The purpose of this project has been to support both students with low vision who come into new classrooms, and teachers without specific training who receive them in theirs. This is NOT an easy situation for the student (for whom every-day attendance to school is a struggle already: getting there, overcoming obstacles and learning, integrating with their peers…). It is not easy for their teachers either, because they know that all their previous work, all their teaching experience, will not be enough. They will have to start anew that year, by creating a new adapted classroom planning, new learning methods that include the student with low vision, remaking all the educational materials to adapt them to low vision, invest many hours in the creation of curricular adaptations… and they usually don’t know how to do it. With “SEEING THE INVISIBLE” we wanted to contribute to the survival of teachers and to the educational and social success of students with low vision through an innovative point of view that unifies the general training processes for standard vision with the adapted teaching methods and in the digital field (essential in a post-COVID-19 society).
Low vision is a serious problem with a significant impact on education. It is estimated that it affects more than 19 million school-age children, 7 million of which (more than 2 million in Europe) are as a result of sequelae from diseases, according to the WHO 2020 report. These children are integrated (in 99% of cases) into non-specific schools, and despite the many benefits this has, it also generates major challenges to ensure that the educational development of the classroom as a whole isn’t impacted, generating the concern of parents and students themselves. Also, achieving the educational success of young people with low vision (something that is rarely achieved) requires providing teachers of specific training on low vision and its consequences, which they usually don’t have, as well as a titanic effort for the creation of new adapted materials and the use of learning methods based on ICTs. The unbearable workload required for teachers, added to the appearance of COVID-19, made the situation for teachers and students worsen considerably since 2020.