Experiences of School Administrators and Teachers in Kindergarten Program for Children with Visual Impairment

The Department of Education, adhering to the Kindergarten Education Act and other laws declaring the provision of education to children with disabilities, provides education to every Filipino child including those with visual impairment. The said program envisions students to acquire learning skills that will enable a Filipino child with visual impairment to function effectively and independently for inclusion in the community as a productive citizen while being aligned and anchored on the Department of Education’s Kindergarten Curriculum Framework. The study identified the positive and negative experiences of teachers and administrators along with the factors that contributed to the experiences by exploring the experiences of five (5) teachers and five (5) school administrators in their program delivery employing the use of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). From these experiences and considering the previous study related four emergent themes were presented: 1) Journey Towards Progress, 2.) Filling the Education Gap, 3.) collective efforts, and 4.) Support Issues. The study showed the interwoven experiences influenced by several factors leading to what they considered as the success of the program. Recommendations for school administrators and teachers were also drawn from the study along with the recommendation for future studies.