Ann Jillings: Signing in front of MPs to support GCSE in British Sign Language

On Wednesday 10th July, I had the privilege of accompanying my son Daniel and friends from Lowestoft Signing Choir to perform at Portcullis House in Parliament at the kind invitation of our MP Peter Aldous.

Following the National Deaf Children’s Society #RightToSign campaign, Daniel, aged 13, hit the news last year after a successful legal challenge to the Department of Education about their delay in introducing a GCSE in British Sign Language.

Since then, the Department of Education have started the long but essential process of developing a BSL GCSE that matches the required standard of the newly reformed GCSE qualification, but there has been very little information on the progress of this work to date.

In February 2019, Signature announced that following successful submission of their GCSE proposal, the work to develop subject content, which is the next step in the GCSE Development process, is now in the hands of the Department of Education and Ofqual.

Given the many other distractions in Government at present and potential change in ministerial responsibilities under a new Prime Minister, we feared that momentum on this work could be lost and there was a need to highlight the importance of the BSL GCSE once again and to get a firm Government commitment to work on developing the new qualification as soon as possible.

Our local MP, Peter Aldous has been an outstanding supporter of the Right to Sign campaign, he invited Daniel to Parliament in March 2018 to meet the Rt Hon Nick Gibb MP, Minister for School Standards and has consistently spoken out in support of the campaign in the commons. Peter kindly invited Daniel to perform with the Lowestoft Signing Choir at Portcullis House, working hard to make all the necessary arrangements and contacting all MPS with an invitation to attend. 

The National Deaf Children’s Society were very keen to take part and additionally they supported the choir’s travel costs and supplied an interpreter for Daniel to ensure his BSL speech had an impact. NDCS representatives attended the whole performance and provided briefings for MPs. 

Prior to the performance, we held a “Silent demonstration” in Trafalgar Square, again attended by NDCS and Peter Aldous MP which enabled the choir to warm up in front of an intrigued crowd and draw public attention to the campaign for a Sign Language GCSE. 

It was an amazing experience for the signing choir to perform a total of 9 songs in British Sign Language in front of MPs and Parliamentary staff and it was clear from later comments on Twitter that this made an impression.

However, our aims were not just to entertain but to deliver a message and a key part of the performance was Daniel’s speech in full BSL, where he shared his frustration at the absence of a BSL GCSE despite the many and obscure language GCSEs on offer.

A proud mum moment was watching him passionately explain the importance of his language as a part of his culture and identity.

The overarching aim of our performance was to raise the profile of the BSL GCSE in Parliament and therefore there was a real sense of achievement to read that the performance had prompted questions from 2 MPs about the GCSE in the commons the following day, and that the Minister’s response had confirmed a commitment to the work in developing the GCSE, stating “We are pushing this work forward as soon as we can, while also ensuring that it can be completed to the highest standard. My hon. Friend will be aware that the development of a new GCSE is a complex and lengthy process, but, as I say, we are committed to it as a new GCSE” http://bit.ly/2xNwcOl

Despite a very long journey (and a return home at 12am on a school night!), it was certainly worthwhile and a day to remember and we can only hope that it moves us a step closer to the roll-out of the GCSE and enhancing the status of British Sign Language. 

Ann Jillings is a hearing mum, privileged to be welcomed into the Deaf community by virtue of having a Deaf teenager. She spends most of her time campaigning for a better future for Deaf children both locally and nationally and juggling too many voluntary roles. In her spare time, she enjoys walking Varley the Hearing Dog and spending far too much time on Social media! She is on Twitter at @AnnJillings.