Room 2 - Curriculum Room
Overview of the room
Section 1 – Curriculum framework.
Section 2 – Body and spatial awareness.
Section 3 – Social and emotional development.
Section 4 – Travel skills.
Section 5 – Independent living skills (ILS).
Section 6 – Other considerations.
Section 7 – Useful links / resources.
Section 8 – Room recap – key things learnt.
Overview of the room
Room summary
The concern of this room is defining mobility and independence (M&I) education. Central to this definition is a curriculum framework which seeks to address the ‘special needs’ of children with visual impairment. A useful way of capturing these needs is by making a distinction between ‘early and foundation M&I’, including body and spatial awareness, and social and emotional development, and ‘advanced M&I', including travel skills, and independent living skills. Of course a given pupil will be developing these skills all the time – learning informally through everyday activities. Nevertheless, there are likely to be times when he or she will require more formal intervention involving the expert input from a professional concern of this room is defining mobility and independence (M&I) education. Central to this definition is a curriculum framework which seeks to address the ‘special needs’ of children with vision impairment. A useful way of capturing these needs is by making a distinction between ‘early and foundation M&I’, including body and spatial awareness, and social and emotional development, and ‘advanced M&I', including travel skills, and independent living skills. Of course a given pupil will be developing these skills all the time – learning informally through everyday activities. Nevertheless, there are likely to be times when he or she will require more formal intervention involving the expert input from a professional.
Suggested room learning aims
To develop your knowledge and understanding in the following areas:
- Broad areas of child development and the special needs of children with vision impairment.
- The M&I curriculum framework - Body and spatial awareness, social and emotional development, travel skills, independent living skills (ILS).
- The relationship between a curriculum, pupil’s depth of understanding, and accreditation.
Suggested room learning outcomes
Having worked through this material, it would be expected that you would be able to answer the following questions:
- Why is there a need for professionals to consider an M&I curriculum?
- What are the key areas of the M&I curriculum and how do they link with each other and other parts of the National Curriculum?
- Can a single professional be responsible for teaching the M&I curriculum, or does it require a team?
- Which bits of the curriculum am I best equipped to teach?
Next Section