Hands up for help! Giving deaf children a fair chance at school. England

Transcription

1 Hands up for help! Giving deaf children a fair chance at school England

2 Fact box There are 35,000 deaf children in England. Around 85% are taught in mainstream schools. Deafness is not a learning disability. With the right help, there is no reason why deaf children can t do as well as other children. underachieving on a very significant scale across England. They are 43% less likely to get five GCSEs, including English and Maths, at grades A* to C, than all children. The help a deaf child gets is determined by where they live, and not what they need. The National Deaf Children s Society (NDCS) is the leading charity dedicated to creating a world without barriers for deaf children and young people. England

3 Summary This report shows, for the first time, that deaf children do not have fair access to help from specialist Teachers of the Deaf. Government figures also show deaf children do not have a fair chance to achieve at school compared to other children. Both these facts depend on where a child lives, not what they need. Our son left school two years ago, having under-performed and failed to reach his full potential. We wanted him to have the same chances as everyone else, but for this to happen, he needed more specialist help. There wasn t much anyone could do because money was short and understanding of the particular issues of deafness was simply not there. He really struggled through a further education course by himself, and was without full-time employment for a long time afterwards. Jane, parent of a deaf child, North West When the National Deaf Children s Society (NDCS) launched a campaign to close the attainment gap between deaf children and all children in 2008, the gap in England was 42%. It s a bitter disappointment to see that two years on, the gap is now 43%. among the most vulnerable and educationally disadvantaged children in England today and this pattern of failure and unfairness must end. This report presents findings from our survey of 133 specialist support services for deaf children, alongside the views of parents and children. 1 It shows wide variations in the help provided. We outline what help deaf children need, what help they are getting, how they are achieving and what needs to be done to give them a fair chance at school. 1 NDCS surveyed all 150 local authorities about their specialist support services for deaf children in 2009 and received responses from 133. More information is available at: Notes: When this report refers to deaf children we mean all deaf children aged from 0 to 19 years, regardless of their level of hearing loss or communication approach. 3 The Government must take urgent action to: 1. Ensure adequate funding for specialist support services so all deaf children have a fair chance at school, no matter where they live. 2. Require local authorities to publish information about the level and performance of services for deaf children so families can assess whether their child is getting a fair chance at school. 3. Encourage local support services to join forces across a region so all deaf children get comprehensive support, no matter where they live or their individual needs. 4. Make sure the funding and delivery arrangements for specialist support services means that all deaf children have a fair chance, no matter where they live or what type of school they attend. At a time when all public services are being asked to make savings, this report shows that deaf children are already being treated unfairly. Essential services for deaf children must be adequately funded and delivered in a way that is smarter, fairer and more efficient. These four recommendations represent simple smart spending. If we are to give deaf children a fairer chance to be independent adults, then Government must take action to close the gap now. Contents What help do deaf children need? 4 What help do deaf children get across England? 5 How well are deaf children achieving across England? 6 What deaf children and parents told us 7 Recommendations 8 Conclusion 10 Turn over to find out what help deaf children need to get a fair chance at school >

4 What help do deaf children need? Every deaf child is different and the help they need will vary. A child s individual needs must be assessed and help given, so that they can achieve. A range of factors can impact on their achievement, and the help they get from their teachers, families and specialists are all key factors. The quality of teachers has a greater influence on children s achievement than any other aspect of their education. I have a Teacher of the Deaf who comes in and checks my progress in school every once in a while This extra support means that I am able to be educated at the same level as my classmates even if I need a little more help to understand the work. I think if I didn t have the extra support in all my years, I wouldn t be where I am today. Tasha, deaf young person Rt Hon Michael Gove MP, Secretary of State for Education 2 This statement is especially true for deaf children. Many are supported by Teachers of the Deaf and other specialists. Teachers of the Deaf have gained an additional specialist mandatory qualification in teaching deaf children. In most areas, Teachers of the Deaf are employed by local authority specialist support services for deaf children. Teachers of the Deaf provide help for deaf children, their families and schools by: Supporting parents of pre-school deaf children at home and in early years settings and advising them on communication and language, so that deaf children start school with age appropriate language. Providing direct teaching support to deaf children. Advising mainstream teachers and teaching assistants so they know how to teach in a deaf-friendly way. This support is often called peripatetic or visiting support. This support is particularly important given that most mainstream class teachers don t have the opportunity to develop knowledge and skills in teaching deaf children. Checking that schools and classrooms have acceptable acoustics. Providing the school with equipment, such as radio aid systems so that a deaf child can hear their teacher and classmates, and make sure the equipment is working and used correctly. Working closely with other professionals including audiologists, speech and language therapists, and special educational needs co-ordinators. 2 Quoted in Department for Education press release on July Previous research by the University of Birmingham has shown that Teachers of the Deaf make a significant contribution to the success of deaf pupils. 3 In 2006, Ofsted also found that: Pupils who work with specialist teachers made greater academic progress than when they had to rely on other types of support, including teaching assistants. Specialist teachers gave a high level of skilled support, both academically and socially, to individual pupils. They also liaised closely with other professionals and parents, and carefully monitored the work of teaching assistants. 4 Across England, there are hundreds of dedicated professionals working to make sure deaf children get a fair chance at school. But what help are deaf children actually getting? Read on to see what help deaf children get across England > 3 Steve Powers (2006) Learning from Success: High Achieving Deaf Pupils. University of Birmingham / RNID 4 Ofsted (2006) Inclusion: does it matter where pupils are taught?

5 What help do deaf children get across England? The support map This map sets out findings from our survey of local authority specialist support services. It shows that deaf children have unfair access to help from specialist Teachers of the Deaf, and the help they get is determined by where they live, not what they need. Across England Each visiting Teacher of the Deaf is working, on average, with 42 deaf children. In at least 29 local authority support services the ratio is far worse with over 60 children per Teacher of the Deaf. This rises to over 70 children per Teacher of the Deaf in 19 services and over 100 in 3 services. Map showing ratio of deaf children to Teachers of the Deaf across England North East 37:1 Turn over to see how well deaf children are achieving at school across England > 31:1 North West Yorkshire and Humber 49:1 We need more Teachers of the Deaf. I am a Teacher of the Deaf in a local authority where we have 14 Teachers of the Deaf and 700 children on our caseload. It used to be over 1,000 but we no longer support children with mild or unilateral hearing loss. We can t do the job properly if we don t have the resources to do it. Stephanie, Teacher of the Deaf, West Midlands 40:1 West Midlands South West 40:1 East Midlands 40:1 London 47:1 East England 50:1 South East 53:1 Notes: Figures on Teachers of the Deaf are taken from an NDCS survey of specialist support services. The ratios shown are for peripatetic or visiting Teachers of the Deaf only. It does not include ratios for Teachers of the Deaf working in special schools or specialist units. Local authorities may vary in how they record deafness. See for more information. 5

6 How well are deaf children achieving across England? The support map Government figures also show deaf children do not have a fair chance to achieve at school compared to other children. Across England 43% as all children, the same as it was in In all regions, deaf children are underachieving on a significant scale, compared to all children. My deaf son had a very miserable time in class where he was made to look stupid and was shouted at for not completing his work. He lost so much ground that at 11 years old he was learning at an age 4 level, right across the board. I fought and won the statement battle. Happily, he now receives support at a special school and is visited once a term by a specialist Teacher of the Deaf. The main thing is that he is VERY happy now at school and is making up lost ground. Fiona, parent of a deaf child, South East North West 30% North East 40% Yorkshire and Humber 51% well in their GCSEs as all children in West Midlands South West 44% 46% London 48% East Midlands 42% East England 40% South East 39% Read on to see what deaf children and parents told us Notes: Data on deaf children on GCSEs has been provided by the Department for Education and is taken from the School Census. It refers to children where hearing impairment is the primary type of special educational need and where the child has a statement, or has been placed at School Action Plus. Figures on GCSEs refer to the number achieving five GCSEs, including English and Maths, at grades A* to C in See for more information. 6

7 What deaf children and parents told us Alongside our survey of local authority support services, we ve also been asking deaf children and their parents to tell us what they think of the help given in their area. Deaf children 5 94% say that it is easier to do well at school when they get special help BUT Nearly 60% say that they only get some help or the help they get is not enough. I have a SEN [Special Educational Needs assistant] who comes into most lessons and takes notes, or she s meant to. She s actually more of a class assistant. I used to have a good one, but my school reassigned her. Some of the SENs are not aware that they need to be facing me for me to lipread. I had one who walked behind me and whispered. She was the head of the department. Deaf young person (anonymous) Parents told us that Some deaf children taught in mainstream schools are being supported by teaching assistants who have little experience of deafness and have received none or insufficient training from a Teacher of the Deaf. Many children who are deaf in one ear or who have mild deafness get much less attention, if any, from specialist support services. Different criteria for who gets help applies in different areas. 25% of parents of deaf children with additional disabilities reported that they did not receive Teacher of the Deaf support. 6 My son has 10 hours support per week with a teaching assistant (TA) who only has the basic deaf awareness training. The 10 hours is an inconsistent figure with his TA sometimes being used elsewhere in the school or not on one-toone. There is a lack of staff with any meaningful training into supporting a deaf child, so he is often left to coast along. Teacher of the Deaf support has been virtually non-existent in the past 12 to 18 months. Andy, parent of a deaf child, Yorkshire and the Humber My daughter has a hearing loss in one ear. I am always asking her teacher to ensure she is sat at the front of class and assembly, but this doesn t happen. We have just had a report which states her receptive language is rapidly falling behind where it should be. This indicates to me that she is not being supported enough. It makes me so cross as she is clever and I don t want her to fall behind. Parent of a deaf child (anonymous) South East 5 Source: Online poll on NDCS youth website, The Buzz, which received 70 responses. 6 Source: McCracken, W. and Turner, O. (2010) Parents of deaf children with additional or complex needs: experience of service provision. Due to be published in autumn Turn over to see what needs to be done to give deaf children a fair chance at school >

8 Recommendations: how to give deaf children a fair chance at school Recommendation 1 The Government must ensure adequate funding for specialist support services so all deaf children have a fair chance at school, no matter where they live. The results from our survey, government data on educational achievement, and the views of parents and young people tell us that: Deaf children do not have fair access to help from specialist Teachers of the Deaf. The amount of support they get depends on where they live in England. In some areas each Teacher of the Deaf is working with over 100 deaf children. The availability of help can also depend on a child s level of deafness or additional disabilities rather than their individual needs. underachieving on a very significant scale across England. They do not have a fair chance to achieve at school compared to other children. There is little sign of this gap narrowing over the past five years, and the size of the gap depends on where you live. some of the most vulnerable and educationally disadvantaged children in England today. Essential services for deaf children must be adequately funded to bring this pattern of failure and unfairness to an end. Recommendation 2 The Government must require local authorities to publish information about the level and performance of services for deaf children so families can assess whether their child is getting a fair chance at school. NDCS experienced considerable difficulty obtaining information about how much and the type of help provided to deaf children in different areas. In many local authorities, NDCS had to make freedom of information requests to get any response. Little information on the specialist support services and how their performance compares with other areas is freely available to parents of deaf children. It s not easy for parents to know what the best educational options and choices there are for deaf children. There is very small provision in the units [for deaf children], which now seems the best option for my child, but I did not even know about this provision until I heard about it from other parents! Laura, parent of a deaf child, London Parents have few mechanisms for holding local authorities to account on the help they do or do not give to deaf children and rarely is support to deaf children considered during local authority inspections. This means families find it difficult to assess whether their child will get a fair chance at school where they live. I am constantly battling with my daughter s school to provide her with some one-to-one assistance. Her performance improves when she has this support. It s not a lot to ask. Just because my daughter is well-behaved, she is often forgotten. Sanita, parent of a deaf child, London 8

9 Recommendation 3 The Government must encourage local support services to join forces across a region so all deaf children get comprehensive support, no matter where they live or their individual needs. Deaf children vary in the individual help they need and their communication approaches. Despite this, many local authorities have small teams without the range of skills and expertise to meet the diverse needs of children of different ages in their area. This means that children in some areas are not gaining access to specialist knowledge and skills available in nearby areas. Case study: Deaf children in Berkshire The Berkshire Sensory Consortium Service provides specialist educational support to children with visual and multi-sensory impairments, as well as deaf children, on behalf of six small local authorities. By joining forces, the consortium is able to provide comprehensive coverage across the whole area in a way that is not possible for the six local authorities to do individually. Consortiums like this can also deliver valuable economies of scale. Its contract has recently been extended for a further two years taking it up until Recommendation 4 The Government must make sure the funding and delivery arrangements for specialist support services means that all deaf children have a fair chance, no matter where they live or what type of school they attend. The evidence also suggests that the amount of help that peripatetic Teachers of the Deaf provide varies according to whether funding for the service has been delegated to all schools. 7 This is not a new problem. Ofsted reported back in 2005 that: Where LEAs delegated funds for small services, the schools received too little money to buy sufficient support when they needed it. Others received funding even though they might not have any pupils who required support. The funding, though sufficient to run a small central service, when divided between many schools was inadequate to ensure pupils with the most complex needs had access to sufficient specialist advice. Handled wrongly, without a full assessment of the likely impact, delegation of funding can undermine the ability of services to provide the help that deaf children need and can also lead to a reduction in the numbers of Teachers of the Deaf. Expertise built up over the years risks being lost. Case study: Deaf children in Waltham Forest At Waltham Forest, funding for specialist hearing support services was delegated by the local authority to all schools, who decided whether to buy in the service. Parents raised concerns that their deaf children were not getting any support because the schools were either unable or unwilling to pay for the service. Waltham Forest has now moved to a new model where it will delegate funding to a special school to operate a free-of-charge peripatetic specialist outreach service to other schools. Turn over to read our conclusion > 9 Help must be given to deaf children according to what they need, and not on the type of school they attend or what the school is able or prepared to buy. 7 For example, our survey found that of 66 local authorities where deaf children are enrolled at academies, nearly three quarters of academies are not buying-in their specialist support services.

10 Conclusion: Giving deaf children a fair chance at school My son attends a mainstream school with an oral unit. He spends the mornings in the unit with a Teacher of the Deaf and a learning support assistant (LSA). In the afternoons my son is in the mainstream class with LSA support. He also sees a speech and language therapist every week. This has worked well for my son who is now age appropriate in all subjects except for writing. The school is very deaf aware and inclusive of the deaf children. My son has deaf and hearing friends and couldn t be happier. I know from speaking to other parents, we are very lucky. Vivienne, parent of a deaf child, London Whether deaf children get the help they need shouldn t be down to luck. This report has shown that deaf children do not have fair access to help from specialist Teachers of the Deaf. Government figures also show that deaf children do not have a fair chance to achieve at school. Both these facts are determined by where a child lives, not what they need. The variations are too wide to be explained away by local circumstances. some of the most vulnerable and educationally disadvantaged children in England today and this pattern of failure and unfairness must end. The Government must take urgent action to: 1. Ensure adequate funding for specialist support services so all deaf children have a fair chance at school, no matter where they live. 2. Require local authorities to publish information about the level and performance of services for deaf children so families can assess whether their child is getting a fair chance at school. 3. Encourage local support services to join forces across a region so all deaf children get comprehensive support, no matter where they live or their individual needs. 4. Make sure the funding and delivery arrangements for specialist support services means that all deaf children have a fair chance, no matter where they live or what type of school they attend. If I didn t have any extra support in the classroom, I would detest school more than I already do! Unthinkable. Arrrgh! Shona, young deaf person 10

11 Too many deaf children have their hands up for help. We must end this unfairness and give deaf children a fair chance. It s time to close the gap.

12 NDCS is the leading charity dedicated to creating a world without barriers for deaf children and young people. 95% of our work to help deaf children is funded by the public. NDCS Freephone Helpline: (voice and text) campaigns@ndcs.org.uk Published by the National Deaf Children s Society NDCS September Dufferin Street, London EC1Y 8UR Tel: (voice and text) Fax: NDCS is a registered charity in England and Wales no and in Scotland no. SC ISBN This publication can be requested in large print, in Braille and on audio CD. England