SPEVI News
SPEVI Symposium 2024
When: Tuesday 14 May 2024, 3:00 - 4:00 pm VIC/QLD
“Me and Rick”, a program teaching spatial concepts to young children who are blind and the "Braille Box" project for pre- and early braille learners.
Keynote speakers: Ans Withagen, Evert Rasing, and Ruben Brandsma, Visio.
This FREE online event is brought to you in a unique partnership: organised by SPEVI Inc, hosted by Statewide Vision Resource Centre Victoria, and presented by Royal Dutch Visio. For SPEVI members, non-members welcome. The session will be recorded and made available to registered participants. More info and to register (required).
Conference News - SPEVI 2025: EmPOWERment through connection, inclusion and education
The 2025 SPEVI conference will be held from 13-15 January 2025 in Brisbane, Queensland. The Conference Theme is SPEVI 2025: EmPOWERment through connection, inclusion and education. We invite all SPEVI members and friends from Australia, New Zealand, Pacific and the world to join us at this unmissable event. This conference will be hybrid, meaning delegates can attend in person or online with dynamic programs planned for both platforms. The face to face event will take place at the University of Southern Queensland city campus, right in the heart of bustling and exciting Brisbane!
This conference will be a great opportunity for all to learn, gather, network and have lots of fun. SPEVI will also be celebrating its 70th anniversary, a chance to reflect on our humble beginnings to what we are today: a truly robust and professional organisation making its mark in the education of people with vision impairment through our diverse and highly expert membership and supporters. Remember to bookmark the dedicated conference website: http://www.speviconference.net and if you're talking about us, use the hashtag #spevi2025#
SPEVI Communities of Practice (CoP's)
Next meeting SPEVI Early Intervention Community of Practice: April 18 2024.
Because of Easter, the next meeting of the SPEVI EIVI CoP has been postponed until April 18, 2024, at 03:30 PM Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney (5.30 pm NZ). Special guest speaker will be Dr Lisa Hamm. More details.
Spevi CoP for Parents and Carers of children/young people with blindness and low vision
This SPEVI Community of Practice specifically for Parents and Carers will convene again in 2024. Read more information about the SPEVI Parents CoP.
Out Now! Volume 16, Number 1, 2023 of the Journal of the South Pacific Educators in Vision Impairment
Includes articles by the following leading educators and researchers:
- Yikun Li, Sue Silveira & Kathleen Tait - Exploring family quality of life among families raising children with vision impairment: A review of the literature
- Rebekah Graham and Bridgette Masters-Awatare - Two Māori whānau reflect on accessing education for a visually impaired student in Aotearoa New Zealand
- Rebekah Graham and Rebekah Corlett - Parent Perspectives on Engaging with Educators and Specialist Staff
- Lily Gower & Phia Damsma - How to use Sonification in the classroom
Download this and past Issues of the JSPEVI Journal here
A decade of SPEVI Conference Papers on the website
Video recordings, papers, handouts and posters from previous SPEVI biennial conferences between 2012-2023 are available in the SPEVI Conference Paper repository!
SPEVI members benefit: discounted Professional Development events
SPEVI is proud to announce our continuing partnership for 2024 with NextSense Continuing Professional Education (CPE) events and Statewide Vision Resource Centre (SVRC, Victoria) professional learning (PL) events. This means that like the previous years, current SPEVI members can register for these PD events with a considerable discounted fee. If you are not a current member of SPEVI Inc., please join now and enjoy this members benefit in the New Year. With thanks to NextSense and SVRC for supporting SPEVI’s aim of encouraging the highest standards in the educators of persons with vision impairment by promoting research and professional training for general and specialist teachers.
Member discounts for NextSense Continuing Professional Education
SPEVI Inc (Australia) continues to offer member discounts for NextSense Institute's Continuing Professional Education (CPE) events in 2024. Each SPEVI Inc. member is entitled to five discount event registrations for NextSense.
Members can register by visiting the NextSense Professional Development website
We recommend you to book early, as the SPEVI Inc. Committee of Management has set an upper limit of funds for the discount event registrations.
Please contact Trudy Smith, Manager of NextSense Institute CPE program, if you have any questions – trudy.smith@nextsense.org.au.
Member discounts for SVRC’s professional learning (PL) events
SPEVI Inc. (Australia) and Statewide Vision Resource Centre (SVRC, Victoria) are again partnering to offer SPEVI Inc members a 50% discount on the registration costs of five of the ten SVRC’s professional learning (PL) events in 2024.
This offer is for members of SPEVI Inc. only, and is limited to 5 events per member per year. The registration cost for most events is around $33.00 ('Teaching and Learning with braille music' workshop: $55).
For details about the events, please review the SVRC Professional Learning calendar on the SVRC website - Upcoming Events — Statewide Vision Resource Centre (svrc.vic.edu.au)
SVRC uses Eventbrite for their professional learning registrations.
If you are a current SPEVI Inc. member and want to benefit from this offer, please contact the SPEVI Secretary to request a promo code to register at the 50% reduced fee through Eventbrite.
If you have any queries regarding the registration process or the SVRC events, please email svrc@education.vic.gov.au
The South Pacific Educators in Vision Impairment (SPEVI) is the major professional association for educators of students with vision impairments in Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific region. SPEVI acts as the professional body in matters pertaining to the education and support of persons who are blind, have low vision, deaf-blindness, or additional disabilities.
SPEVI membership is open to professionals and parents/caregivers supporting children and adults with vision impairment, including general teachers and specialist teachers (vision impairment), allied health professionals, orientation mobility specialists and assistive technology consultants.
SPEVI is a dynamic organisation, actively working for its members. It is registered as an incorporated organisation in Australia (Registration Number INC9889733) and New Zealand.
