A YSEALI - Seeds for the Future grant's winner 2015
1. Innovation
The “Inclusive education in Blind School” is a project designed by Vietnam and Friends organization from Hanoi, Vietnam.
The goal of “Inclusive Education” project is to raise the awareness about the issues currently posing or constituting inclusive education in blind school and to train teachers, blind and sighted students, the administration board of school and parents of blind students about the possibilities of “new” methodology of inclusive education about current issues through practical experiences. With experienced facilitators and debate coaches, the video clips highlighted in them will be discussed with school, teachers, students and parents throughout the inclusive education of country or in Blind school specialized, in an effort to raise awareness, to display different points of view from the both side of parents: sighted students and blind students, and promote a culture of open discussion, “tolerance”, and acceptance of diversity. Furthermore, the project’s mainly focus on the soft skills for teachers and students ensures that after its completion, those skills will be useful for their daily life of the integration.
2. Project goals
• For the administration board: Make them understand the nature and the necessary of inclusive education for teachers and students in school.
• For teachers: Understanding of their role in Blind School; Equip for teachers the necessary skills such as: how can navigate, organize activities for both types of student, guide student, how to overcome pressure from parents...
• For visually impaired students: training necessary skills to be able to integrate themselves into society; promote the efforts of the students, inspires their openness and sincerity to help them to be able to reduce their inferiority.
• For sighted students: Aware of inclusive education; Equip the sighted students of the understanding; necessary skills to be able to help, not discriminate the blind students; to know how to promote capacity and confidence of the blind students at the right time.
• For the blind student’s parents: to share confidence and sincerity with their children, create a mainstay for their children and understanding of the programs of their children at school.
• With the sighted student’s parents: Raising awareness of parents about inclusive education.
3. Beneficiaries
Administration board: 15
Blind students: 176
Sighted students: 158
Teachers: 55
Parents of blind students: 176
Parents of sighted students: 158
4. Impact to participants
• For the Administration board
Define correctly; orient clearly about inclusive education with teachers, staffs of school;
Knowledge and skills in planning; organizing; directing, implementing and supervising the work of inclusive education at school.
• For teachers
Skill of orientation for students; supporting students afterschool; organization of activities for blind and sighted students;
Correct actions of special students;
Capacity of realizes the psychology of special students;
How do you help a special student?
Create an ambiance for special students get in touch with sighted students;
Capacity of guide a creation of special students;
Building up and carrying out lessons effectively;
• For blind students
Special skills: orientation and mobility; method of study; information skills;
Open mind and sincerity
How do you ask a help of others?
Understanding correctly about the efforts of yourselves;
Confidence by yourselves
• For blind students’ parents
General knowledge about inclusive education;
How do you help correctly your children?
Believe in the capacity of children;
• For sighted students’ parents
Raising awareness about inclusive education.
5. Measure success
Since implemented at Blind School, the inclusive education has demonstrated that it always needs to be enhanced and maintained. Inclusive education cannot be effective within one or two days, it needs a lot of time to prove its effective. In particular, blind children have access to education is limited. Blind School in Hanoi is only school for the blind in the north and to help the students to participate in community integration activities. There are many other blind children have not had the opportunity to access learning opportunities and skills to help them have a better future.
VAF launched this project in order to open a way for next project support for the blind. So projects like this need to be maintained for a long time. Inclusive education project for Blind School is an opening project with activities for disabled people in general. Disabled children in rural areas or areas with difficult economic conditions have very few opportunities to reach out to schools and vocational training courses. Therefore, this project will be necessary to improve teaching and learning environments for blind children at Blind School.
6. Communication
With the development of Internet, our organization has our own website to promote our missions & activities at the address: www.vietnamandfriends.org. We also use Facebook, Twitter and Youtube as our social networks for connect with young people as much as possible.
In 2011, we have made a short movie called "One day in Blind school" about a daily life of blind student school. This movie is be used as a presentation about the blind school.
Beside that, Vietnamese Television has made three reports about our mission in Blind school as Teaching English for blind students; Orientation & mobility training. Two of our members are journalists. We believe strongly that our project will be shared with wide public.
7. Implementation & Timeline
• September 7 – 17, 2015: Preparation of training
- Trainers & coordinators: prepare concepts of training in detail;
- Coordinators: Prepare all materials (presentation of project; stationary; paper; certificates, banner…)
- Supporters: Prepare venue, equipment & lunch
• September 19, 2015: Training for parents & for Administration board
- Training for parents
+ Section 1: General knowledge about Inclusive education
+ Section 2: Do you believe in the capacity of your children?
+ Section 3: Equality between your blind child & other children
- Training for Administration board
+ Debate of inclusive education; Define correctly; orient clearly about inclusive education with teachers, staffs of school;
+ Knowledge and skills in planning; organizing; directing, implementing and supervising the work of inclusive education at school.
• October 3 – 4, 2015: Training for teachers
- Section 1: Orientation & Mobility training; How do you guide a blind student.
- Section 2: How do you connect a blind student & a sighted student in same class; organize activities for a inclusive class.
• October 10 – 11, 2015: Training for teachers
- Section 3: Building up and carrying out lessons effectively
- Section 4: Capacity of realizes the psychology of special students & How do you help a special student.
• October 12, 2015: Training for sighted students
- Section 1: Orientation & mobility training
- Section 2: Method of study & information skills
• October 15 – 16, 2015: Training for blind students
- Section 1 (continued): Orientation & mobility training
- Section 3: Do you believe in yourselves?
- Section 4: How do you ask help for others?
• October 17, 2015: Training for sighted students
- Section 1: Debate of inclusive education for students
- Section 2: What would you do if you were blind?
- Section 3: Orientation & Mobility training; How do you guide a blind?
• October 22 – 23, 2015: Training for blind students
- Section 1 (continued): Orientation & mobility training
- Section 5: Safety in daily (electricity; kitchen)
• October 29, 2015: Training for blind & sighted
- Out door activities; games for blind & sighted students.
• January 28 – 29, 2016: Middle term evaluation
• May 27 – 28, 2016: Final evaluation
- Training for trainers
- Final evaluation
Notes: During the implementation of project:
- There are several days of monitoring in classes. Then we can discuss in the Middle term evaluation & the final evaluation.
- There is monthly outdoor activity between blind & sighted students and teachers to connect themselves.