Survey of educational provision for blind and partially sighted children in England, Scotland and Wales in 2002

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to present a summary of the main findings from a postal questionnaire survey of local education authority (LEA) visual impairment (VI) services in England, Scotland and Wales that was carried out by the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) in 2002. A population estimate of just under 24,000 blind and partially sighted children aged 0-16 in Britain was obtained, 50% of whom have additional disabilities. Comparison with data from a similar type of RNIB survey carried out in 1997 indicates that the pattern of educational placement has not changed over the past five years, with around six in ten visually impaired pupils between the ages of five and 16 being educated in the mainstream sector.