§ Jonathan ShawTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what recent programmes have been initiated by his Department to(a) promote early detection of specific ophthalmic conditions in children and (b) monitor their visual development; and what evaluation has been carried out as to the benefits of such programmes; [88369]
(2) what proportion of schools in England conduct vision screening for children (a) at school entry, (b) at age seven and (c) at age 11; [88370]
(3) if he will make it his policy to gather data on the number of children with undiagnosed visual needs in (a) mainstream and (b) special school provision; [88371]
(4) what assessment he has made of the impact of undetected sight problems on the educational achievement and inclusion of children in (a) mainstream and (b) special schools; [88372]
(5) what assessment he has made of current arrangements for eye health education in schools; [88373]
580W(6) what guidance his Department provides to teachers on the identification of sight problems among children in (a) early years provision, (b) primary schools and (c) secondary schools; [88374]
(7) whether it is his Department's policy that children with (a) suspected reading difficulties, (b) behavioural problems and (c) other forms of special educational needs should be offered a full visual assessment. [88375]
§ Mr. Ivan LewisThe Department for Education and Skills (DfES) has provided £1 million to support an Early Support Pilot Programme, which is a pan-disability national initiative aimed at identifying and developing good service provision for pupils with special educational needs (SEN) and disabilities and their families. The Programme includes a number of projects looking at services for children with visual impairment. It will support development in a number of areas, including: initial assessment of need; co-ordination/multi-agency support for families; better information and access for families; improved professional knowledge and skills; service review and development; and improved partnership across agencies and geographical boundaries.
The Programme is being evaluated by a team from the National Children's' Bureau on an ongoing basis. The evaluation will inform the future development of the Programme.
The Department of Health is responsible for the provision of eye checks undertaken by local primary health care teams in accordance with professional advice. The principal threats to eye health and impaired vision development should be detected at or before school age is reached and be identified during a visual screening on school entry. Consideration is currently being given to the introduction of a universal test for all children when they start school at four or five. Older children may develop myopia (short sight) which is usually recognised when they complain of difficulty seeing clearly at distance. Since the onset of myopia commonly occurs between the ages of nine and 16 it is not possible to identify optimum ages for screening. Children may "pass" a routine screening examination only to find problems within the next few months. There is then a possibility that some children might not receive advice to attend an optometrist until after their next routine screening appointment. All children up to the age of 15 are entitled to a free sight test as are children aged 16–18 if they are in full-time education. Whenever parents or carers suspect that there is a problem with their child's sight they should take them to the optician's.
There are no plans to collect data on children in school, whose visual needs have not been diagnosed. However, from January 2004 the DfES will be collecting data by type of SEN as part of the Pupil Level Annual Schools Census. Information will be collected on pupils with statements of special educational need and those receiving additional or different help to support their SEN—School Action and School Action Plus. One of the categories will be visual impairment and schools will be able to record it as either a primary need or a secondary need. It is hoped that this will provide more detailed data on pupils with a range of SEN, including visual impairment.
581WNo assessment has been made of the impact of undetected sight problems on the educational attainment and inclusion of children in school. Nor has an assessment been made of current arrangements for eye health education in schools.
Students undertaking initial teacher training are required to understand their responsibilities under the DfES's SEN Code of Practice and to know where to go to seek advice. They are also required to be able to demonstrate that they can differentiate their teaching to meet the individual needs of pupils with SEN, including those with visual impairment.
Support for training and development in relation to SEN and disabilities is available to local education authorities (LEAs) and schools through the SEN component of the DfES's Standards Fund. The funding is designed to be used flexibly to support developmental opportunities ranging from basic awareness-raising to more in-depth studies, possibly leading to formal qualifications. It is for individual LEAs and schools to determine expenditure priorities according to local needs and circumstances, but it would certainly be possible to use the funding to support training for teachers in the area of visual impairment.
The SEN Code of Practice provides practical advice to LEAs, maintained schools and others on carrying out their statutory duties to identify, assess and make provision for children's SEN, including for children with visual impairment. The Code aims to promote consistency of approach, but, within its guidelines, it is for individual schools and LEAs to determine appropriate intervention based on an assessment of each child's individual needs and circumstances.
It would be for schools and LEAs to decide whether it was appropriate to carry out a specific visual assessment, if it was thought that visual impairment was contributing to a child's other educational difficulties.