Room 2 - Curriculum Room (Section 8 of 8)
Section 8: Room recap – key things learnt
Review of learning outcomes from this room
To develop your knowledge and understanding in the following areas:
- Broad areas of child development and the special needs of children with visual 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.
It would be expected that you would now be able to answer the following questions – some thoughts are now provided:
- Why is there a need for professionals to consider an M&I curriculum? The curriculum framework should have two advantages. Firstly, it enables a coherence to be imposed upon a service. Clearly different professionals will have a part to play in supporting different parts of a curriculum and a curriculum framework enables those professionals to coordinate their work, clearly identify areas for collaboration and cooperation, and specify areas of responsibility. Secondly, adopting a curriculum framework which is used by other services will improve the communication service provision to stakeholders.
- What are the key areas of the M&I curriculum and how do they link with other parts of the curriculum? There are four broad areas of the M&I curriculum - Body and spatial awareness, Social and emotional development, Travel skills, Independent living skills (ILS). There are a variety of links with areas of the mainstream curriculum, including PE, Personal, social and health education, Citizenship, Design and technology. It also has links with other activities including the foundation curriculum, and work of low vision teams, physiotherapists and occupational therapists.
- Can a single professional be responsible for teaching the M&I curriculum, or does it require a team? It would probably be impossible for a single person to take the lead on all aspects of the M&I curriculum. Firstly, it would take an amazing person who had the expertise in all the areas of the curriculum. Secondly, a key part of M&I education is the development of skills which are used all the time – therefore professionals will probably take on a role of advising other carers who spend time with the child.
- Which bits of the curriculum am I best equipped to teach? This will depend on many things including your training, experience, and interests
In the case of all these questions, and perhaps the last two questions in particular, there are other issues being raised:
Questions which may have been raised (and links with other sections)
- Professional roles – who should do what? See the Delivery Room
- Much of the discussion has been about education services – do special schools for pupils with visual impairment have a role? See Section 4 of the M&I Policy and Service Room
- How is it best to manage cooperation between different services? See Section 3 of the M&I Policy and Service Room
- Where does environmental modification fit in? See Section 3 of the Delivery Room
- If you are not used to working in an educational context, then the concepts of curricula and special educational needs may be confusing. See the Education Policies Room
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