An overwhelming 97% of young people think British Sign Language (BSL) should be taught in schools, according to new research by the National Deaf Children’s Society.
The charity surveyed more than 2,000 deaf and hearing people aged 8-25 across the UK, after its Youth Advisory Board said lack of access to BSL was a key concern.
Findings highlight significant interest in BSL among young people, with 91% keen to study it and 92% calling for it to be offered as a GCSE (or National 4/5 in Scotland). They also suggest this is not only a deaf issue; hearing respondents actually showed more interest in learning BSL than deaf respondents.[4]
In light of the survey results, the charity has launched a Right to Sign campaign, calling for BSL to be included on the National Curriculum.
Susan Daniels, Chief Executive of the National Deaf Children’s Society, commented: “Everyone in the UK, deaf or hearing, should have the opportunity to learn BSL – but most people miss out as it’s rarely taught in schools and private lessons are expensive.
“If we are to break down barriers to learning BSL, it must be included on the National Curriculum. This survey shows that children and young people really want to learn BSL, so we urge the Department for Education to respond to this demand.”
Below, members of the NDCS Youth Advisory Board explain why they think sign language should be taught in schools:
A detailed Right to Sign report sheds light on the varied reasons young people gave for wanting to learn BSL, ranging from social inclusion and deaf awareness to employability and communication skills.
Some argued that people with low literacy skills could benefit from studying a language that doesn’t require reading and writing, as could those who speak English as a second language. With GCSE and A-level exam entries for languages falling every year, it was raised that schools may have greater success engaging students with BSL.
Youth Advisory Board member Erin, 16, added: “BSL is one of the languages of the UK so it’s important that, as well as knowing other languages to communicate with people across seas, we can communicate with people in our own country.”
To find out more about Right to Sign and support the campaign, go to ndcs.org.uk.
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Cathy
May 15, 2017
Isn’t this exciting?! 97% of children want to learn sign language. Well of course they would say that! Even adults think its an easy option, till they get started!
That is all well and good, but where are all the teachers to spread around schools nationally? Are hearing teachers going to teach it? How, when they don’t know the language? Are Deaf people going to teach it? Are they qualified teachers? Do we have sufficient numbers to spread out? Of course we don’t.
This is not something we can suddenly plonk onto the National Curriculum and off we go! The teachers need to be in place first and to become qualified to teach is going to take a few years!
There are a few Deaf people teaching BSL in evening classes and Iam not certain they would handle classes of 30 children on a regular basis and they may not want to, so where does that leave us???
Tim
May 15, 2017
Great news, bring it on!
By the way, we’re still waiting for an apology from those oralists who proclaimed that sign language inhibits the development of spoken English. The opposite has proved to be true.
pennybsl
May 15, 2017
Cathy is absolutely correct.
We need the NDCS BSL in Schools Campaign to include the potential of training/trained Deaf BSL tutors/teachers – increasing Deaf professional inclusion within education al all levels.
This would restore career development for young Deaf people interested in the educational field. Many Deaf BSL professionals in schools have multi-roles like Deaf Instructors, Learning Support and Lifeskills training with deaf children. Several have PGCEs or similar, but paid at TA rates.
Schools who insist on QTS staffing in BSL classes could consider a pro-inclusive dual leadership within the BSL & Deaf Studies Curriculum, by using their QTS staff working alongside the Deaf BSL teacher.
Another issue which many organisations representing deaf people, employers, communities and families have not succeeded so far: the need to FLAG UP / HIGHLIGHT pro-inclusive participation in any process involving BSL. Simple, getting Deaf people ‘on board’ instead of a hearie within the mechanism.