The study examined the perspectives of lecturers on pedagogical inclusion of Students
with Visual Impairments (SVI) in higher education institutions in Namibia. The study
aimed at assessing the perspectives of lecturers with the objective of determining the
pedagogical approaches they used and their standpoints, their experiences, their needed
support, their perceived challenges as well as the level of pedagogical inclusion of SVI
in classroom practices.
The study was based on qualitative approaches and used the phenomenological research
design. A purposeful random sampling technique was used to select the sample of the
study. The sample comprised lecturers who taught and those who are currently teaching
SVI in the targeted higher education institutions. Four lecturers from each institution
were interviewed and among the participants, those who had SVI during data collection
were observed.
The study found that most lecturers were positive and willing to include SVI in their
classes. It was also found that adaptation to instructional approaches; study materials and
assessments depended on the efforts and experiences of individual lecturers. Lack of
awareness, skills and knowledge, lack of communication and collaboration, lack of
platforms and units to address issues pertaining to the inclusion of SVI were noted as
challenges perceived by the lecturers.
It was also concluded that there were a lot of teaching and learning activities in which
SVI were excluded. In addition, the study concluded that the outstanding performance
and will to learn shown by SVI motivated the lecturers to put more effort in meeting
their needs.