Memorandum submitted by the Royal National
Institute of the Blind (RNIB)
1. WHO WE
ARE
1.1 We are the leading charity working for
the two million people in the UK with sight problems. Our mission
is to challenge blindness and the disabling effects of sight loss
by providing information and practical services to help people
get on with their own lives, as well as campaigning with and on
behalf of blind and partially sighted people. RNIB also challenges
the underlying causes of blindness by working towards its prevention,
cure and alleviation.
1.2 RNIB welcomes the opportunity to submit
written evidence to the Select Committee's inquiry on teaching
children to read.
2. WHY ARE
WE SUBMITTING
EVIDENCE TO
THE COMMITTEE?
2.1 87% of children's fiction books published
each year do not become available in accessible formats like large
print, audio tape and braille, essential for the reading development
of blind and partially sighted children. This is undoubtedly having
an impact on teachers' ability to get the reading resources they
need for their pupils who have sight problems.
2.2 Visual impairment is a low incidence
disability, with approximately 23,000 children between 0 and 16
years of age in the UK affected. In addition around 4% of the
population is severely dyslexic. A further 6% have mild to moderate
dyslexia. Synthetic speech output or audio tape is often one of
the only ways in which children with dyslexia can access literature.
3. HOW MANY
BOOKS ARE
AVAILABLE IN
ACCESSIBLE FORMATS
FOR CHILDREN
WITH SIGHT
PROBLEMS AND
OTHER READING
DISABILITIES?
3.1 In August this year the Library and
Information Research Unit (LISU) of Loughborough University was
commissioned by RNIB, on behalf of the Right to Read Alliance[5]
to conduct research into the availability of books in accessible
formats.
4. THE RESEARCH
4.1 An estimate of the availability of alternative
formats for all books published over a five year period was made,
based on a random sample from the British National Bibliography
(BNB) for the years 1999-2003 inclusive. Over the five years examined,
a total of 2,069 titles were selected for the sample. Of these,
just 92 were found to be available in one or more accessible formats—4.4%.
4.2 Access to reading for children: Junior
Fiction.
Over the five years examined a total of 406
titles were selected for the junior fiction sample. Of these 53
were found to be available in one or more accessible formats—13.1%[6]
4.3 Availability varied by year of inclusion
in BNB, from 7.9% in 1999 to 19.5% in 2002, as shown by the table
below. (Summary of junior fiction material available in accessible
formats, by year).
| Sample/no | Available, any format
| Available, any format/% | Not available
|
| 1999 | 63 | 5
| 7.9 | 58 |
| 2000 | 58 | 5
| 8.6 | 53 |
| 2001 | 87 | 14
| 16. | 73 |
| 2002 | 82 | 16
| 19.5 | 66 |
| 2003 | 116 | 13
| 11.2 | 103 |
| Total | 406 | 53
| 13.1 | 353 |
| | |
| |
4.4 Availability of junior fiction material in accessible
formats, by year and format. The table below shows that availability
of different formats has not improved over the last five years
and has in many cases has decreased.
| 1999 % | 2000 %
| 2001 % | 2002 %
| 2003 % | Total
|
| Braille 1 | 1.59 | -
| 2.30 | 1.22 | 1.72
| 1.48 |
| Braille 2 | 4.76 | 8.62
| 8.05 | 9.76 | 6.03
| 7.39 |
| Moon | - | - |
- | - | 0.86 | 0.25
|
| Braille with print | - | -
| - | - | 0.86 |
0.25 |
| Standard cassette | 4.76 |
5.17 | 9.20 | 12.20
| 3.45 | 6.90 |
| Audio: 4 track | 1.59 | -
| - | 1.22 | - |
0.49 |
| Talking books | 1.59 | 3.45
| 3.45 | 4.88 | 1.72
| 2.96 |
| Audio CD | - | -
| 2.30 | 3.66 | 0.86
| 1.48 |
| DAISY | 1.59 | 1.72
| 3.45 | 4.88 | 2.59
| 2.96 |
| Electronic text | 1.59 | -
| - | - | 0.86 |
0.49 |
| Large print | 3.17 | 3.45
| 6.90 | 8.54 | 3.45
| 5.17 |
| Giant print | 1.59 | 1.72
| 3.45 | 1.22 | 2.59
| 2.22 |
| | |
| | | |
5. WHAT IS
THE IMPACT
OF THIS
SHORTAGE ON
CHILDREN LEARNING
TO READ?
5.1 Kathleen Gaster, Learning Resources Manager at Linden
Lodge School,[7] Wimbledon,
describes the importance of having a wide range of books in different
formats to help children learn to read and continue developing
their reading skills. [8]
5.2 "At Linden Lodge School, I support pupils with
a wide range of reading needs, ranging from Harry Potter to the
earliest mode of communication—Objects of Reference. In
this range are a group of children who are struggling with reading,
usually at Key Stage 3. This is the stage where it's easy to lose
them as readers and we have made special efforts to provide this
group with as wide a range of appropriate and lively books as
possible. I also feel it is very important that shared reading
is encouraged between pupils and at home, so our titles are produced
in 24 and 32 point print and braille. In order to make reading
pleasurable, the books have to be accessible in this way, so that
children can read anywhere from class to bed!
5.3 "Large print readers especially, have a daunting
task at school, coping with worksheets and textbooks in a variety
of ways, so reading for pleasure and improving their literacy
can seem like one more chore.
5.4 "Reading materials also need to be age appropriate,
so we have looked at all the series of books that are being published
to address the needs of reluctant teenage readers and those pupils
who are still acquiring literacy. We have also started to produce
more titles in Grade 1 as well as Grade 2 Braille, for pupils
coming in at transition and who might be starting Braille late."
6. READING AND
THE SCHOOLS
ACCESS INITIATIVE
6.1 The DfES state that there is funding available for
the provision of accessible information through the Schools Access
Initiative, which can be used for the production of materials
to enable access to the curriculum for children with reading disabilities.
However, in a written answer of 26 May 2004 (Column 1689W) the
Minister for Children (Margaret Hodge) stated that;
"It is for local education authorities to determine how
they will allocate the funding made available to them in the light
of local needs and circumstances detailed in their Accessibility
Strategy and make that information available to the schools they
are responsible for."
6.2 Furthermore, the government have also acknowledged
that there is currently no way of telling what proportion of the
funding goes on accessible formats and what proportion on improving
buildings' accessibility.
6.3 Also on 26 May 2004 (Column 1688W) the Minister for
Children, when replying to a written question tabled by Mark Hoban
MP, asking "how much of the School Access Fund was spent
on improving (a) physical access to school buildings and (b) access
to the curriculum in the most recent year for which figures are
available", replied saying
"This information is not collected centrally".
6.4 It is therefore not clear how much money is being
spent on access to literature for children with sight problems
and other reading disabilities via the Schools Access Initiative,
but the reports from teachers, support workers and the voluntary
sector, of significant shortages, suggests that whatever the amount
it is inadequate to meet the needs of children.
6.5 Despite the obligations laid on schools and local
education authorities by the Special Educational Needs and Disability
Act, 2001 (SENDA), children are not getting the materials they
need or want in the format they require. Textbooks can cost several
thousand pounds to adapt into accessible formats and specialist
teachers spend many hours adapting textbooks for students in individual
schools.
6.6 To give some idea of the demand for accessible format
books and materials that cannot be met, RNIB carried out an informal
survey of teachers, asking them which Key Stage 3 and 4 textbooks
they would like the charity to produce during the 2004-05 academic
year. 17 subject areas were requested and 129 different texts
by 22 different publishers. RNIB only has the capacity to produce
10 publications in accessible formats.
6.7 In addition, to demonstrate the budget shortfall
that teachers may have to deal with, we were approached by a teacher
with a request to transcribe two music scores into braille. To
cover costs a £800 charge had to be made for the work, but
the teacher had a total annual budget for four students of only
£500.
7. BRAILLE READERS
7.1 Braille is a tactile code based on a cell of six
dots arranged as two columns of three, like the six on a die.
There are two levels of Braille. Grade I Braille involves representing
each printed character with a braille character, making it relatively
simple to learn but very slow to use. Grade 2 Braille involves
"contractions", whereby a cell or combination of cells
is used to represent a single word or a number of letters which
commonly occur together, in order to speed up the reading and
writing process. Wherever possible, Grade 2 is taught to all pupils
for whom Braille is to be the main medium of communication. There
are additional Braille codes for music, mathematics and foreign
languages.
7.2 A recent RNIB report[9]
suggests that there are around 850 children using Braille in schools
in England, Scotland and Wales and that 83% of braillists under
12 now attend mainstream or resourced mainstream schools. Children
who use Braille are therefore very few in number but even then
they do not form a homogenous group. There are differences between
children that relate to the nature and time of onset of their
visual impairment—some children will have been totally blind
from birth, while others may have lost their sight adventitiously.
There are also differences in their experiences with Braille:
many will have learned literacy through Braille but some will
have begun to learn to read through print and then transferred
to braille as their sight deteriorated. Moreover, many of these
children have needs in addition to their blindness. Of 85 Braille
users in mainstream schools studied by RNIB, 35 had a range of
additional needs, most commonly physical disabilities or learning
difficulties.
7.3 While acquiring literacy through Braille involves
many processes and skills in common with learning through print,
there are also major differences such as the need to develop fine
tactile perception and for children to gain a wide range of concrete
experiences to compensate for their lack of incidental visual
learning. Because of the nature of the code, the order in which
Braille signs are taught to a young reader are likely to differ
from the order in which print letters and words are introduced
to sighted children.
7.4 RNIB's report raised serious concerns about falling
standards in the teaching of literacy through Braille and noted
that there are many unanswered questions on how to best approach
Braille teaching for children in mainstream schools. In the past,
children who used Braille developed their literacy skills almost
exclusively in schools for the blind alongside other blind children.
They were taught within a curriculum developed largely within
the school by a specialist teacher who could draw upon a tradition
of practical knowledge and skills that had evolved within the
institution.
7.5 Children who use Braille today are likely to receive
their education in a mainstream class where there are no other
children with a visual impairment, and where they may be supported
by a range of adults. The most important factor in the promotion
of most children's literacy attainment is generally recognised
to be the class teacher, whose own knowledge of literacy, understanding
of how children learn and teaching skills are crucial. However
in the case of children who use Braille, it is unlikely that the
class teacher will have any relevant experience or skill to offer.
Most of the specialist knowledge, understanding and skill involved
in developing literacy through this medium is likely to reside
in other professionals, such as a teaching assistant or visiting
teacher of the visually impaired. The standard of specialist training
that these professionals receive, and the quality of the relationship
between them and the class teacher, is therefore central to achieving
a successful outcome. RNIB's research indicates that approaches
to teaching Braille to children vary considerably across the country
and that there is no consensus on what constitutes best practice.
7.6 Changes in the learning context are also important.
While the National Literacy Strategy (NLS) has provided benefits
for many children with visual impairment it has also created significant
challenges for practitioners working in mainstream schools with
children who use Braille, including the following:
— It is often hard for children who use Braille
to keep up with the speed of information processing required in
the fast paced lessons.
— Some of the commonly used teaching techniques
in the NLS (such as the use of large books for whole class sessions)
have a strong visual element.
— Some aspects of the prescribed whole class
sessions (eg letter formation in the development of handwriting)
are not relevant for them and techniques for word attack (such
as the analysis of words according to their phonic structure)
are complicated by the fact that many words in Braille appear
in a contracted form.
7.8 The availability of reading material in alternative
formats is an essential aspect of Braille literacy. The provision
of children's reading materials in Braille is pitifully small
by comparison with the wealth of material available for sighted
children, a fact emphasised in RNIB's current "Right to Read"
campaign. Research[10]
undertaken for the campaign found that fewer than 9% of titles
in junior fiction were available in Braille. Blind children therefore
enjoy only a limited opportunity to embed their literacy skills
through wider reading which advances their enjoyment, knowledge
and understanding.
8. WHAT WE
WOULD LIKE
TO SEE
8.1 In order for teachers to have the reading materials
needed to engage children with sight problems and motivate them
to begin reading and develop their abilities, it is essential
that separate funding is made available from the Schools Access
Initiative for production and purchase of accessible format books
and materials.
8.2 At the moment there is no dedicated funding under
the Schools Access Initiative allocated to the production or purchase
of accessible format books, so in many cases funding goes to improving
physical access to buildings and not to making the curriculum
accessible. We believe that the reading development of blind and
partially sighted children should be supported with dedicated
funding to ensure that a wide variety of reading materials in
different formats is secured in both special and mainstream establishments.
8.3 Were this done we would then want to see a review
of whether funding is adequate for the educational needs of disabled
children in terms of reading and access to the curriculum.
8.4 We would also like to see assurances from Ministers
that the Revealweb database will have secure funding to enable
it to continue its work and develop the range of materials it
lists. Revealweb (www.revealweb.org.uk) is an online database,
supported and managed by RNIB and the National Library for the
Blind. It lists:
— A range of resources that are available in
Braille, moon, audio and digital talking books, large print and
other formats by searching the catalogue of resources.
— Contact details of organisations that hold
titles in accessible formats and the terms under which they will
supply them.
— A register of suppliers who produce, loan
or sell accessible materials.
8.5 Teachers find Revealweb a valuable resource as it
lets them identify existing accessible format copies of books
or other materials they need. They can then apply to borrow copies
from the body that holds them and save time and resources through
not having to duplicate work that has already been undertaken.
December 2004
5
British Dyslexia Association, Calibre Cassette Library, ClearVision,
Confederation of Transcribed Information Services (COTIS), LOOK
(the National Federation of Families with Visually Impaired Children),
National Association of Local Societies for Visually Impaired
People (NALSVI), National Blind Children's Society, National Federation
of the Blind, National League of the Blind and Disabled, National
Library for the Blind (NLB), Royal National Institute of the Blind
(RNIB), Scottish Braille Press, Scottish National Federation for
the Welfare of the Blind, Share the Vision, Talking Newspaper
Association of the UK (TNAUK), Torch Trust for the Blind, UK Association
of Braille Producers. Back
6
The standard error of this estimate is 0.5%, giving a 95% confidence
interval of between 11.1% and 13.2%. Back
7
Linden Lodge accepts pupils with a visual impairment, some of
whom have additional disabilities which affect their access to
learning. The Primary and Secondary Departments cater for children
aged four to 17 years, with the opportunity for some pupils to
remain until they are 19. Back
8
Curriculum Close Up-Issue 14, "Reading for Pleasure". Back
9
Keil, S and Clunies-Ross, L, Report of Research Study into Teaching
Braille to Children in Schools, November 2002, RNIB. Back
10
Lockyer, S Creaser, C and Davies, J Eric, Availability of Accessible
Publications, November 2004, Library and Statistics Information
Unit, Loughborough University. Back
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