Intervention Services for Female Visually Impaired Children in Saudi Arabia: A Qualitative Exploration

Abstract

This study investigated how well the intervention services for blind female children in Saudi Arabia met the needs and expectations of blind female students, their parents and teachers. It explored the reasons for the particular choice of interventions and examined how they could be improved. The case study is based on the literature, mainly a documentary review of papers produced by the Ministry of Education, policies and curriculum information from the schools and other public sector documents. The study adopted a qualitative methodology, with the researcher’s involvement in interpretation of the findings clearly described in the concluding section. It also involved a series of semi-structured interviews with children, parents, and teachers followed by a series of observations at the schools. The interview findings were analysed by identifying main themes. The most important findings were that teachers needed to have a warm relationship with and a special interest in their students; there were the needs to have more flexibility and freedom in the curriculum for teachers to design school and individual curricula combined with greater use of the available technology; and more practical, useful and relevant subjects should be included to improve the quality of intervention services. The design of buildings to suit blind female children should also be considered as Saudi Arabia continues its ambitious education restructuring programme.