Insight: Working as a communication support worker for deaf pupils in a mainstream school (BSL)

To see the BSL translation of this article, thanks to Signly, please click on the signing hands icon at the bottom right side of the page! Then swipe on the text, or click on the play button to see it in BSL. 

I have been working as a communication support worker (CSW) in a secondary school for the last six years. My job is to facilitate communication between our deaf pupils and the hearing teachers and other hearing pupils. I work in a range of subjects and usually have between one and five deaf pupils per class at a time.

I first started in working in education years ago as I trained as a professional note taker. It was during my time as a note taker that I came across students who were sign language users and met interpreters and communication support workers in this field too.

I found myself picking up sign language quite naturally and really enjoyed the interaction I had with the deaf students. I signed up for level one in BSL at a local deaf centre which was recommended to me by an interpreter colleague and I now have my level three. I would love to work towards my level six but unfortunately its not financially viable for me right now.

All of my BSL courses have been self funded, I haven’t had any support or funding for these unfortunately. At the time when I was first working as a note taker I also had a couple of side hustles as an Avon representative as well as working in crafts and attending craft fairs to sell my products.

I used all of the profits I made from these jobs to fund the sign language courses. BSL courses aren’t cheap, especially the accredited quality courses but they are well worth the investment. I would also say that as well as attending BSL courses, what has really helped me expand my BSL vocabulary and improve my receptive and productive skills is simply meeting with BSL users on a regular basis.

When I first started my job as a CSW I was quite taken aback by the range of communication skills that our deaf pupils have. Whilst some are quite proficient sign language users, most actually learn BSL from us and their deaf peers as they come from hearing families who don’t use sign. We use  BSL, SSE (signed supported english) and/or spoken english – and sometimes a combination of these – to try and meet the individual needs of each pupil.

It is quite a challenge when working with a child who is not confident in BSL or spoken english as they don’t have a language to comfortably express themselves in. It is one thing I have noticed and learned from this job, that deaf pupils are often trying to overcome language barriers or communication difficulties before they can even attempt to master a subject in education. It is an unfair place to be and I am not sure how we can solve it.

A few of our deaf pupils come to us and they are already working below what their expected grades are for their year. Some are even two or three years below their peers. It is quite common for pupils to be kept back a year at primary school so they may come to us at year seven, but they are already twelve years old, approaching thirteen.

Deafness isn’t a learning disability and most of the pupils I support are actually very bright and switched on! But unfortunately it seems that the education or social system is not designed for them. I work with a couple of students who struggle with reading english, yet they can answer questions perfectly in BSL. If only they could take examinations in BSL they would fare so much better but it is not yet permitted in the school where we are.

And then there are other pupils who don’t use BSL but are really struggling socially and so they don’t enjoy school, it’s an effort to try and engage them or get them to take part in lessons. I think the teenage years are generally quite difficult anyway, but for some of our deaf pupils, they do struggle to make friends or have good relationships at home.

When I tell people what I do, people assume it’s a similar role to interpreting but its actually very different. Trained interpreters relay information between two parties, whereas I feel my job is more about how do I make sure this student has understood this information? No two pupils are the same and I may have to give instructions in a different way or even write things down at times too.

Naturally I form a bond with the pupils as I see them daily and for some of them, I’m an adult they can trust and confide in. There have been times when I have had to report incidents of bullying or support a pupil who is upset or has gotten hurt. It can be very challenging emotionally yet its important to keep healthy boundaries.

I love my job and the fact that I get to work with these pupils every day is what keeps me going. I have many deaf friends now as well as colleagues that work in sign language so it feels like a supportive community. As a hearing person I know I will never have the lived in experience of being deaf but I would like to think I can be an ally for this community.

At the moment, the school I am working in is struggling to recruit enough CSW’s for the growing number of deaf pupils we are getting each year. As deaf schools are shutting or funds are being cut, more pupils are being sign posted to us as we are a mainstream school with a deaf resource base. Unfortunately, we need more CSW’s than we currently have to ensure all students can be supported, yet we are not receiving enough interested applicants. Why is this?

I wonder whether compared to other sign language related jobs, is the role of CSW significantly underpaid? If so, this should be recognised as there is no more valuable work in my eyes than that in education – and working with deaf students really is a privilege.

I also wonder whether the actual role is fully understood. There are two aspects to the job really – communicating and offering support. It means an attitude of flexibility and adaptability are necessary and getting to know the pupils on a individual basis.

I remember we had one new CSW start working with us and she left after one day, never to return! Apparently she became overwhelmed at the range of communication used by the pupils and rather than persevere and get to know them, she left.

The job isn’t for everyone. There are long hours and even when the school day has finished, I may have notes to take home and type up or I might have subjects I want to research or gain a better understanding of before the next days lesson.

I would like to see CSW’s recognised as a more important part of a deaf pupils education – I was lucky enough to self fund my initial sign language courses, but for others it really isn’t an option. I do believe more could be done to support the availability of BSL and I do think schools should allow deaf pupils to take exams in their preferred language.

It reminds me of the famous saying about teaching a fish to fly – if you let the fish swim they will succeed but if you try to make them fly, they’re guaranteed to fail. It’s the same for pupils in education, we can and should adapt our methods to enable the pupils to thrive.

Working as a communication support worker is very rewarding and I honestly wouldn’t change what I do.

This blog has been written anonymously as part of the Insight series – where readers are invited to share their story or news about their interesting job with The Limping Chicken. If you have a story to share please email rebecca@rawithey.com 

Image courtesy of i-stock photos.