Students with Vision Impairment locked out of post-16 education claims new report
A new report by the Thomas Pocklington Trust (TPT) claims that the lack of access to support and resources for students with Vision Impairment is locking them out of further and higher education. The ‘Give Me Access to College’ report details the inadequacies of the system of support for students with vision impairments as they leave secondary education. They have found that although local authorities have a statutory responsibility to support students with SEND through to age 25, the support beyond age 16 either drops off or completely vanishes.
They are calling on the government to:
- Ensure that adequate ringfenced funding is available to deliver statutory services to blind and partially sighted students in all post-16 education settings
- Embed the Curriculum Framework for children and young people with Vision Impairment into the proposed National Standards or updated Code of Practice so that parents and blind and partially sighted children and young people know what they should expect
- Ensure as part of the SEND review that Education and Health Care Plans (EHCPs) are not used to determine whether someone is eligible to access statutory sensory impairment support
- Ensure that all blind and partially sighted young people leave compulsory education with the skills and knowledge they need to use mainstream and assistive technology.
As well as the call to government, TPT is calling on LAs to:
- Review their provision for blind and partially sighted young people in post-16 education, to ensure that a service is in place
- Review their eligibility criteria and policies to ensure that EHCPs are not required to access sensory impairment services
- Join TPT in calling on government to ensure there is adequate funding so all blind and partially sighted young people can access local authority sensory impairment services in post-16 education.
