Advisory Teachers of Vision Impairment (ATVI) carry out a central role in the education of children and young people with vision impairment from birth, working in homes, early years settings, schools and post 16 settings.
This includes:
- Managing requests for access from health, education and social care.
- Deliver and promote the curriculum framework for visual impairment, focusing on smart outcomes, specialist provision and common use of language.
- Providing direct support to children aged 0-4 at home to support early development through play and learning.
- Carry out specialist assessments to identify individual need.
- Provide advice to educational settings including nurseries, special schools and Post 16 settings on appropriate outcomes and provision needed.
- Specialist vision impairment training provided.
- Teaching specialist skills, for example Braille, the use of specialist equipment and ICT e.g. shortcut keys.
- Training for staff on how to adapt and modify teaching and learning resources.
- Provide advice on exam access arrangements.
- Liaising and joint working with the ROVIC team.
- Supporting children and young people through key transition stages.
In recognition of the above skills ATVIs are required to hold a specialist mandatory qualification (MQ) which addresses a wide range of specialist outcomes. The importance of this qualification has recently been restated by DfE in the 2015 SEND Code of Practice.