Reflections on sight loss - RNIB

Career focus
New rehabilitation worker degree puts
profession on equal footing
A new training option being offered by Birmingham City University will
give rehabilitation workers the opportunity for equal standing with other
professions. Jo Hook explains.
The new qualification is a Foundation Degree
in Rehabilitation Work (Visual Impairment),
with the first two years of full-time study
equating to the previous diploma and the
third layer (designed as part-time study)
forming a top-up for those who wish to obtain
a BSc or BSc (Hons) in Rehabilitation Work.
It will also provide continuing professional
development (CPD) for rehabilitation workers.
Foundation Degree in Rehabilitation
Work (Visual Impairment)
The major changes to the Rehabilitation Work
qualification from September 2009 are:
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Instead of a long (75-day) placement
towards the end of the second year,
students will do 60 days of work based
Learning in each academic year, spaced
between group learning weeks at the
university. This gives all students the
opportunity to put into practice the skills
that they are learning at the university in
group learning weeks.
Modules are now in multiples of 15 credits
(rather than the old system of 12), with all
modules at level 4 and 5 being equivalent
to 30 credits.
Rather than being a diploma, the course is
now a foundation degree, but all the
modules are still specifically designed
containing the core elements of the
rehabilitation worker job role.
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There is a greater concentration of time
spent on skills teaching and experiential
learning in the group learning weeks.
Students will now study:
In year 1 (level 4)
● Moving into higher education (equips
students with skills for lifelong learning
both academically and personally)
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Foundations of activities of daily living and
communications (to enable students to
support blind and partially sighted people
to live as independently as possible)
Foundations of orientation and mobility (to
enable students to teach someone who is
blind or partially sighted to travel as
independently as possible in their
environment)
Low vision, blindness and impairment (to
give students basic knowledge of the eye
and how it works, functional vision with eye
conditions, theories of disability and
additional disabilities)
In year 2 (level 5)
● Practice debate (focusing on contemporary
issues in rehabilitation work, including
legislation and policy)
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Activities of daily living and communications
for practice (this module includes teaching ➜
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