schools
in Scotland
Appendix II Questionnaire
This project is funded by the Scottish Executive Education Department through the Scottish Sensory Centre (May 2001 – March 2002). The aim of the project is to identify good practice in mainstream schools so that we can produce guidelines and suggest materials for use in primary and secondary schools. We want to identify the range of school-based strategies and initiatives that promote the social inclusion and social competence of pupils who have a visual impairment; to find out who is involved and what works.
We have been talking to a small number of pupils, parents and staff in 4 primary schools and 4 secondary schools in Scotland to find out about their experiences of school, to find out what they think works and what could be done to improve things. To be able to place these experiences in context, and provide an overall picture of what is happening in Scotland we are now asking every council in Scotland to complete this short questionnaire.
We realise that some good practice may well be implicit in the ethos of the school or occur through other activities such as PSD or circle time. We are interested in any examples of good practice, initiatives or guidelines that you are aware of in your council which would promote social inclusion/competence of pupils with a visual impairment in mainstream schools.
We are Marianna Buultjens (Scottish Sensory Centre), Joan
Stead (Research Fellow) and Mary Dallas (RNIB – Family Services Officer).
If you want any further information please contact Joan at:
Simon Laurie House
University of Edinburgh
Holyrood Road
Edinburgh EH8 8AQ
Telephone 0131 651 6221
Email: joan.stead@ed.ac.uk
1 Name of Council_____________________________________
2 Position/address of person completing the questionnaire _____________________________
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
3 Please indicate how many mainstream primary schools in your council currently
have pupils with a visual impairment
0-3 schools 
3-5 schools
5+ schools
4 Please indicate how many mainstream secondary schools in your council currently
have pupils with a visual impairment:
0-3 schools
3-5 schools
5+ schools
5 Please tick if your council offers the following services to pupils with a visual impairment:
Pre school home visiting service by a teacher of the visually impaired (TVI)
Peripatetic support from TVI to play groups and nurseries
Peripatetic support from TVI in primary schools
VI Unit support in primary school
Peripatetic support from TVI in secondary schools
VI Unit support in secondary school
Other support (please list) ____________________________________
6 How is social inclusion for pupils with a visual impairment
promoted in schools? (please tick all appropriate boxes)
Through whole school approaches, for example …
Ethos Network
Positive behaviour
Anti-bullying strategies
Anti – racism strategies
Circle time
PSD
Participation in Pupil councils
Participation in Peer support schemes
Participation in Buddy schemes
Please give examples/comments ___________________________
_______________________________________________
7 Does the council provide transport and/or other funding for pupils with
VI to attend the following activities?
Participation in ‘after’ school clubs/choirs/orchestra/drama groups
etc.
Participation in class/school outings /residential trips
Please give examples/comments ___________________________
________________________________________________
8 How is social inclusion for pupils with VI monitored in schools?
Through target setting/IEP’s
Termly reviews: in school with parents
in school with parents and pupil
Annual reviews: in school with parents
in school with parents and pupil
Other/comment ____________________________________
9 Are there other professionals visiting the schools who may contribute to the social skills/inclusion of pupils with VI?
Speech and language therapists
Social workers
Peripatetic VI support
Other
10 Does the council work in partnership with other agencies to promote the social inclusion of pupils with VI? eg:
RNIB Description _____________________________________________
Societies Description __________________________________________
Voluntary agencies Description __________________________________
Other Description _____________________________________________
11 Does your council monitor its inclusion policy in schools?
Yes
No
If yes, whose responsibility is this? _______________________
12 Is social inclusion part of this?
Yes
No
If yes, whose responsibility is this? _____________________
13 What steps are taken if problems are identified/ issues need to be addressed regarding social inclusion?
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
14 Is there any social skills/awareness training in school specifically for visually impaired pupils?
Yes
No
If yes, who provides this? ___________________________
15 Is there any social skills/awareness training in school for sighted peers regarding their VI schoolmates?
Yes
No
If yes, who provides this? ______________________________
16 Is there any social skill/awareness training for school staff regarding pupils with VI?
Yes
No
Don’t know
If yes, who provides this? __________________________
17 Would your council be interested in information and guidelines for promoting social inclusion of pupils with VI?
Yes
No
18 Would your council be interested in specific training of staff to support social inclusion of pupils with VI?
Yes
No
Thank you for completing this questionnaire.
Please return by FRIDAY 21ST DECEMBER to Joan Stead in the SAE provided.