Report
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For the third time within five years' time, ICEVI Europe held a workshop on training of teachers of the visually impaired, herewith emphasizing the importance that ICEVI attaches to this subject within the scope of realising the objectives of ICEVI: exchange of experience and discussion about the important role that teachers play in the education of children and youth with a visual impairment.
After Budapest, March 1997, with 42 participants from 22 countries, and Bratislava, September 1999, with 48 participants from 22 countries, now in Warsaw: 59 participants from 26 countries. This year, we could also welcome representatives from Latvia, Macedonia, Russia and Ukraine.
As we did with regard to the former workshops, we would like to share the outcome of this workshop with all colleagues professionally or otherwise involved in the training of teachers of the visually impaired: hence this publication.
Many people did a lot of work in preparing the workshop:
Chris Arter (UK) and Emmy Csocsan (Germany) in preparing the contents of the workshop; Jadwiga Kwapisz, Nina Hummel and Grazyna Walczak, members of the department of Visual Impairment of the Academy of Special Education in Warsaw, in preparing the organization of the workshop.
The publication of this report would not have been possible without the reporters of the different discussion groups, Mrs Lidia Zaremba, Mr Jaroslaw Wiazdowski, Mr Michal Kamionka, Mr Bartosz Wisniewski and Mr Wojciech Maj.
The editing of the final text as well as the preparation of this report for printing was done by Mrs Carolien Hermans. I would like to express my gratitude to all of them for their efforts.
I also want to extend a special word of thanks to the "Katholieke Stichting voor Blinden en Slechtzienden"
(the Catholic foundation for the Blind and Partially Sighted) in the Netherlands, the Batory Foundation in Poland and the Academy of Special Education Maria Grzegorzweska in Poland for their generous financial donations, without which this workshop could not have taken place.
I sincerely hope that this report, in combination with the reports of the two former workshops, will contribute to the discussion about the improvement of the curriculum of the training of the teachers of the visually impaired in Europe, leading to this training being increasingly attuned to the special needs of children and youth with a visual impairment.
This report will also be published on our website as were the reports of the two former workshops: www.icevi-europe.org
Dr Herman A.A. Gresnigt,
European Chairman ICEVI
e-mail: herman.gresnigt@upcmail.nl