Why we're calling for more Teachers of the Deaf in Scotland
Published Date: 06 Dec 2022
Teachers of the Deaf are specialist teachers who do crucial work alongside deaf learners and their families, helping them overcome the barriers they face in the critical early years and in education. But the number of fully qualified Teachers of the Deaf in Scotland has fallen by 40% in the last decade – twice the rate of other parts of the UK.
Now the National Deaf Children’s Society in Scotland is calling for councils, to work with the Scottish Government and Universities to turn around the fall in Teachers of the Deaf in Scotland, to ensure every deaf child gets the support they need. With more than 90% of deaf children born to hearing parents with no prior experience in deafness, Teachers of the Deaf can help families with deaf children feel less alone and more confident about supporting their language and communication. Deaf children have told us how much they feel they miss out on at school if they don’t get help at school from a specialist. For many deaf children such support is vital, as the latest Scottish Government statistics shows that deaf learners are twice as likely to leave school with no qualifications and half as likely to go on to university. These deaf pupils should be achieving the same kinds of outcomes as their hearing classmates.
Teachers of the Deaf work alongside deaf children and their families in the early years following identification of deafness until they leave school. They provide information and support to families about deafness, help young children develop key language and communication skills provide one to one tuition for deaf pupils, and advise schools on how to make sure they are deaf friendly. They work with all deaf children, whether their deafness is profound, severe, moderate or mild.
However, as the number of fully qualified Teachers of the Deaf in Scotland has fallen, increasing numbers of deaf children are missing out on this kind of support. The latest figures compiled by the Consortium for Research Into Deaf Education found that nearly 40% of Local Authorities in Scotland did not involve a Teacher of the Deaf in the three statutory early years checks – meaning families could be missing out on joined-up support and vital advice to help them prepare for the future. Families of deaf children have told us that in some areas their local Teachers of the Deaf have too big a caseload to work with deaf learners on a one-to-one basis, and can only offer advice to teachers and schools, who may have no experience of supporting deaf pupils. In addition, around 45% of Teachers of the Deaf in Scotland plan to retire over the next 10 years – so if we don’t take action now things will only get worse.
The Scottish Government has said that to be a properly qualified Teacher of the Deaf, existing teachers need to study a specialist postgraduate course. The University of Edinburgh is the only place in Scotland where these mandatory qualifications can be studied. But a lack of government funding means that many teachers who want to become a qualified Teachers of the Deaf have to cover the costs themselves.
That’s why, as a first step we want Local Authorities across Scotland to commit to returning the number of fully qualified Teachers of the Deaf they employ to 2011 levels over the next ten years. This will the give certainty to any teachers considering becoming a qualified Teacher of the Deaf that there will be a job at the end of it. This commitment should be backed by the Scottish Government developing and delivering a Scotland-wide workforce strategy for Teachers of the Deaf, alongside work to ensure they are properly paid for the extra responsibilities they taken on and to show their specialist expertise is valued. Such a workforce strategy will also involve fully funded places being available for teachers wanting to study for the mandatory qualifications, so we can train a new generation of Teachers of the Deaf to replace those who are leaving.
Scotland will shortly be incorporating the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in Scots law. Every child should , as a fundamental right, be able to get the support they need to reach full potential. For deaf children in Scotland that means being able to get the support they need from a fully qualified Teacher of the Deaf.
