CFVI

Curriculum Framework for Children and Young People with Vision Impairment (CFVI)

Defining specialist skills development and best practice support to promote equity, inclusion and personal agency.

Participant feedback from themed CPD events

Getting started with the Curriculum Framework for children and young people with Vision Impairment (CFVI) – Sharing Practice and Experiences (PDF)

This document provides a summary of participants’ responses in CPD undertaken during the academic year 2023-24. These CPD sessions focused on ‘Getting started with the Curriculum Framework for children and young people with Vision Impairment (CFVI) – Sharing Practice and Experiences. This summative document draws together shared experience and practices, organising participants’ responses into ways of working with the CFVI and brings together widely available resources that participants use in their work.

Download new CFVI Specialist Resources now!

Working with partners across the sector and the UK, we have developed a suite of PowerPoint resources focusing on the different key areas of the CFVI. These resources can be used by specialists working with Children and Young People with Vision Impairment (CYPVI) in the field of VI education to support training to key stakeholders and to encourage and support the embedding of the CFVI within all settings.

The training manual that accompanies the PowerPoints provides an overview of their content, including the key messages of each resource. The manual focuses on two of the PowerPoints in detail providing annotations to highlight similarities across the design of slides for Areas 2-11 as well providing an annotation of the Area 1 resource, where the content is organised slightly differently. Finally, the manual explores how the resources might be customised by a presenter.

VIEW Conference 2023 – CFVI presentation

Policy Statements

  • Since the successful launch of the Curriculum Framework for Children and Young People with Vision Impairment (CFVI), we are working on how we can see it embedded into policy across the UK. We are now delighted to share a policy position statement for each of the nations, that sets out what the CFVI is, why it is important and what we would like to see happen in Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England.

To access the policy statements, please visit: CFVI Policy Position statements

Phase 2 of the CFVI

Following the very successful development and launch, in March 2022, of the UKs first Curriculum Framework for children, young people with vision impairment (CFVI) we are now involved in phase 2, of a three-year implementation phase.

  • The initial funding for the Development Phase (September 2020 – August 2022) has enabled VIEW in partnership with RNIB, the Vision Impairment Centre for Teaching and Research (VICTAR) at University of Birmingham, and Thomas Pocklington Trust (TPT) to develop the Curriculum Framework for Children and Young People with Vision Impairment (CFVI) and accompanying resource hub, but this is only the beginning of the work.  This resource will have a huge positive impact on the lives of children with a vision impairment across the UK and we need, therefore, to continue the work and ensure sector UK wide implementation.
  • The embedding of the CFVI within the UK sector and official guidance will provide a formalised sector-agreed best-practice curriculum framework which identifies and secures the needs of CYP with VI and provision to meet them, allowing parents to easily identify the support their children need and ensuring CYP can celebrate the progress of their skills, and recognise the unique abilities that equip them for their future.
  • Phase 2, funded by Wilson and Olegario Philanthropy, will build on phase 1, allowing us to further develop and embed the framework and accompanying resource hub in the sector whilst evaluating its effectiveness with professionals across the UK. We will draw on the expertise of the sector through extensive consultation on the use of the framework in practice ensuring that it is effective across all 4 nations in improving clarity and consistency of provision for children and young people. We will also look to identify barriers to implementation and will collate case studies to highlight effective practice across the UK.  

There are four core areas of focus for phase 2 of the CFVI Project:

  • Specialist Training: The CFVI and associated resources are embedded within education practice across the 4 UK nations, maximising its use across the sector through specialist training programmes, collaborative working and awareness raising activity.
  • Policy & Influencing: Suitable levels of recognition and influence are achieved across the 4 nations, into the relevant education policy procedures, best practice guidance or networks.
  • Evaluation: The CFVI is evaluated, post implementation, assessing the use of, and understanding the effectiveness of the CFVI on practice across the UK including the updating and enhancement of the CFVI as required.
  • Specialist Resource Sharing & Development: A wide range of resources and strategies within all CFVI outcome areas are improved, developed and promoted, ensuring easy, efficient and effective sharing across the UK.

Catch up on the CFVI Update Event – detail about Phase 2

  • RNIB hosted a CFVI Update event, which provides more detail on this new current phase. If you were unable to attend this latest event, it is now available to view at www.rnib.org.uk/cfvi, along with the CFVI and associated resources.

To find out more about the project and how to get involved, please email cypf@rnib.org.uk to register your interest.

Download the CFVI and access the resource hub

This eagerly anticipated framework has been co-produced by the sector, for the sector to support specialists working with children and young people with a vision impairment by defining the specialist skills development and best practice support needed to promote equity, inclusion and personal agency. Read the FAQs on the framework

The framework presents outcomes within 11 teaching areas:

  • Facilitating an Inclusive World
  • Sensory Development
  • Communication
  • Literacy
  • Habilitation: Orientation and Mobility
  • Habilitation: Independent Living Skills
  • Accessing information
  • Technology
  • Health: Social, Emotional, Mental and Physical Wellbeing
  • Social, Sports and Leisure
  • Preparing for Adulthood.

It provides a shared vocabulary to be used by children and young people, their families and professionals in the UK who work with them. A shared vocabulary supports both better communication and purpose.

At the heart of the Framework is a set of three fundamental aims:

  • To help clarify and define the elements of specialist skill development, interventions and best practice support that are considered to be essential for children and young people with vision impairment;
  • To assist qualified specialist practitioners in raising the awareness amongst other professionals and parents of the need for children and young people with vision impairment to be taught skills that enable them to access the curriculum and the wider world with as much independence as possible; 
  • To aid discussions and understanding amongst all involved in a child/young person’s education of how and when these skills should be taught by suitably qualified specialists and reinforced by non-specialists.

You can download the CFVI from the RNIB website.

CFVI Resource Hub – RNIB Bookshare

To accompany the framework, we have developed an online resource hub which is available to all professionals working with children and young people with a vision impairment, free of charge through RNIB Bookshare.

The hub hosts and signposts to resources that have been developed and submitted by individuals, organisations and services from across the sector in relation to delivering the specialist skill areas defined by the new framework.

Visit the RNIB Bookshare CFVI Resource Hub.

This Resource Hub is in its pilot phase of development and we plan to refine both the resources and method of access as the CFVI becomes embedded in practice across the sector. Your feedback is really important to us and will support us to do this in relation to improved functionality or further resource development so that we can ensure you have the resources you require to teach the essential specialist skills, children and young people with a vision impairment may require. Please let us know your feedback by emailing the project team at cypf@rnib.org.uk.

The VI Curriculum Framework Project Team:

  • The professional association for the Vision Impairment Education Workforce (VIEW)
  • Vision Impairment Centre for Teaching and Research (VICTAR) at University of Birmingham
  • Thomas Pocklington Trust (TPT)
  • Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB).
A joint project between RNIB, VIEW, Vision Impairment Centre for Teaching and Research (VICTAR) at University of Birmingham, and Thomas Pocklington Trust (TPT)