IN AUSTRALIA: BRAILLE LITERACY MATTERS
Dr Gillian Gale, Renwick College, AUSTRALIA
Over the past two decades there has been growing concern throughout the English speaking countries over a perceived decline in braille literacy skills (Australian Braille Authority, 1999; Rex, Koenig, Wormsley, & Baker, 1994; Allman & Holbrook, 1999). For example, in the USA, when reviewing the status of braille in the previous decade, Spungin (1996), identified eight obstacles to the acquisition of literacy in the population of people who are blind. The majority of the issues she identified are relevant to educators in Australia today. There exists currently in Australia, an increasing anxiety in the professional education sector, as well as in the adult braille reading community about the decline in the use of braille. The purpose of this paper is to present and discuss several of the most important challenges currently facing the Australian education policy sector in attempting to safeguard braille as a viable medium.
The Literature
In several developed countries there has been for some years a heightened awareness of difficulties in the area of promoting braille literacy, these have resulted in many creative initiatives. One of the results of this awareness that we in Australia have greatly welcomed, is the abundance of excellent literature about the teaching of braille that has proliferated in the last several years. This literature is reflected in such American publications as: Foundations of Braille Literacy (Rex, Koenig, Wormsley, & Baker, 1994), the Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness 90(3) special issue on braille literacy (Brookshire, 1996), The bridge to braille (Castellano & Kosman, 1997), Instructional strategies for braille literacy (Wormsley & D’Andrea, 1997), Beginning braille (Swenson, 1999), and Braille literacy curriculum (Wormsley, 2000). In Australia publications have included: Fingerprints (Lamb, 1995), Communication, (Lamb, 1998a), Dots for tots (Lamb, 1998b) and Switched on braille (Lamb & Gale, 2000). This wealth of information on braille literacy has helped highlight its importance, develop greater awareness of best teaching practice, stimulate discussion and it is hoped will result in greater teacher understanding and competence.
Australia’s braille code
Braille reform
Since commencement of the international Unified Braille Code (UBC) Research Project in 1993, Australia has been an active participant in and is committed to the introduction of a more simple universal code for English braille. In 1999, an ABA working party produced a comprehensive document entitled Braille 2000 (Australian BrailleAuthority, 1999). The document detailed the history and present day status of braille in Australia including concerns about the decline of braille use. It provided information on the background to the proposed changes and included recommendations that would be transmitted by Australia to the Assembly of the International Council on English Braille (ICEB) in Baltimore in November 1999. With its commitment to the introduction of the Unified English Braille Code (UEBC), Australia played a pivotal role at the meeting in ensuring that deliberations on the proposed new code would be completed and be ready for consideration at the next ICEB General Assembly in 2003. It is to be hoped that the recommendations will be adopted at that time. Initially, it is anticipated that changes in the code may pose some difficulties for Australian braille readers, particularly in the areas of mathematics and the other specialised codes (e.g., computer, chemistry, electronics). Nevertheless, these significant changes, should they occur might mean that Australia will then be able to access and provide texts on a global basis, provided that there are necessary changes to international copyright law.
Educational Issues
It seems that braille literacy issues in Australia have closely reflected those in other countries, notably the USA. Perhaps one of the greatest challenges for Australians has been the advent of the movement towards greater integration and inclusion of students with vision impairments in the regular school system. In fact, Spungin (1996), has identified the movement towards ‘full inclusion’ as “the greatest threat to the education of children who are blind and to braille literacy” (p. 274). This reality has to date seemed very much the Australian experience.
In Australia, the move from segregated to integrated settings for students with vision impairments started in the mid-1970s and today the majority of these students are now included in their local schools (Pagliano, 1994). In general, this move to greater equality in normative educational opportunity has provided many benefits for students, their families, peers and for the community. Nevertheless, it is generally agreed by Australian specialist teachers of students with vision impairments, that the inclusion of greater numbers of their students in local schools makes the provision of instruction in the unique disability-specific curricular areas (or in the expanded core curriculum as it is now known), a more challenging prospect than when those students had been supported in segregated settings.
As a compensatory academic skill, braille is the student’s major literacy medium. and as such it must be taught effectively by an itinerant teacher (Hatlen, 1997). Such teachers must be trained and fully competent braille users. They must have a comprehensive understanding of, and total commitment to the braille code. However, an itinerant teacher may visit a student only once or twice a week. During this often brief contact, it is quite impossible to effectively teach a child braille. As children in the regular classroom are totally immersed in the print medium, the child who is blind requires total immersion in the braille code so that he too can become absorbed, enthralled and fascinated by discovering and using his primary literacy medium. It is essential for many children that they have an aide or support person who is competent, enthusiastic and is highly committed to braille. This is because of the need for constant immediate braille provision. It is of the utmost importance that a child is taught by those who respect and understand his primary literacy medium. There are such teachers and aides in Australia, but as recent research has revealed, they are in short supply (Gentle, 2000).
Many teachers are those who lack specialist training, or have been generically trained, or may be trained but have not taught a child who is blind for several years. This has caused them to lose (and perhaps devalue) their braille competence, which in turn erodes their confidence. Consequently, negative attitudes to braille by generic school staff can often develop because specialist teachers lack confidence and because they are led to believe that modern technology has rendered braille redundant.
In classrooms
The issue of whether to teach Grade 1 or Grade 2 braille to beginning braille users continues to cause heated discussion within Australian classrooms and school systems. There is an obvious need for much intensive debate on this issue. The dilemma seems initially to have been generated in integrated classrooms where there has been an increased emphasis on teaching Grade 1 braille, because it is so much easier to teach and manage. Results of research by Troughton (1992) have indicated that students can benefit from starting with Grade 1 and then successfully moving to Grade 2. Perhaps one of the drawbacks of an over-reliance upon Grade 1 is that teachers who have only rudimentary braille skills themselves, see Grade 1 as the viable option and fail to hone their braille skills, so that both they and the child progress to Grade 2 when the student is ready. One of the expectations that the adoption of a UEBC may generate, is that Grade 2 braille will be simplified and the leap across the chasm between Grade 1 and Grade 2 will then be less challenging for students progressing from one code to the other.
Other important issues for Australian educators include: (a) questions about the optimum time at which to introduce braille to a student with deteriorating vision, and (b) whether or not to introduce braille as a literacy option to a student with low vision. Both issues present a constant challenge to teachers in Australia. Luckily there is much valuable, current literature on the subject (Corn & Koenig, 1996, Harley, Truan, & Sanford, 1997; Koenig & Holbrook, 1995).
The resolution of such problems as those identified above should significantly affect the content of Australian specialist teacher preparation programs.
Teacher training
The extreme lack of appropriately qualified teachers in vision impairment is a matter of major concern for Australian educators. Economic rationalist policies have caused the closure of many tertiary courses and several States and Territories have for some years had no formal specialist teacher training programs. In Australia, the dearth of local on-site training has resulted in the delivery of some courses in distance mode and in other courses being offered only as periodic funding opportunities become available. As a result of these cuts, there is in Australia at present, only one tertiary education institution offering an on-campus braille training course, with other institutions providing braille training through distance mode. Unless the current predicament in the tertiary education system changes radically, it is difficult to imagine that a dynamic and viable future for braille literacy in the Australian school system will eventuate. There are also, in the opinion of the author, several significant problems with braille certification that impact upon the future of braille literacy in Australia.
Braille certification
In Australia, while there exists through the ABA national level certification for braille transcribers, there does not, at this time exist a credible, high standard, national level credential for teachers of braille. A comprehensive national survey of braille teachers and support staff has recently revealed that in 1999, across Australia, 25 different types of braille competence certificates were held by only 66% of braille teachers while four types of braille certificates were held by only 9% of active support staff (Gentle, 2000). Obviously all teachers of braille need to be appropriately credentialled. Under such circumstances it seems in Australia, highly important that concerted thought be given to the development of a national level braille teaching qualification.
Technology
There is little doubt that technology has revolutionised the education of students with vision impairments in Australia as it has elsewhere in the developed world. As an itinerant teacher 25 years ago, the author’s tools of trade were a Perkins brailler and a tape recorder. Students in the schools also had this equipment and in a few instances also had a typewriter and a dictaphone. Today, the range of electronic equipment for students appears to be almost limitless and the explosion in its availability seems to increase exponentially. The smorgasbord of potential offered to current students with vision impairments is of enormous benefit. There currently exists in Australia as elsewhere, perception both from the wider public and more alarmingly from teachers, that the introduction of computers, speech software, braille translation programs and other highly sophisticated electronic aides will supercede the need for braille. Whereas these alternative technologies have a valuable role to play, their use should never be regarded as a substitute for hard copy braille. There has long been concern as to whether listening is in fact literacy or merely a component of literacy acquisition. However, it is generally agreed that in order to develop true literacy it is essential to be able to both read and write and the necessary skills cannot be attained though dependence on the auditory media alone (Australian Braille Authority, 1999).
Quigley (2000) commented upon the dangers to students posed by an over dependence on technology. The major threat is often derived from Educators over-enthusiasm. Today, many Australian schools are self-governing. The administrators of these schools decide the way in which monies for students with disabilities will be spent. The allure of highly sophisticated equipment with voice output to solve the difficulty of having to provide a child with braille, can be seductive, although highly detrimental to the student’s literacy acquisition. Teachers must constantly question how much technology is necessary and as well ponder the appropriate time for its introduction to each child.
Braille accessibility
Difficulties with the provision of braille texts in a timely manner is an issue for some students with vision impairments in regular schools. An excellent Australian national catalogue of braille texts exists. However, there have been reports of difficulties in accessing it and consequently this, in addition to the ever increasing demand for braille, has meant that some production agencies are unable to keep up with demand and students do not always receive their texts on time or may have to be content with audio substitutes. Australians do not have the luxury of receiving mandated support through national or state level braille legislation as do students in some American states. These Acts, for example the Texas Braille Bill, “ensure access to youngsters with visual impairments in school settings” (Jones & Wolffe, 1996).
Communication
In size, Australia is as large as the continental USA. By comparison, in relation to its vast landmass, Australia has a relatively small population. The majority of Australians live in urban costal areas in large cities that are widely separated from each other. The balance of the population live in rural regions, scattered across the country in remote and often isolated areas of the outback, or in sparsely populated communities. The resultant ‘tyranny of distance’ not only presents problems for effective service delivery, but also causes enormous fragmentation and difficulties in communication between education services across the country, since educational jurisdiction in Australia is mostly a state and territory, rather than a federal responsibility. Until recently, communication between specialised educational services for students with vision impairments between states was ad hoc. Biennial conferences of the South Pacific Educators in Vision Impairment (SPEVI) and annual conferences of the Heads of Educational Services from Australia and New Zealand (HOES) have provided the only forums for discussion of issues. Between these conferences there has been some liaison between members but any national projects have been slow to bear fruit. Neither of these bodies employ staff, so that work between meetings relies on the good will and industry of those who can find the time. States and Territories hold their own local meetings but there is little or no interstate interaction. This situation started to change in 1999.
Addressing the issues
For many years Australian teachers of students with vision impairments have reproached themselves individually and collectively about the obvious decline in braille literacy. Many have been aware of the escalating problem and its many causes, but have as individuals felt powerless to address it. As a first step in the process, the Australian Blindness Forum (ABF), currently chaired by the Chief Executive Officer of the Royal Victorian Institute for the Blind, was formed in 1992. Its membership comprises the Chief Executive Officers of the major Australian charitable service provider organisations concerned with people who are blind or vision impaired. In June 1998, the ABF approved the appointment of a Policy Officer (Blindness and Vision Impairment) who would be based in Canberra, the national capital and employed on its behalf by ACROD Limited, the Australian national industry association for disability service provision.
The success of such an appointment is necessarily very person-dependent. The Policy Officer who was appointed had significant experience in the disability field but very little in vision impairment. However, her fresh approach and willingness to learn was truly impressive. She quickly identified that one issue in particular elicited strong views and universal agreement that something needed to be done. It quickly became obvious through her consultations that children who are blind or vision impaired were ‘falling off the literacy agenda’. Information was rapidly collected from those in the field about current education standards and benchmarks as well as about the experiences and problems of the past two decades. Following her initial investigations, the ABF confirmed braille literacy as a priority issue and developed the following Policy Statements. That the AFB will work to:
·
confirm
the importance of braille as the key to acquiring literacy skills for children
who are blind or have low vision;
·
raise
the status of braille literacy within service-providing and consumer agencies
and with families, educators and
the wider community; and
·
provide
a consistent, national basis for promoting braille literacy.
For Australian vision impairment educators nationally, the appointment and work of the new Policy Officer has provided the field with a much needed impetus and a renewed focus on braille literacy. She has drawn together educators and interested participants from the wider blindness sector to unite nationally in a common campaign. Recent initiatives have included a discussion paper entitled Braille literacy: Getting back on the literacy agenda (Verick, 1999), which highlights major concerns about the declining levels of braille literacy among students who are blind. This paper has been widely distributed to professionals and service consumers as well as to the Federal Minister for Education who has acknowledged it and has agreed that he considers literacy to be a key equity issue in education. Other AFB initiatives have included face-to-face meetings of key players, articles published in newsletters and journals and an active email list through which the Policy Officer keeps the field constantly informed about her work as well as any braille literacy developments. This potent ABF initiative has provided the vision impairment field with an unique opportunity and the potential to unite over a critically important issue.
As well as the ABF Policy Officer’s work, the past year has seen several other significant braille literacy initiatives. These have included a major survey of literacy levels among braille teachers and support staff (Gentle, 2000). As well, there has been a braille literacy survey of itinerant teachers (Vision Impairment) in New South Wales State Education Department schools (Telec, 2000). The Gentle Report presented the results of a national survey of 299 braille teachers and 128 support staff. These numbers are concluded to represent almost all braille literacy teachers and support staff in Australia. The survey revealed that 63% of braille teachers were proficient in the literary braille code of whom 53% were knowledgeable of the braille mathematics code. Of the 128 braille support staff who responded, 30% were proficient in the literary braille code and knowledgeable in the braille mathematics code. Recommendations from this study included the following:
· that
refresher courses in braille should be offered by those Australian institutions
at which there are braille training programs;
·
that
braille training programs should include instructional methodologies and
information on braille programming
needs as well as instruction in braille
formatting and layout guidelines, braille translation programs and embosser
technology;
·
that
educational institutions should offer braille training programs in mathematics,
music, chemistry and computer codes;
·
that
distance education courses should be made available and promoted as a component
of professional
development; and
·
that
greater networking is necessary between states and territories.
Telec’s research is still in process and it is anticipated that the survey will be completed by mid-year.
Conclusion
As a result of the publication of the Federal Government’s paper Literacy for all: The challenge for Australian Schools (Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs, 1998), one of the most exciting initiatives to have occurred just prior to the time of writing, is the publication of a four volume report entitled Literacy, numeracy and students with disabilities (van Kraayenoord, Elkins, Palmer & Rickards, 2000). The long-awaited report presents the Commonwealth state and territory governments’ commitment to literacy and numeracy with the goal “That every child leaving primary school should be able to read, write and spell at an appropriate level” (p. 9). In the opinion of those who wrote the report, the acquisition and use of literacy and numeracy skills is portrayed as a critically important source of active participation in society, personal empowerment, and self advocacy for people with disabilities. It is their view that people with disabilities who are literate and numerate have more opportunities to integrate with their communities. They have greater access to education, recreation and leisure opportunities, employment, housing and transport. Literacy and numeracy should, therefore, be conceived by Australia’s Federal Government as a basic right.
Primarily due to lobbying by the ABF’s Policy Officer as well as by the Chief Executive Officer of Vision Australia, the federal Department of Education and Youth Affairs (DETYA) has commissioned a substantial research report on literacy and numeracy acquisition (including the role of braille) from Melbourne-based consultants Jolley William & Associates. The consultant’s group includes academics from Sydney’s Renwick College and the Schonell Special Education Research Centre in Queensland. Their final report is expected in June this year.
It is to hoped that the aspirations and recommendations of those who wrote both reports will be realised through increased government involvement in braille literacy development.
Despite impressive advances made through the work of such community special interest groups as SPEVI, HOES and the AFB; the promise of greater international involvement for Australia through adoption of the UEBC, and the promise of greater involvement of Federal and State governments in enhancing braille literacy opportunity, the challenge of getting braille adequately and intensively taught to students in regular educational settings still remains. It is in this author’s opinion, one of the major issues facing braille literacy decline nationally. Until this predicament is addressed and resolved, the current status of braille literacy in our schools is likely to continue.
References
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Brookshire, D. (1996). Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness 90(3), 169-288.
Castellano, C., & Kosman, K. (1997). The bridge to braille. Baltimore, MD: National Organisation of Parents of Blind Children.
Corn, A. L., & Koenig, A. J. (Eds.). (1996). Foundations of low vision: clinical and functional perspectives. New York: American Foundation for the Blind.
Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs. (1998). Literacy for all: The challenge for Australian schools. Canberra, ACT: Author
Gentle, F. (2000). Braille Literacy: Report of an Australian national survey of braille teachers and support staff. Unpublished paper. Sydney: Renwick College and St Edmund’s School for the Blind and Vision Impaired.
Harley, R. K., Truan, M. B., & Sanford, L. D. (1997). Communication skills for visually impaired learners. Springfield, Illinois: Charles C Thomas.
Hatlen, P. (1997). The core curriculum for blind and visually impaired students, and those with multiple disabilities: Keynote addresses. Papers presented at the conference of the Australia and New Zealand Association of Educators of the Visually Handicapped, Adelaide, Australia.
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Lamb, G. (1996). Beginning braille: A whole language based strategy. Journal of Visual Impairment and Blindness 90(3) 184-189.
Lamb, G. (1998a). Communication, In P. Kelley, & G. Gale (Eds.), Towards excellence: Effective education for students with vision impairments. Sydney: North Rocks Press.
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Spungin, S. J. (1996). Braille and beyond: Braille literacy in a larger context. Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness ,90(3), 271-274.
Swenson, A. (1999). Beginning with braille: Firsthand experiences with a balanced approach to literacy. New York: American Foundation for the Blind.
Telec, F. (2000). Braille literacy survey K-12. Unpublished paper. Sydney: New South Wales Department of Education.
Troughton, M. (1992). One is Fun: Guidelines for better braille literacy. Brantford, Ontario: Author.
van Kraayenoord, C., Elkins, J., Palmer, C., & Rickards, F. (2000). Literacy, numeracy, and students with disabilities. Canberra, ACT: Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs.
Verick, M. (1999). Getting back on the literacy agenda. (Background paper submitted to the Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs), ACROD and the Australian Blindness Forum.
Watkins, K. (1987). Towards systematic education of the blind in Australia: A history of the visually disabled in Australia – an international perspective. Unpublished Ph.D thesis. Sydney, Macquarie University.
Wormsley, D. P. (2000). Braille Literacy Curriculum. Philadelphia: Towers Press
Wormsley, D. P., & D’Andrea, F. M. (Eds.). (1997). Instructional Strategies for Braille Literacy. New York: American Foundation for the Blind.
The support of Dr Mike Steer, Senior Lecturer, Vision Impairment, Renwick College, Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children, Sydney, Australia is acknowledged.
Correspondence:
Gilliam
Gale
Royal
Victorian Institute for the Blind
333 Burwood
Highway
Burwood
3129
Australia
gilliang@alphalink.com.au