Opening Eyes Volume 1 Understanding Education for for Education Understanding Understanding the Visually the Visually Impaired Education for the Visually Impaired Maximus M. Sefotho (eds.) Maximus M. Sefotho Ronél Ferreira & & Ferreira Ronél Edited by Ronél Ferreira & Maximus M. Sefotho Opening Eyes Volume 1 Understanding Education for the Visually Impaired Co-funded by the European Union This publication has been developed as part of the Teaching and Learning Development Capacity Improvement Programme which is funded and being implemented through a partnership between the Department of Higher Education and Training and the European Union. The content is based on a research project undertaken by the University of Pretoria, focusing on visual impairment. The contents of the publication are the sole responsibility of the respective authors of the chapters and cannot be taken to reflect the views of the European Union. Published by AOSIS Books, an imprint of AOSIS Publishing. AOSIS Publishing 15 Oxford Street, Durbanville 7550, Cape Town, South Africa Postnet Suite #110, Private Bag X19, Durbanville 7551, South Africa Tel: +27 21 975 2602 Website: https://www.aosis.co.za Copyright © Ronél Ferreira & Maximus M. Sefotho (eds.). Licensee: AOSIS (Pty) Ltd The moral right of the authors has been asserted. Cover image: Original design created with the use of provided image. The image is https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2020/02/09/07/03/eye-4832129_1280.jpg, released under Pixabay License. Published in 2020 Impression: 1 ISBN: 978-1-928523-76-5 (print) ISBN: 978-1-928523-77-2 (epub) ISBN: 978-1-928523-78-9 (pdf) DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/aosis.2020.BK179 How to cite this work: Ferreira, R. & Sefotho, M.M. (eds.), 2020, ‘Understanding Education for the Visually Impaired’, in Opening Eyes Volume 1, pp. i–414, AOSIS, Cape Town. Opening Eyes ISSN: 2710-0979 Series Editors: Ronél Ferreira and Maximus M. Sefotho Printed and bound in South Africa. Listed in OAPEN (http://www.oapen.org), DOAB (http://www.doabooks.org/) and indexed by Google Scholar. Some rights reserved. This is an open access publication. Except where otherwise noted, this work is distributed under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0), a copy of which is available at https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/. Enquiries outside the terms of the Creative Commons licence should be sent to the Rights Department, AOSIS, at the above address or to [email protected] The publisher accepts no responsibility for any statement made or opinion expressed in this publication. Consequently, the publishers and copyright holder will not be liable for any loss or damage sustained by any reader as a result of his or her action upon any statement or opinion in this work. Links by third-party websites are provided by AOSIS in good faith and for information only. AOSIS disclaims any responsibility for the materials contained in any third-party website referenced in this work. Every effort has been made to protect the interest of copyright holders. Should any infringement have occurred inadvertently, the publisher apologises and undertakes to amend the omission in the event of a reprint. Opening Eyes Volume 1 Understanding Education for the Visually Impaired Editors Ronél Ferreira Maximus M. Sefotho Social Sciences, Humanities, Education & Business Management domain editorial board at AOSIS Commissioning Editor Andries G. van Aarde, MA, DD, PhD, D Litt, South Africa Board Members Jan Botha, Professor in the Centre for Research on Evaluation, Science and Technology, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa Joan Hambidge, Deputy Dean at the Faculty of Humanities for the University of Cape Town and Professor for the School of Languages and Literatures, South Africa Sakari Häkkinen, Dean of the Diocese of Kuopio, Finland Glenna Jackson, Associate Editor, Professor Chair, Department of Religion and Philosophy, Otterbein University, Westerville, OH, United States of Americ Gregory C. Jenkins, Dean-elect, St George’s College, Jerusalem, Israel Reina-Marie Loader, Director and Filmmaker, CinémaHumain, Vienna, Austria Christopher Mbazira, Professor of Law and Coordinator of the Public Interest Law Clinic, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda Piet Naudé, Professor Ethics related to Politics, Economics and Business and Director, University of Stellenbosch Business School, Stellenbosch, South Africa Charles O’Neill, Professor Department of Business Administration, The British University in Egypt, El Sherouk, Cairo Governorate, Egypt Cornelia Pop, Full professor at the Department of Business, Faculty of Business, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania Michael Schratz, Professor, Institut für LehrerInnenbildung und Schulforschung, Dekan der School of Education, Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck, Austria Johann Tempelhoff, Professor, Research Niche for Cultural Dynamics of Water (CuDyWat), School of Basic Sciences, Vaal Triangle Campus of North-West University, Vanderbijlpark, South Africa Anthony Turton, Professor Centre for Environmental Management and Director TouchStone Resources, University of Free State, South Africa Willie L. van der Merwe, Professor and Chair Philosophy of Religion, Apologetics and Encyclopaedia of theology and Professor Extraordinary Stellenbosch University, South Africa, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands Christi van der Westhuizen, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, Faculty of Humanities, University of Pretoria, South Africa Joke van Saane, Professor, Amsterdam Center for the Study of Lived Religion, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands Paul van Tongeren, Professor Department Philosophy, Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands Robert G. Varady, Deputy Director and Research Professor of Environmental Policy, Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy, The University of Arizona, Tucson, United States of America Anné H. Verhoef, Associate Editor, Professor, Faculty of Arts: School of Philosophy, North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa Xiao Yun Zheng, Professor and Assistant President of Yunnan Academy of Social Sciences (YASS) and Director International Center for Ecological Culture Studies (ICECS-YASS), Yunnan Academy of Social Sciences, Kunming City, China Peer review declaration The publisher (AOSIS) endorses the South African ‘National Scholarly Book Publishers Forum Best Practice for Peer Review of Scholarly Books.’ The manuscript was subjected to rigorous two-step peer review prior to publication, with the identities of the reviewers not revealed to the author(s). The reviewers were independent of the publisher and/or authors in question. The reviewers commented positively on the scholarly merits of the manuscript and recommended that the manuscript be published. Where the reviewers recommended revision and/or improvements to the manuscript, the authors responded adequately to such recommendations. Research Justification This series of books, titled ‘Opening eyes’, is based on a study conducted in South Africa, involving scholars from various institutions who have been involved in the broad research study or have alternatively conducted research in the field of visual impairment as part of their academic research careers. In addition, selected experts in the field of visual impairment with years of experience contributed to the publication, based on their experience and case study research over the years. As such, this series of books makes a significant contribution to the existing knowledge base on inclusive education policy and its implementation, more specifically within the context of quality education provision to learners with visual impairment. Currently, no South African authored book is available which can be regarded as equivalent to this series of books. As such, the contribution that this book makes to scholarship is regarded as ground-breaking, as it is based on recent research conducted with teachers on the ground level as well as on research and experiences of practitioners, gained over many years. In this volume, Understanding education for the visually impaired, the focus falls on understanding visual impairment within the South African context, more specifically on what the education of these learners entails. In addition to the contribution to existing literature in the fields of inclusive education and visual impairment, the publication has practical application value for teachers and practitioners who work with and support such learners. Despite the prevalence of visual impairment being high in South Africa, the existing body of knowledge in this field is limited and requires ongoing research. Similarly, even though the White Paper 6 on Inclusive Education came into effect more than a decade ago, stipulating the inclusion of learners with special needs (such as those with visual impairment) in all schools, teachers still seem hesitant to accommodate these learners, and in this way implement the inclusive education policy. Against this background, a broad research study was undertaken by the University of Pretoria in 2017 and 2018, exploring teachers’ understanding of inclusive education policy and its implications; teachers’ understanding of learners with visual impairment and what the teaching of these learners implies; teachers’ needs and expectations in terms of the knowledge, skills and resources required to implement inclusive education in all schools and teachers’ and expert stakeholders’