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Campaign to Improve Educational Supports for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students

Chime representatives, Mark Byrne, CEO, Cathy Moore, Advocacy Consultant and Linda Grant, Founder ‘Our New Ears’, met with Minister for State for Education and Youth, Michael Moynihan TD, in Government Buildings in June to discuss ways to improve educational supports for Deaf and Hard of Hearing students. We covered several areas of concern with the Minister and his team.

Publication of educational outcomes for Deaf and Hard of Hearing children

Chime is concerned about how Deaf and Hard of Hearing students are performing in school and at exams compared to their hearing peers of similar ability. We discussed anecdotal evidence from parents of Deaf and Hard of Hearing children that many students are not reaching their full potential, but we pointed out that it is difficult to ascertain the clear facts without having the relevant data. If we cannot clearly identify the deficit of support for these students, it is difficult to assert that we are helping them to reach their potential.

In the UK, standardised educational outcomes data for Deaf and Hard of Hearing children is available from the UK Department of Education, and in general, these results show that  students are achieving one grade per subject behind their hearing peers, as was shown in the Education Policy Institute report in 2023:  ‘The Educational outcomes of deaf children in England: Attainment at key stages 1,2 and 4’

Chime urged the Minister to establish a comprehensive educational outcome data collection system for Deaf and Hard of Hearing students.

Visiting Teachers

Chime recognise the importance of the Visiting Teacher Service (VTS) , and some parents of Deaf and Hard of Hearing children observe that it is the most valuable intervention in their children’s education. These teachers can catch issues early, coach other teachers and, in the past, they used to coach parents too, which was very helpful for the parents. Chime has heard from parents who would like for their children to have more time with the Visiting Teachers.

It seems that Deaf and Hard of Hearing students in the UK receive a lot more support than their Irish counterparts (i.e. the caseload of a Visiting Teacher in Ireland is approximately 200 compared to only 50 in the UK).

We asked the Minister to increase capacity of the Visiting Teacher Service.

Special Education Teacher allocation

Over the past two years, parents have reported that some Deaf and Hard of Hearing students are receiving less support than previously under a new model for allocating Special Education Teaching (SET) resources.

According to the Special Education Teacher Allocation 2024/2025, ‘68.5% of special education teaching hours will be allocated based on the data for those students who are performing at the lower levels in standardised tests or who have been exempted from standardised tests, 25% allocated ..based on the number of pupils enrolled in a school, and 6.5% …will be allocated to schools where their students live in disadvantaged areas.’.

This excludes Deaf and Hard of Hearing who do not perform at the lower levels of standardised tests. It appears that the Department now interprets education needs based solely on low scores without reference to ability or potential. Under this SET criteria, Deaf and Hard of Hearing students who have standard or high levels of ability have no possibility of getting additional SET support to help them reach their potential.

We asked the Minister to review the criteria for allocation SET resources with a view to supporting Deaf and Hard of Hearing students to reach their potential regardless of ability level.

ISL Supports in Schools

In the Irish Sign Language Act 2017, the State recognises the right of Irish Sign Language users to use Irish Sign Language as their native language and the corresponding duty on all public bodies to provide Irish Sign Language users with free interpretation when availing of or seeking to access statutory entitlements and services.

Chime conveyed to the Minister our concerns with the current provision of supports for Deaf and Hard of Hearing students in education, such as the low number of teachers in Deaf schools with postgraduate qualifications in Deaf education, the lack of teacher and SNA qualifications in ISL and the inadequate level of provision of Assistive Technology. We asked the Minister what he plans to do to increase the number of qualified candidates.

We asked that an audit should be done by the Department to assess how the Deaf and Hard of Hearing students are able to access the curriculum. Where gaps are identified in accessing the curriculum, the Department should take immediate steps to ensure that students in these schools have full access to the curriculum in ISL.

Technology in the classroom

At the meeting, Chime described how Assisted Technology (AT) has been a game changer for Deaf and Hard of Hearing students. However, there is some inconsistency in its availability and it’s use. It has been reported to us that some parents have had to fundraise to have it provided at their children’s schools, while other schools have funding for the technology. One parent described how she herself had to fund AT for her son’s school.

Some secondary schools only have the AT available in one classroom. Because Deaf or Hard of Hearing pupils have to move between classrooms for different subjects, the might not always get to avail of the technology. Assisted Technology also assists other students in the schools, including students with learning difficulties and students for whom English is not their first language.

Some schools have seen the benefits of their assisted technology for their Deaf and Hard of Hearing students and have, in some cases, allowed the student to bring the technology home for continued use in evenings, weekends and holidays. This has been of enormous benefit to the students at home, at sport, doing their homework etc. Chime is hoping that more students can make more use of the school’s Assisted Technology at home.

We asked the Minister to make more funding for AT available to more schools and in several rooms in a school. In addition, we asked the Minister to explore the option of allowing Deaf and Hard of Hearing students to use Assisted Technology at home after school hours, at weekends and during holidays.

Provision of ISL as a Leaving Cert subject

Chime has been campaigning for over 2 years for the Department of Education to establish Irish Sign Language (ISL)  as a Leaving Certificate examination, in line with the Irish Sign Language Act 2017, which recognises ISL as a native language of Deaf people.

At our meeting with the Minister, we were informed that, following a public consultation on this issue, a report will be published in September before commencing curriculum development. The process is under way to designing a four year programme with the curriculum beginning at Junior Certificate level. We were also informed that there would be a report about ISL for Leaving Certificate published in the autumn.

We requested that the Minister shares a timeline of milestones and developments of the ISL curriculum and that Chime be kept informed of these milestones.