INCLUSIVE EDUCATION OF BLIND AND VISUALLY IMPAIRED PUPILS IN SLOVENIA

Abstract

Introduction: In the last years, the demand to include children with special needs in the mainstream kindergartens and schools in Slovenia has grown. This brought with it the need for changing the role of the special schools and institutes for children with special needs and for their transformation into resource centres.
Methodology: We pilot tested a resource centre for support of blind and visually impaired children. We included 15 educational institutes and one blind or visually impaired pupil from each institute. Data were collected at the beginning of the school year 2010/11, and at the end of the school year 2011/12. In both cases the same instruments were used, which made comparison of the collected data possible.
Results: The results have shown progress in the development of competences, attitudes, and rehabilitation competences in the participants of the study.
Discussion: The results confirmed the efficiency of the initially designed model.
By investing into its staff capacity building, we expect that the centre will gain recognition and increase its quality. In this way, it will be able to realise its developmentally-supportive role for the children with visual disability in Slovenia.