Abstract:

The topic of socialization of students with visual impairments has been marginally researched in national (even in the regional) inclusive scientific discourse. Previous national research has mostly focused on the perspective of visually impaired students themselves, i.e., their perception of feelings and experiences related to relationships with peers in the classroom. Given that the quality of social interaction between students with and without disabilities in the classroom largely depends also on the attitudes of the teachers, this paper emphasizes the teachers' perspective on the specifics of the socialization of students with visual impairments, their peer relationships, and social skills, as well as possible strategies encouraging social interaction of students with visual impairments in mainstream primary schools. The paper then presents the results of a qualitative research conducted in 2021 on an appropriate sample of eight classroom teachers in regular elementary schools in the Republic of Croatia. The analysis of the data collected using the asynchronous interview method, i.e., a written questionnaire, showed that the respondents believe that the social interaction between students with visual impairments and peers with typical development is of high quality, however, they note that interactions are less frequently initiated by students with visual impairments and warn of the issue of peer violence by students of other classes. They believe that in achieving successful social inclusion of students with visual impairments, group work, i.e., collaborative activities in class, as well as various workshops and activities aimed at creating a positive classroom climate, are extremely important. In designing such activities as well as in working with students with visual impairments generally, the participants emphasize the rare cooperation with school support staff members and agree that professional development in this area is extremely necessary.

Keywords:

Students with visual impairments, social interaction, mainstream primary schools, Republic of Croatia, qualitative methodology.