Inclusive educational practices in Kenya: Evidencing practice of itinerant teachers who work with children with visual impairment in local mainstream schools

This article presents a findings from an investigation of the work of 38 specialist itinerant teachers (ITs) supporting the educational inclusion of children with visual impairment in Kenya. The research was designed around a participatory action research framework involving in-country researchers and participants (teachers) working in collaboration with researchers in the United Kingdom. Following an introductory training workshop, participants kept research journals over a 2-month period in which they recorded details of their itinerant duties (including the processes and content of their visits). Findings provide information about local practices of ITs support for children with visual impairment in mainstream schools and raise broader questions about the barriers to learning and development facing children with disabilities in mainstream schools in Kenya and other developing countries.

Research highlights▶ Introduction of record keeping systems (previously unused) proved useful for itinerant teachers (ITs) working with children with visually impairment in Kenya and can feed into the management and development of the service. ▶ ITs were found to engage in a range of tasks split between child-focussed activities (e.g. assessing vision, tutoring children, counselling children and parents, advising teachers) and community-focussed activities (e.g. screening and ‘sensitisation’ activities). ▶ Identified issues/barriers to effective working were: time taken travelling, inconsistent caseload management, difficulty getting released from teaching duties beyond IT work, importance of teacher training. ▶ Questions were raised about the support provided for children with more complex disabilities (e.g. those who are blind and require Braille tuition), in particular the amount and quality of support given within current education models. ▶ In contrast ITs are generally able to make use of local materials to support low vision children's learning in the classroom.