Readiness of Teachers to Prepare Individualized Education Programs (IEP) for Visually Impaired Students

Abstract

Most people believe that they know the answer to that question. Maybe because this damage can be simulated. We close our eyes and think that this is exactly what it looks like to be blind. In reality, blindness is very different. Most people who are blind have some kind of residual vision, distinguishing light from dark, only about 10% are completely or almost completely blind. Blindness is not synonymous with complete visual impairment. Visually impaired children have the same educational needs as their peers. These students exude a heterogeneous group that has one thing in common, the degree of visual impairment. In the first special schools that opened in Western Europe in the late 18th century, the goal of education differed in many ways from the goal of mastering elementary general knowledge and vocational training. Today, the educational goals are the same as for other students. Subject of research: determining the concerns, the readiness of teachers in regular elementary schools for the inclusive education of blind students. Methods: The research included a sample of 100 respondents, which consists of 100 teachers from regular schools, which are included in inclusive education, in regular primary schools in the municipality of Tetovo. Calculation of frequency and estimation of the structure of the obtained results. The χ² test was applied. The statistical analysis was done using the computer program Excel and the statistical software SSPS. The difference at the level of significance of p<0.05 will be considered a statistically significant difference. Result: The results of this research show that educators of regular primary schools are willing to work with people with damaged vision, also to cooperate with colleagues for achieving success in inclusive schooling. As we could notice by the results, the primary schools in Tetovo only had three blind students, which lead us to believe that the awareness of people upon the education and inclusion of blind people in public and inclusive schools is still very low. Conclusion: The results of this paper show us that teachers from regular elementary schools are ready to work with visually impaired people, as well as to cooperate with their colleagues to achieve progress in inclusive education.