Primary school results make ‘stark’ reading for deaf children

Key Stage Two results published today reveal that most deaf children are failing to achieve good standards of literacy and numeracy, compared with 19 per cent of children without Special Educational Needs (SEN), and many are also progressing at a slower rate.

NDCS has linked these stubbornly poor levels of achievement to a lack of specialist support in the classroom, a situation set to worsen as councils cut services for deaf children.  The charity, which supports deaf children and their families across the UK, is making an urgent plea to councils to protect specialist Teachers of the Deaf, vital to deaf children’s achievement, from further cuts.

Jo Campion, Deputy Director of Policy and Campaigns at NDCS, said: “It is appalling that thousands of children, who have the potential to achieve anything, are being denied vital support at school.  Today’s stark figures show the result of this neglect.

“Even though deafness is not a learning disability, it is going to be almost impossible for deaf children to make up this lost ground at secondary school. Unless councils protect the vital support that deaf children need to learn, we are going to see them falling even further behind.  These results must be a wake up call for Government both national and local to improve support for deaf children and ensure that they are given every opportunity to succeed.”

The results show that:

• Almost three times as many deaf children (30 per cent) are failing to make the expected level of progress in maths by the time they leave primary school, compared with children who have no Special Educational Needs (SEN), which is just 11 per cent. 
• For English, 25 per cent of deaf children are failing to progress at the expected rate, compared with 13 per cent of pupils without SEN.

NDCS launched the Save Services for Deaf Children campaign earlier this year, revealing that one in five councils has cut educational support for deaf children and calling on councils to protect or reinvest in these vital services (ii).

ENDS