Inclusive education aims to include students with special needs in mainstream classrooms alongside their typical peers, enabling a collaborative learning environment. However, students with visual impairments (SWVI) often face challenges in accessing the curriculum effectively. Despite Malaysia's introduction of the Zero Reject Policy in 2018, which means no students with disabilities are refused enrolment in any school and have equal access to education, the studies examining the experiences of teachers and SWVI are limited. This lack of empirical evidence has resulted in insufficient resources and materials to support effective implementation. In contrast, international research on inclusive practices is increasing, reflecting the global awareness of supporting SWVI in inclusive environments.

There is a gap of information and research regarding the experiences and instructional practices of teachers and how two types of teachers – mainstream teachers and special education teachers – work together to ensure SWVI can learn in an inclusive setting. Understanding teachers' perspectives and classroom adaptations in Malaysia is crucial to providing insight into the international educational community. Teachers play a critical role in ensuring the success of inclusive education, as their attitude and practices significantly impact the development of students with disabilities (Hodges, 2004). This research explores the teachers' practices in regular schools and the challenges and opportunities for them to ensure the quality of SWVI learning is in a good position. 

This research adopted a qualitative research approach by using a multiple-case study design to explore teacher experiences and inclusive classroom adaptations for SWVI in Malaysia. Semi-structured interviews and classroom observations were conducted in three different schools, and a total of 15 teachers who have direct experience teaching SWVI participated in this research. Data were analyzed using Reflexive Thematic Analysis (Braun and Clarke, 2022) to identify key challenges, adaptation strategies, hopes, suggestions, and support systems. The findings are also interpreted through the eleven areas of the Curriculum Framework for Children and Youth with Visual Impairment (CFVI).

Findings reveal that teachers face multiple challenges, including limited training in pedagogy, inadequate teaching resources, time management, and the complexity of relationships between regular teachers and special education teachers. Despite these limitations, teachers demonstrate creativity and professionalism by modifying instructional materials, employing assistive technology, and collaborating with parents. These adaptive strategies help SWVI to be more independent in a regular school.

In conclusion, this research highlights the interplay between teachers and the system supporting inclusive education in Malaysia. By focusing on teacher experiences and practical adaptations, this study provides insights that are crucial for improving inclusive education locally and contributes knowledge to international communities that are seeking information to enhance the quality of inclusive environments for SWVI.

This research used a qualitative research approach through a multiple-case study design. The decision to use a qualitative research approach was based on its alignment with the research questions, which aimed to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the educational and lived experiences of students with visual impairment and the experiences of teachers. As stated by Cresswell (2002), qualitative research provide deep understanding through rich and in-depth data. This study operates within an interpretivist paradigm, seeking to understand the spesific context of the case through multiple perspectives. The context of the case means that the 11 areas of the Curriculum Framework for Children and Youth with Visual Impairment (CFVI) were fully utilized in this study and were implemented at three schools. Each school is located in a different geographical area and has its own characteristics. The duration of research in every school was one month. Participants were selected based on spesific inclusion criteria to ensure relevance and depth of data, as follows: i. Principal: Headteacher at School A, School B, and School C. (n=3) ii. Teacher (Group A): Trained in special education training pedagogy, teaching students with visual impairment in inclusive primary schools for more than 5 years. (n=6) iii. Teacher (Group B): No training in special education pedagogy, teaching students with visual impairment in inclusive primary schools for more than 5 years.(n=6) This paper specifically addresses one research purpose and two research questions as a part of this broader research. RP: Explore how the curriculum accommodations and adaptations support students with visual impairment and balance ‘learning to access’ and ‘access to learning’ to strengthen personal agency and independence in their education. RQ1: What accommodations to the school curriculum enable students with visual impairment to achieve personal agency and independence? RQ2: What adaptations do teachers use to ensure students with visual impairment achieve learning objectives in the classroom?

This study revealed that teachers play a crucial role in ensuring that students with visual impairments receive a quality education. Teachers are one of the important stakeholders that affect the success of Inclusive education. However, other stakeholders such as the government, parents, and the community also must make proactive efforts to support the goals of inclusive education. The elements of CFVI are also important to ensure that the SWVI will receive better education quality. This research also examined the hope, experiences, barriers and challenges among the teachers in implementing inclusive education in regular schools. Findings indicate the reasons why the teachers agree and disagree about inclusive education and identify the appropriate time to implement inclusion for SVWI. Besides that, these findings suggest an urgent need for professional development for teachers on Braille literacy, orientation and mobility, and understanding the development of SWVI. However, several limitations are identified in this study. First, the limited duration of this study is one month per school across three schools. A short duration of the study may not capture the long-term effects of changes in practices (Creswell, 2018). Secondly, although this is a case study and involves a small sample size, this limits the ability to generalize findings to a broader population.

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