Deaf News: National Deaf Children’s Society helps education professionals to be deaf friendly teachers

Posted on March 22, 2016 by



The National Deaf Children’s Society (NDCS) has launched new flagship resources to help education professionals develop deaf friendly teaching techniques for effective inclusion in the classroom.

Education professionals working in early years, primary, secondary, special schools and in further education can now access simple tips through online tools, videos and booklets to help them effectively support the achievement of the deaf children that they teach.

Deaf children and young people can miss out on effective learning at school and often have lower literacy levels than other children their age.

Almost two thirds (58.9%) of deaf children are failing to achieve the government’s expected benchmark of five GCSEs at grade A* – C (inc. English and Maths), compared to just 35.8% of other children with no identified special educational need.

Deaf children can also experience difficulties around incidental learning and may struggle to pick up what others are saying which can restrict social integration with peers.

Commenting on the recently released resources, Ian Noon, Head of Policy and Research at the National Deaf Children’s Society said:

“Deafness is not a learning disability and with the right provision and encouragement from families and professionals, deaf children can develop and achieve as well as any other child. Having high expectations of deaf pupils is vital and it is important that teachers of deaf children can identify the pupil’s strengths, weaknesses and highlight any particular barriers to making progress. We hope these tools will help education professionals work better with deaf children and really support them to achieve their full potential.”

Tina Wakefield, a Teacher of the Deaf said:

“It is hugely important that teachers of deaf children and young people understand the effect deafness has on learning. We know that even mild hearing loss can have an impact and if teachers are aware of barriers they can identify targets and support strategies to address them. These resources are a really simple and accessible way to learn new teaching approaches and enable deaf children to feel fully included in all areas of their school life.”

Find the resources here: http://www.ndcs.org.uk/professional_support/our_resources/supporting.html


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