"Centre IRIS – Centre for Education, Rehabilitation, Inclusion and Counselling for the Blind and Partially Sighted"

    Centre IRIS – Centre for Education, Rehabilitation, Inclusion and Counselling for the Blind and
Partially Sighted is the only special public institution in Slovenia providing education for children andyoung people with visual impairment (VI), including those with multiple disabilities (MDVI), from preschool to the end of upper secondary education level. In addition to this main task, it also
performs a range of activities related to the field of education of the visually impaired like
- services supporting inclusive education settings/mainstream education,
- workshops for children and young people with visual impairment, their families, teachers etc.,
- training of teachers and other professionals working with the visually impaired in inclusive education
settings,
- counselling,
- gatherings of professionals,

   It used to be a special primary school for children with VI and one of the two institutions dealing with
the education of the blind and partially sighted. In 2004 the two institutions merged into one. In 2016
its name changed from Zavod za slepo in slabovidno mladino Ljubljana (Institute for Blind and
Partially Sighted Children Ljubljana) into Centre IRIS – Centre for Education, Rehabilitation, Inclusion and Counselling for the Blind and Partially Sighted to show the direction of its development in the future and that is especially a holistic support of inclusive education settings for the target group. The Centre IRIS offers the following adapted education programmes for pupils and students with visual impairment:
- pre-school education (ages of 1 – 6)
- compulsory basic education (ages of 6 – 15): equal educational standard, lower educational
standard, special programmes for severe MDVI children and young people
- upper secondary education (ages of 15 +): short vocational programme (assistant in administration
and care assistant), vocational programme (administration services), vocational technical
uppersecondary programme (economics technicians)
- boarding school for pupils/students with special needs.

    Areas of work and services offered by the centre of expertise supporting inclusion:
- Early intervention.
- Providing training of special education activities for blind and partially sighted pupils and students in inclusive education settings, namely O&M (orientation and mobility), communication skills, ADLs
(Activities of daily living), sport and leisure time activities, social skills and socialisation.
- Supporting the inclusive forms of education and providing training for professionals in inclusive
education settings who teach visually impaired pupils and students.
- Providing adapted materials and other teaching resources.
- Helping and supporting parents of visually impaired children and young people.
- Raising awareness and informing the public about special needs of people with visual impairment.

    In academic year 2018/19, 47 pupils and students attend adapted programmes at our school and
about 230 pupils and students are supported in inclusive education settings, 30 in early intervention:
in mainstream schools and kindergartens, as nowadays, more and more children and their parents
decide to stay in their local environment and attend a nearby mainstream school. Therefore, the
major task of the Centre in the last decade has been to establish a modern resource centre/centre of
expertise to support inclusive education settings. As a centre of expertise the organisation is involved
in a four-year national programme trying out the role of a centre of expertise for the population of
children and young people with VI/MDVI.
    The number of professional staff has grown in the last few years due to bigger demands in the field
and involvement of our organisation in different projects. At the moment there are 79 members of
staff, 58 being professional workers and 21 members of technical staff.