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Going mainstream | Deaf schools | Compromise? | Help and info
What kind of education do you feel is best for you and for the next generation – the mainstream system or a deaf school? The Government seems to think mainstreaming is the way forward, but is this the best option for deaf people?
Deaf education has been in the news quite a bit in the past few months, with some deaf schools threatened with closure. This summer, Derby College for Deaf People will be forced to close, due to criticism of its facilities. But what will happen to the 60 students who’ve relied on this school’s methods?
And they’re not the only ones facing an uncertain future. Newcastle’s Northern Counties School for the Deaf has also been on the verge of closure. Fortunately, it was kept open by campaigning parents who argued that their children would not be able to cope in mainstream schools.
In the mainstream system, a deaf child takes lessons with hearing pupils and gets support from a childcare assistant, a note-taker, or a communication support worker.
Mainstreaming works for some deaf children, making them push harder to succeed academically in order to prove they can survive, but they still miss out on a Deaf culture. Others find being the only deaf person in a school an isolating and lonely experience which can cause some children to become withdrawn or drop out early.
The teacher’s union NASUWT has argued that mainstream schools are being turned into ‘enormous special schools without any of the benefits of true special education’.
At the moment there are still quite a few to choose from, both oral and BSL. There are day schools (for example, Frank Barnes school or Oak Lodge in London), boarding schools (Ovingdean in Brighton or Mary Hare in Newbury) or colleges (Donaldson’s in Edinburgh). There are however no deaf universities in this country. (In fact there’s only one deaf university in the world – that’s Gallaudet, in Washington DC.)
BSL is generally considered a more accurate form of communication to teach deaf children. It’s also often thought of as the most culturally appropriate. The oral method is all about using as much residual hearing as possible, along with lipreading, in order to be more involved in the hearing world. However, speech may not always be clear enough to be understood by hearing people and lipreading is not always 100% accurate.
Deaf schools encourage children to explore their Deaf identity and not feel like the ‘odd one out’ as they might in mainstream schooling. This can give them the vital confidence they will need in the hearing community. On the other hand, some deaf-school graduates can experience difficulty adjusting to life in the outside hearing world.
There’s also some speculation that deaf schools cannot get the best academic achievement out of pupils, although this is difficult to prove.
Tony Winstanley, director at the soon-to-close Derby College for Deaf People, says:
‘Closing down deaf education only says one thing – restricting choice of selecting what is most appropriate for each deaf person. Each deaf individual has a different learning profile according to so many different factors. A local mainstream college or school cannot hope to provide everything for everybody.’
What about a bilingual approach? This would mean placing deaf children in a mainstream environment but teaching them BSL as a first language, and English as a second language.
The problem with this plan is that there aren’t enough interpreters and BSL-fluent teachers to make this possible.
So having read more about it, what do you think? How have you got on your education? What do you think should happen in the future? Let us know on the message board.
Organisations
DEX (Deaf EX-Mainstreamers Group)
Evans Business Centre
Monckton Road
Wakefield
West Yorkshire WF2 7AS
Textphone: 01924 888114/888115
Voice phone: 01924 888106
Fax: 01924 888105
Email: info@dex.org.uk
Website: www.dex.org.uk
DEX consists of deaf people who have attended or attend hearing mainstream
education, or supporters from the deaf and hearing communities. It is currently
the only deaf-led organisation that supports all deaf children with all levels
of deafness.
Deafax Trust
Technology Centre
Bulmershe Court
The University
Earley
Reading
Berkshire RG6 1HY
Voice: 0118 926 0259
Textphone: 0118 926 0257
Fax: 0118 926 0258
Videophone: 0118 935 3574
E-mail: team@deafax.org
Website: www.deafchild.org
Provides information, training and workshops in communication skills, telecommunications
and information technology. Incorporates Deaf Child International (www.deafchild.org),
an organisation that provides personal and educational opportunities for deaf
and hearing children to communicate with each other throughout the world
Links
DELTA (Deaf Education through Listening and Talking)
www.deafeducation.org.uk
A national charity which supports and develops the Natural Aural Approach to
the education of deaf children and consists of young deaf adults, and the families
and teachers of deaf children.
Futurika
www.futurika.com/news.html
International deaf directory which includes many relevant articles, including
a number about the closure of Derby College for Deaf People.
ALLFIE (The Alliance for Inclusive Education)
www.allfie.org.uk
A national network of people who work together to help change our education
system, based on the conviction that all young people need to be educated in
a single mainstream education system which can support all young people to
learn, play and live with each other.
BATOD (British Association of Teachers of the Deaf)
www.batod.org.uk
Promotes the educational interests of all hearing-impaired children, young
people and adults and safeguards the interests of teachers of the deaf. Website
contains information about the association, teaching, news and press releases.
Parents for Inclusion
www.parentsforinclusion.org
Parents helping parents so that disabled children can learn, make friends and
have a voice in ordinary school and throughout life. A national charity based
in London.
DEE (Disability Equality in Education)
www.diseed.org.uk
Promotes inclusion in the education system through training, mentoring, consultation
and support groups.
Books
Issues in Deaf Education edited by Susan Gregory, Stephen Powers,
Linda Watson, Pamela Knight and Wendy McCracken (David Fulton Publishers, 1998)
A comprehensive account of recent research and issues in educational policy,
psychology, linguistics and audiology, as they relate to the education of the
deaf. Includes detailed information about further reading. Of interest to educators,
parents and members of the Deaf community.
Buy
this book
Raising and Educating a Deaf Child by Marc Marschark (Oxford University
Press USA, 1999)
This book sets out to answer many of the questions that parents ask, while
also offering a readable and comprehensive examination of deafness. The author
looks at language, social and intellectual development of deaf children, challenges
assumptions about what deaf children can and cannot do, and explores avenues
to allow them to reach their full potential.
Buy
this book
Closing the Inclusion Gap: Special and mainstream schools working in partnership by
Rita Cheminais (David Fulton Publishers, 2003)
The future of special schools is dependent upon whether they can act as launch
pads for closer collaboration with mainstream schools. This book can be used
to organise and develop the consultancy role of special school team members;
plan inclusion training programmes for mainstream schools; ensure that inclusive
practice is on track with strategies for monitoring and evaluation; save time
and market services to mainstream schools with photocopiable templates; and
manage dual placements.
Buy
this book
Deaf and Hearing Impaired Pupils in Mainstream Schools by Linda Watson,
Susan Gregory and Stephen Powers (David Fulton Publishers, 1999)
Using case studies the authors consider the teaching implications for pupils
with conductive hearing loss, hearing aids and cochlear transplants. They offer
advice for helping bilingual deaf pupils and those being taught with sign support
and discuss social developments, communication, literacy and the effective
involvement of a learning support assistant.
Buy
this book
Articles
Education Guardian: A world of their own
http://education.guardian.co.uk/egweekly/
story/0,5500,1007400,00.html
Despite the drive towards inclusion, is mainstream schooling really best for
deaf children, asks Dea Birkett.
Education Independent: There's something about Mary
http://education.independent.co.uk/schools/
story.jsp?story=494993
Will the Mary Hare School survive plans to integrate children with special
needs into mainstream schools? Sarah Cassidy reports.