SPEVI News
Announcing the 2025 SPEVI Conference - Mark your diaries
It is with great pleasure that we announce the 2025 SPEVI conference which will be held from 13-15 January 2025 in Brisbane, Queensland. We invite all SPEVI members and friends from Australia, New Zealand, Pacific and the world to join us at this unmissable event. It will be SPEVI's first hybrid conference, so you can attend online from where you may be, as well as in-person, at the beautiful Springfield campus of the University of Southern Queensland UniSQ. In any case 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.
As the conference evolves, you'll see updates and many opportunities to become involved; everything from conference organising committees to presenters to sponsors, you can be a part of SPEVI history!
Ben Clare, 2025 Conference Convenor
SPEVI Communities of Practice (CoP's)
Calling for Expressions of Interest to join newly established SPEVI Deafblind Education Community of Practice.
For Australian, New Zealand and Pacific Island educators and other professionals who support children and young people with deafblindness. Read more and register your interest in the SPEVI Deafblind Education CoP.
Parents and Carers of children/young people with blindness and low vision CoP
This SPEVI Community of Practice specifically for Parents and Carers will convene again in 2024. Read more information about the SPEVI Parents CoP.
SPEVI Early Intervention VI Community of Practice
This successful and well-established CoP is held on the 4th Thursday of every 2 months. Open to members and non-members of SPEVI who work in Early Intervention VI or have an interest in the topic. Read more about the SPEVI EIVI CoP here.
Last chance to submit your paper for JSPEVI Vol 16, 2023
The Editorial Committee invites submission of original manuscripts, reports and news items for the next edition of the Journal of the South Pacific Educators in Vision Impairment (JSPEVI). The journal provides essays, quantitative and qualitative research articles and analyses, conceptual papers, literature and book reviews, case studies, policy analyses and innovative practice descriptions and evaluations as well as perspectives and opinions on a wide variety of issues and topics related to the education of children, youth and adults in Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Island Countries who are blind or have low vision. Further information, including guidelines for submission can be found here.
To allow for peer review, please submit manuscripts no later than the end of November 2023. Submissions should be sent to Convening Editor Dr Bronwen Scott bronscott65@gmail.com.
Previous issues of the Journal of South Pacific Educators in Vision Impairment are available for free download from the JSPEVI webpage.
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.
SPEVI 2023 Conference Papers on the website
Video recordings, papers, handouts and posters from the online SPEVI 2023 conference are now available in the SPEVI Conference Paper repository! Hosted by SPEVI NZ, the 2023 Conference, with the theme 'Cultivating New Futures Together: Growth for Life', offered incredible keynote and plenary presentations from Martine Abel-Williamson, Professor Cay Holbrook, Dr Lisa Hamm, Professor John Ravenscroft, Dr Joanne Mosen and Lee Kumatat, as well as a large number of paper, poster and panel presentations by expert professionals in the field of Special Education (Vision Impairment) from around the globe.
View and/or download for free. Many thanks to the conference organisers, presenters, sponsors and registered delegates for making it all possible.
Meanwhile, preparations for the 2025 SPEVI Conference are in full swing!
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.
