Teachers

Sight is vital to children’s learning.

A huge percentage of children’s sensory learning comes from sight: by seeking, watching, reading and by catching sight of new things.

When a person’s vision is reduced, their learning can be badly affected.

• Would you like to ensure your pupils can see as well as possible?
• Do you want to improve your pupils’ appreciation of the world whilst meeting key targets identified in the national curriculum?
• Do you have a child who is blind or partially-sighted in your school and do you wish to improve their schooling experience - their learning and their friendships?

If you have answered ‘yes’ to any of these questions, then you are in the right place. Guide Dogs’ Healthy Eyes website can help.

Each of the following sections is aimed specifically at teachers, to help you maximise learning in class and to improve your understanding of eye conditions and sight loss.

• find out how to recognise sight problems the main eye conditions
• improve your and your pupils' understanding of sight loss. For example, did you know that only four per cent of blind people are totally without sight?
• brush up your knowledge about the law and children’s eye tests and make sure your students receive the medical eye care to which they are legally entitled.
• let Guide Dogs help you meet those national curriculum teststargets. We have identified key areas of study on this website that can be used to aid and support your classroom teaching. Subject areas include: citizenship, English, maths, science, geography, history and IT.
• visit Guide Dogs’ extensive list of interesting and practical educational resources about healthy eyes and sight loss that can support classroom teaching.
• find out more about Guide Dogs, research  into school eye tests that identifies how vision screening varies greatly in different areas and how dangerous this is for children’s sight and general health.