Guide to independence

Nicola McDowell (right) enjoys helping students such as Marzbina Irani. Picture / Fotopress

My Job

* Developmental instructor, Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind
* Name: Nicola McDowell
* Age: 24
* Role: Developmental instructor, Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind
* Working hours: 37 hours a week, plus occasional weekend camps
* Pay range: $31,700-$47,300
* Qualifications: Bachelor of Arts, majoring in history


Q: Describe how you got this job When I left varsity I started at the foundation in another role and then I applied for the scholarship programme to train as a developmental instructor.

A: The position came about because the foundation is developing the children's services and ensuring it has trained staff to provide quality services for children, from babies to 21-year-olds. There are three of us doing the job in New Zealand so far.

Q: Describe what you do

A: I work with visually impaired and blind children, promoting independence.

There are two parts to the job: orientation and mobility, working with children on their ability to move within their environment using a cane or, in the future, a guide dog; and adapted daily living, working on daily living skills such as dressing and eating.

We help parents and teachers and teacher's aides and the students themselves, giving them ideas on working around things with their visual impairment.

Some of the work is in schools or early childhood centres and some of it is in the students' homes. Sometimes it involves sharing ideas with teacher aides and allowing them to carry on the programme with the students.

Q: What have you had to do to succeed at this job?

A: The nature of the job means you have to work with a wider team of professionals so we are sharing our knowledge of vision impairment and learning when to hand on cases to others and knowing the boundaries of the job.

You have to be patient as it is very important to give the students enough time to achieve their goals, and you also have to be able to relate to children and work with parents and teachers.

Q: What sort of training or experience do you need?

A: You definitely need a tertiary qualification and an education or health background. You also need experience working with children.

As part of the scholarship programme for developmental instructors, we are doing the Postgraduate Diploma of Rehabilitation at Massey University. As well as using the Massey papers, there is also some training in-house through the NZQA unit standards training system.

Q: What skills and qualities do you need?

A: You need to be flexible as the job changes quite a bit. You need to be willing to travel - I cover east and south Auckland at the moment and it is quite a lot of travel time.

You need to be able to relate to all age groups as you are working with the kids, early childhood workers, teachers, parents. You need the ability to have fun and to adapt programmes for different students.

Q: What is the best part of the job?

A: Working with the children, doing the lessons.

Q: And the most challenging part?

A: Tailoring each programme to a child's individual needs. We work quite a lot with complex needs children, so we have to take into account other factors, not necessarily just vision.

Q: How do you define success in this job?

A: I know my programme has been successful when a child reaches a goal - say, if they wanted to walk from their classroom out to the playground independently with their cane and I see them do that. The self-esteem they get from doing that themselves, that is when you know you have succeeded.

Q: What are your career hopes for future?

A: I would like to finish the Postgraduate Diploma of Rehabilitation, I have three papers to go. Then I would like to research different age groups and needs and conditions based around my work.

Q: If I wanted a job like yours how would I go about it?

A: Positions are always advertised on the foundation's website or ring 0800 243 333 and talk to Kate Kerr, the children's services manager.

Q: What advice would you have for someone contemplating a career like yours?

A: Make sure you know what the job entails. Research it, go out with an instructor. Working with vision- impaired and blind children is different from anything else so you need to know exactly what you are getting into.