RNIB survey of VI services in England and Wales 2012: report for Wales
1. Introduction
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:
- An estimate of the numbers of blind and partially sighted children who receive specialist educational support.
- Information about where pupils are being educated and the type of educational provision they receive.
- 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.
2. Method
In May 2012 a questionnaire was sent as an e-mail attachment to individual heads of VI and sensory services in England and Wales with an explanatory covering letter. Respondents were given the option of saving the questionnaire as a Word document, and completing and returning it electronically or printing the questionnaire, completing it by hand and returning it by post.
Eleven questionnaires were returned for Wales representing 64.7% of VI services and 68.2%% of local authorities.
The quantitative data were analysed using SPSS. Open ended questions were recorded onto a Word document and coded (categorised) retrospectively.
3. Key findings from the research
3.1 Finding 1
From data provided by 11 VI services a total of 1,192 children and young people from the Early Years Foundation Stage (under three years of age) to Year 13 (age 17/18) were identified.
3.2 Finding 2
We estimated (by extrapolation) 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 inWales 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).
3.3 Finding 3
Just under half of the children and young people supported by the VI services in the current survey had a visual impairment as their only SEN; one in five had another disability such as a physical or hearing impairment in addition to their visual impairment and three in ten had complex needs including severe or profound and multiple learning difficulties (SLD/PMLD).
3.4 Finding 4
Thirty-nine children and young people were identified who used braille as their sole or main literacy format. Approximately 2.5% of pupils with visual impairment in Years 1 to 11 were braillists.
3.5 Finding 5
The majority of pupils were educated within their home local authority, with most of them in mainstream settings. 99% of primary aged (nursery/reception to Year 6) pupils and 94% in Years 7 to 11 were being educated within their local authority. The majority of pupils educated outside the local authority were in special schools
3.6 Finding 6
74% of primary aged and 66% of secondary aged pupils were in mainstream settings, including VI resourced schools. 23% of primary and 32% of secondary school pupils were in special schools for pupils with learning, physical or hearing impairments. None of the primary and only one per cent of the secondary aged pupils supported by the 11 VI services were in special schools designated for pupils with visual impairment.
3.7 Finding 7
All 11 VI services provided support to babies and young children with visual impairment during term time, most doing so in a range of settings. All provided support in the family home. However, 4 services provided no support at allto children and families during school holidays and one provided emergency support only.
3.8 Finding 8
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.
3.9 Finding 9
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.
4. Conclusions
This was the fifth RNIB national survey of VI services to have been carried out since 1995. A large amount of rich data was provided by the 11 VI services that took part in this survey.
As in previous surveys, the number of pupils identified that were receiving specialist educational support for their vision needs was significantly higher than the number recorded in official published education statistics. Whatever the reason for this discrepancy, it is a matter of some concern if the true number of children and young people is not represented in official statistics as this may have considerable implications for future planning and policy both nationally and locally.
While the main findings are presented in the full research report, we plan to give a more detailed analysis of some of the key issues,and their implications for policy and practice,through a future series of themed reports.
5. Further information
The full research report can be downloaded from:
For further information contact
© RNIB 2012
ESI Research briefing1