Primary school results make ‘stark’ reading for deaf children

16 December 2011

Government statistics show that almost two thirds of deaf children (64 per cent) are leaving primary school without grasping simple sums and sentences.

Key Stage Two results published today reveal that too many 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. NDCS is making an urgent plea to councils to protect specialist Teachers of the Deaf, vital to deaf children’s achievement, from further cuts.

The government figures 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 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.

The results should be used with caution as the Government only collects data on deaf children who are formally recorded as having a SEN – around 60% of all deaf children. Despite repeated calls from NDCS to collect data on all deaf children, the Government recently announced that it will not require schools to collect this data in the next year.

More information:
NDCS note on government attainment figures 2011 (81 kb) [pdf]

NDCS's Save Services for Deaf Children campaign

Contact: campaigns@dncs.org.uk

Your recent comments

KS2 SATS

5 January 2012

In the words of my daughter’s consultant ‘the house will never be built if the foundations are not in place’. It is a shame that the Government are unwilling to collect the national data that would let the facts speak for themselves. This should form an integral part of the current overhaul of SEN services in this country. Deaf children are not born with learning disabilities: they acquire them because the existing education system is failing to provide equality of opportunity. This is a national scandal and it is high time for it to be addressed.

Caroline Hanman - South West

Primary school boy for prof update July 2010
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