Introduction. In the context of ongoing diversification of education for children with disabilities, including the blind and visually impaired, it is of fundamental importance to understand how institutionalization of inclusive education affects the key needs of school teaching staff working with children with special educational needs (SEN). The research undertaken in 2018 focused on studying the hierarchy and internal content of staffing, competency, methodological and professional communication needs of schools where children with severe visual impairments are taught in the context of building an institutional balance between differentiation and inclusion. Materials and Methods. The study was based on the content analysis. The texts of the following documents, which were published on the websites of 153 schools, where blind and visually impaired children are taught in an inclusive or differentiated format, were analyzed: the development strategy of the education setting, the results of self-assessment, and