| Description | Interview with Freddie Tooze, superintendent at Royal Sheffield School for the Blind, and his wife. Freddie Tooze continues to discuss the need to revise the system of blind education, the historical lack of co-ordination between schools for blind children, the perpetuation of the segregation of blind people through the existence of specialised agencies and associations for blind people and his belief that they should become more commercial. He talks about prevailing attitudes of sighted people towards blindness, fears of blindness and discrimination against blind people in employment. Mrs Tooze talks about achievements at the school only being worthwhile when the children can function outside a sheltered environment and Freddie Tooze talks about the aims of the school and the need to set up a permissive environment and foster a happy atmosphere and his wife talks about the importance of treating children as individuals. They both emphasise the need to change the system from within and to send blind children out into sighted society and discuss different ways of teaching maths and mobility, criticising the American method of teaching orientation through the use of sound and the long cane and expressing their view that good teachers can create a challenging environment for the individual to be motivated to want to learn (tracks 1-13).
Total: 38.03 mins
Dubber's reference number: PLA KF565D0769080 |