Sounds good campaign attracts wide support
A range of leading organisations working with children with special educational needs have lent their support to NDCS's campaign for schools that sound good, giving the campaign a major boost.
In a letter to the editor of the Times Educational Supplement, the organisations call for the Government to treat acoustics as a higher priority and to take action on introducing a requirement to test new school buildings before they open to pupils. The diversity of organisations which includes the leader of a large local authority, willing to support the campaign confirms that acoustics is an important issue for all children, as well as for teachers.
These organisations include:
- British Council of School Environments
- British Society of Audiology
- Ear Foundation
- Essex County Council (which has taken a lead in improving acoustics in schools locally)
- National Association of Schoolmasters Workers Union of Teachers (NASUWT)
- National Autistic Society (NAS)
- National Children's Bureau (NCB)
- Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID)
- Sense
- Skill
- Voice Concern
Update (7 May 2009): The following organisations are now also supporting the campaign:
- The Communication Trust (a consortium of charities working for children with spech and language needs)
- Treehouse
- British Association of Educational Audiologists
- Special Educational Consortium
NDCS is continuing to campaign for the Government to introduce a new requirement for testing of acoustics in new school buildings. At the time of writing, over 150 supporters had used NDCS's website to contact their MP to call for action on this issue.
More information:
Full text of the letter to the editor of the Times Educational Supplement:
"Following Sir Alan Steer’s report published this week confirming a link between the built environment and pupil behaviour, we believe that high quality acoustics in schools are vital for children to be able to listen and learn effectively in the classroom. They are especially important for children with special educational needs, such as those with a hearing or visual impairments or with communication difficulties.
Teachers benefit from good acoustics too and they deserve to work in classrooms where they can be heard. It is alarming that teachers are more likely to experience problems with their voice than many other professions. Losing your voice should not be an occupational hazard for our frontline staff.
Yet despite this, we believe acoustics are being treated as a low priority in many areas, resulting in some new classrooms being built that are hostile listening environments. And large open classrooms are being promoted without considering how new designs can work for children with special educational needs.
We do not believe it can be ethical to place a child in a school in which they are unable to learn. And it makes no sense for there to be no requirement anywhere for testing of acoustics in schools. That is why we call on the Government to treat acoustics as a greater priority, with a new requirement for pre-completion acoustic testing, an audit of new schools and greater monitoring going forward.
The Government has committed to inclusion and equality for disabled children. If schools don’t sound good, we will fail to meet this goal."
Contact: campaigns@ndcs.org.uk
