AWARENESS AS CORNERSTONE TO INCLUSIVE SUPPORT FOR LEARNERS WITH COLOUR VISION DEFICIENCY

Abstract

There is a scarcity of research in South Africa on how to support learners with colour vision
deficiency (CVD). Inspired by inclusive approaches to education, the purpose of our research
was to explore and describe teachers’ understanding and awareness of CVD and their
experiences in teaching such learners, with the aim of enhancing effective support provision to
learners with CVD. We implemented an explanatory sequential mixed methods design and
collected/generated data in two phases. During the quantitative phase, we relied on a
combination of convenient and purposive sampling to select 92 public school teachers in South
Africa to complete a structured questionnaire. During the qualitative phase, data were generated
through seven semi-structured interviews involving nine conveniently selected participants.
Quantitative data were analysed by means of descriptive and inferential statistics, while we
relied on inductive thematic analysis to analyse the qualitative data. The findings of our research
indicate that the teacher-participants who had taught learners with CVD implemented supportive
changes in their classroom teaching to accommodate these learners. We therefore concluded
that teacher awareness of CVD may contribute to positive changes in support of learners with
CVD. We therefore recommend that teachers should be made aware of the condition, for
example through pre-service and in-service training initiatives, as this may guide them to offer
inclusive support to learners with CVD.

Keywords: Colour vision deficiency (CVD), inclusive education, learner support, special needs,
teacher awareness