Curriculum Framework for Children and Young People with Vision Impairment
The Curriculum Framework for Children and Young People with Vision Impairment (CFVI) has been developed to support children and young people with vision impairment access an appropriate and equitable education.
The framework presents outcomes within 11 teaching areas:
- Facilitating an Inclusive World
- Sensory Development
- Communication
- Literacy
- Habilitation: Orientation and Mobility
- Habilitation: Independent Living Skills
- Accessing information
- Technology
- Health: Social, Emotional, Mental and Physical Wellbeing
- Social, Sports and Leisure
- Preparing for Adulthood.
It provides a shared vocabulary to be used by children and young people, their families and professionals in the UK who work with them. A shared vocabulary supports both better communication and purpose.
At the heart of the Framework is a set of three fundamental aims:
- To help clarify and define the elements of specialist skill development, interventions and best practice support that are considered to be essential for children and young people with vision impairment;
- To assist qualified specialist practitioners in raising the awareness amongst other professionals and parents of the need for children and young people with vision impairment to be taught skills that enable them to access the curriculum and the wider world with as much independence as possible;
- To aid discussions and understanding amongst all involved in a child/young person’s education of how and when these skills should be taught by suitably qualified specialists and reinforced by non-specialists.
Parents and carers
The CFVI can be used to enable parents and carers to understand the pathways of support for their child and the services who may be involved in providing that support within a given nationwide context.
This increased understanding of the areas of focus for a child’s learning, development and wider participation and the common language and shared vocabulary that the CFVI provides, should enable parents to feel more comfortable and confident when meeting professionals to discuss their child’s progress and participation in education and the wider world.
CFVI Resource Hub – RNIB Bookshare
To accompany the framework, we have developed an online resource hub which is available to all professionals working with children and young people with a vision impairment, free of charge through RNIB Bookshare.
The hub hosts and signposts to resources that have been developed and submitted by individuals, organisations and services from across the sector in relation to delivering the specialist skill areas defined by the new framework.
Visit the RNIB Bookshare CFVI Resource Hub.
This Resource Hub is in its pilot phase of development and we plan to refine both the resources and method of access as the CFVI becomes embedded in practice across the sector. Your feedback is really important to us and will support us to do this in relation to improved functionality or further resource development so that we can ensure you have the resources you require to teach the essential specialist skills, children and young people with a vision impairment may require. Please let us know your feedback by emailing us at [email protected].
Read our policy position statements on Education and the CFVI
We want to ensure every child and young person with a vision impairment across the UK has equitable access to specialist support to enable them to effectively access their learning and to develop key skills required to live and work independently in adulthood.
Read our CFVI position statement to learn more about the issues faced by children and young people with a vision impairment and how the CFVI can help support them to in reaching their potential.
Find out the latest plans for the CFVI Project
Watch the video and learn more about the plans for the next 3 year phase of the CFVI project, which includes the evaluation of the CFVI in practice, the creation of specialist resources and guidance to support children and young people, parents and professionals to embed the CFVI in practice across the UK.
Watch the Live Q and A session
Following the hugely popular launch of the new Curriculum Framework for Children and Young People with Vision Impairment (CFVI) we held a live Q and A session on Wednesday 4 May 2022.
Missed the CFVI Launch Event? Watch the video now!
The live launch of the CFVI took place on Wednesday 15th March, hosted by BBC Broadcaster Peter White and featuring experts from education, health and habilitation across the UK.
