Title of the research: Assessment and Teaching of Social-Emotional Skills to Students with Visual Impairments in Switzerland: Perspectives of Special Education Teachers Names and workplaces of researchers: Alessio Barras, Cindy Diacquenod, ValŽrie Caron, Nicolas Ruffieux. All of them are employed at the Department of Special Education, University of Fribourg, Switzerland. In this research, the term visual impairments is abbreviated as VI, the term teachers of students with visual impairments is abbreviated as TVIs. The term social-emotional skills is abbreviated as SES. Aim of the study To explore the perspectives of 23 Swiss teachers of students with visual impairments (TVIs) on Social-Emotional Skills (SES) by answering the following questions: 1. How do TVIs understand SES? 2. How do TVIs asses SES? 3. How do TVIs teach SES? 4. How are TVIs trained regarding assessment and teaching of SES? Study introduction - SES refers to the ability to cognitively process social information and enact behaviors to communicate with others (for example holding a conversation, creating friendships, or playing with peers). - SES are primarily learned through observation and imitation, which implies a great importance of the visual system. - Students with visual impairments (VI) may encounter potential difficulties. - Therefore, assessment and explicit teaching of SES are important for children and adolescents with VI. - Across Switzerland, 1639 children with known visual impairments have been identified, representing 0.17% of the total mandatory school population. - Swiss school curricula recommend a transversal teaching of SES. Method of the study Instrument - The authors developed a French-language questionnaire that was reviewed by four experts in the field and tested with two TVIs. - The final version includes 28 questions (14 open and 14 closed) and has been translated into German and Italian. Participants - The 23 TVIs were recruited through the main Swiss centers for special education in VI. Data collection and analysis - The 23 interviews were conducted in three languages (8 in French, 8 in German, 7 in Italian), with an average duration of 58 minutes. - A content analysis grid was used to code responses to open-ended questions using NVivo software. - Cohen's Kappa on 6 interviews (26.08% of the interviews) shows interrater reliability between 0.64 and 1 - substantial to almost perfect agreement. Results of the study 1. Understanding of Social-Emotional Skills - SES are perceived by TVIs as skills related to relating to others, adapting to social context and emotional self-control. - Overall, TVIs estimate that students with VI have a lot of difficulties in SES, with a moderate impact on their well-being. 2. Assessment of Social-Emotional Skills - Although most TVIs conduct some kind of SES assessment in their practice (N=21; 91.3%), no standardized tools were mentioned. - Various methods have been, such as discussions with the team or the use of nonstandardized checklists. Only one checklist specific to SES was mentioned (ELDiB). 3. Teaching of Social-Emotional Skills - In general, TVIs are in favor of teaching SES Ð one or two hours a week Ð as a school subject (N=18; 78.2%). - Various teaching strategies are used: cognitive and behavioral strategies, collaborative games, class councils, VI awareness workshops, tactile pictograms for social interaction and role-playing scenarios. One explicit SES program is mentioned (DENK-WEGE). - TVIs see their role as facilitating interaction between the social context and the student with VI. 4. Training in assessment and teaching of Social-Emotional Skills - Most TVIs received specific VI training (N=15; 65.2%), while others did not (N=8; 34.8%). - A vast majority indicated that no assessment tools (N=22; 95.6%) or teaching programs (N=21; 91.3%) had been presented during the training received. Discussion and conclusions of the study - TVIs consider that students with VI have a lot of difficulties in SES, with a moderate impact on their well-being. - TVIs see themselves as mediators and consider teaching SES as part of their mandate. However, this role requires tools in terms of assessment and teaching. - The scientific literature recommends the use of standardized assessment tools (for example SSIS-SEL or SSAT-VI) and explicit teaching of SES (for example activities from the Expanded Core Curriculum or interventions summarized in Caron et al. (2023) systematic review). - Contrary to what Swiss school curricula currently state, the scientific literature recommends the explicit teaching of SES for students with VI. - Overall, this study suggests that TVIs in Switzerland should be better trained regarding the assessment and teaching of SES and that curricula should be adapted to include explicit teaching of SES for students with VI. Future perspectives Alessio Barras is doing a PhD - under the supervision of Prof. Dr Nicolas Ruffieux, in collaboration with Dr Valerie Caron. The PhD has the following title: Assessment and teaching of SES for children and adolescents with VI. In addition to this research, a systematic review has already been published and two studies will be carried out in the future: 1. Firstly, an Assessment of Social-Emotional Skills of Children and Adolescents with Visual Impairments in French-Speaking Switzerland. 2. Secondly the Development of a Social-Emotional Skills learning curriculum for Children and Adolescents with Visual Impairments.