Press release issued: 23 April 2010.
Scotland's pioneering efforts to make education accessible to all school-pupils will be highlighted at a high-profile international conference in Edinburgh today.
The Royal National Institute of Blind People Scotland has organised the one-day event to compare progress in developing curriculum material in formats such as braille, large print or audio.
Blind and partially sighted schoolchildren still struggle to access textbooks in a format they can understand, says the charity. While most now attend mainstream schools, there are still too few books, study guides and other educational materials transcribed into accessible formats
The conference will hear from leading educationalists from Scotland, Sweden, the Netherlands and the USA, as well as educational publishers and, importantly, directly from young people with sight loss.
Speakers will include leading Scottish educationalist Professor Brian Boyd as well as Marie Dougan from Learning Teaching Scotland, and Harriet Kowalski of the Swedish National Agency for Special Needs Education and Schools.
Professor Boyd, a member of the Ministerial Review Group which produced Curriculum for Excellence, said, "The litmus test for any curriculum reform is whether it enables all learners, particularly those with the greatest barriers to overcome, to fulfil their potential. Young people with sight loss need to have access to the full range of learning and teaching materials if they too are to become successful learners, confident individuals, effective contributors and responsible citizens."
John Legg, director of RNIB Scotland, said: "Scotland is at the forefront in using new technology to transform the classroom. Government initiatives such as the GLOW electronic resource-sharing network for teachers and 'Books for All' can all help to create a level playing-field.
"It is imperative that children should have easy access to all educational materials at the same time as their peers. Unfortunately in the past, teachers have sometimes been reduced to photocopying and enlarging pages of text and diagrams for schoolchildren with sight loss on an ad hoc basis. In some cases, materials have been provided weeks and even months after a lesson.
"Given the relatively short time-frame that students are in full-time education, it is essential that we create a learning environment which allows young people who are blind or partially sighted to realise their full potential."