Education rights in Wales

Knowing your rights and being able to voice them when you need to can be very empowering. It can give you the confidence that you're doing everything you can.

Equality Act 2010 (legislation.gov.uk) is a key piece of legislation. It provides important legal rights for disabled children and young people. Most permanently deaf children and young people are considered to have a disability.

For temporary hearing loss, such as glue ear, the Equality Act may not apply. It will apply if the condition has lasted, or is likely to last, for 12 months or more. It will also apply if it is likely to happen again in the next 12 months.

Under the Equality Act, local authorities and education settings:

• cannot discriminate against disabled children or young people or treat them less favourably
• cannot refuse to accept student simply because they’re deaf
• cannot prevent a deaf child or student from doing activities others are allowed to do
• must make reasonable adjustments to involve disabled children and young people
• must promote equality of opportunity for disabled children and young people
• must think about the impact of their policies, procedures and decisions, particularly their impact on disabled children and young people

Reasonable adjustments are simple or inexpensive changes an education setting can make. These changes help disabled children and young people access learning. By law, education settings must make reasonable adjustments for those who meet the definition of disabled.

The laws do not say exactly what is or is not a reasonable adjustment. This is because what is ‘reasonable’ depends on different factors, including individual needs and the education setting they’re attending. As an example, a very small school in an older building may find it harder to improve their acoustics. A larger school in a modern building and with a bigger budget may find this easier.

Examples of reasonable adjustments in education

In an education setting:

• staff receiving training on how to use a radio aid
• adjusting the pace and length of a learning session
• using visual cues to support teaching
• creating opportunities for one-to-one and small group work
• checking level of understanding after a lesson
• tutoring before or after a lesson
• providing equipment and technology, such as radio aids or flashing fire alarms
• providing a good listening environment
• making sure staff and students at the school are deaf aware
• writing down homework rather than giving it verbally
• making adjustments to help deaf pupils access specific subjects, like foreign languages or music
• meeting communication needs, such as providing qualified interpreters for pupils using sign language

During school admission, schools can make reasonable adjustments, such as:

• allowing extra visits to the school and at quieter times
• staggering school start dates
• gradually increasing the amount of time a child or young person spends at school
• providing photos of staff and school areas, maps and timetables
• giving opportunities to meet other deaf students before starting
• giving information in an accessible format, for example, translating materials into BSL

Identifying adjustments for your child

Let the education setting know if your child needs extra support for learning. It’s helpful to suggest specific adjustments where possible. These will depend on your child’s individual needs and their circumstances.

Here are some suggestions to help identify possible reasonable adjustments.

• Ask your child, they may already have ideas on how they would like to be supported.
• Ask your Teacher of the Deaf (ToD), if you have one, or other relevant professionals such as a speech and language therapist, audiologist or class teacher.
• Ask the additional learning needs coordinator (ALNCo) at your child’s school.
• Get in touch with other parents or deaf children in your local area. Your ToD may be able to help with this or you can join a local deaf children’s society near you.
• Check the accessibility plans of other settings. These can usually be found on an education setting’s website.

Use our template letters to request reasonable adjustments at a school and raise a failure to implement reasonable adjustments:

• Document

  Template letter requesting reasonable adjustments at school or nursery.docx (129.21 KB)
• Document

  Template letter to complain about a failure to provide reasonable adjustments at school or nursery.docx (129.51 KB)

Additional learning needs (ALN) and reasonable adjustments

Learners with ALN may have a formal plan in place. This is an Individual Development Plan (IDP). IDPs include reasonable adjustments. Education settings must make these reasonable adjustments.

However, many deaf children and young people with ALN will not have an IDP. If there is not an IDP in place, speak to the setting about reasonable adjustments. The school can also ask for support from the local authority. This could include deaf awareness training for all the staff at an education setting.

If a setting fails to make reasonable adjustments, this is discrimination.

If you think you have experienced discrimination, contact our Helpline for support. One of our specialist advisers may be able to provide advice and support.

You can use our template letter to raise the issue of direct discrimination:

• Document

  Template letter to complain about direct discrimination at school or nursery.docx (129.1 KB)

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has more information about disability discrimination.

Some deaf children are entitled to free home-to-school transport from their local authority.

Your child’s eligibility for transport will depend on:

• if their home-to-school journey is longer than the set walking distance – 2 miles for children attending primary school and 3 miles for students attending secondary school
• their ALN or disability and if this means it’s unreasonable to expect them to walk to school (even if they live within the set walking distance)
• the suitability of the walking route for a child of their age and capability

If your preferred school is beyond the set walking distance, but the local authority considers that there’s a suitable school with places available which is nearer, it doesn’t have to provide transport.

If your child has an IDP, this will include if they’re entitled to free school transport.

Your local authority should have a policy on home-to-school transport for students with ALN. You can look for this policy on their website or contact them directly to ask for a copy.

For more information about the law about school transport, read the ‘Learner travel guidance’ (Welsh Government).

Schools must make reasonable adjustments to help deaf students access tests, assessments and exams fairly.

Examples of access arrangements for deaf children include:

• extra time
• use of technology such as radio aids or streamers
• a reader (someone who reads exam questions aloud)
• a scribe
• a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter

To get access arrangements put in place for exams, your child’s school will need to show the exam boards that these are part of your child’s ‘normal way of working’. If you think your child will need access arrangements for their exams, discuss this with their ALNCo or ToD well in advance of any exams or assessments.

If your child has an IDP, access arrangements should be discussed at their annual review.

For further information, see:

• Access arrangements for your child’s examinations
• Access arrangements information (Joint Council for Qualifications website)

Deaf children and young people may need to miss school for medical appointments. For example, audiology appointments.

Schools record absences as authorised or unauthorised. Schools should be informed about medical appointments in advance. These should be recorded as authorised absences. Read information about school attendance and absence (Welsh Government)

Rewarding attendance

Some schools have an attendance reward scheme. This is to:

• encourage attendance at school
• discourage parents from taking their child out of school unnecessarily

Reasonable adjustments should be made so disabled children and young people are not at a disadvantage. For example, children and young people should be rewarded if they have 100% attendance not including authorised time off due to their disability or for medical appointments.

If you have any concerns about how your child’s absences are being recorded, contact our Helpline.