ALLIANCE responds to consultation on teachers of children and young people who are Deaf, Deafblind, or who have Visual Impairments

The ALLIANCE responds to a Scottish Government consultation on draft guidance for teachers

The ALLIANCE has responded to the Scottish Government consultation on guidance on appropriate qualifications and teacher competencies for teachers of children and young people who are Deaf, Deafblind, or who have Visual Impairments.

At present, children and young people with sensory impairments face a wide range of inequalities. Without equal access to education and extracurricular support, people with sensory impairments face lifelong inequality and disadvantage compared to their hearing and sighted peers.

Overall, we welcome the draft guidance as a marked improvement on the previous 2007 version. The ALLIANCE and our members welcome changes in language, and the recommendation for a Masters level qualification to qualify as a teacher of children and young people who are Deaf, Deafblind, or who have Visual Impairments, along with a three year transition period in which existing teachers may qualify. We also support the proposals for all teachers working with children and young people who have Visual Impairments to use and learn Contracted Unified English Braille.

We shared the following concerns and recommendations:

• A full 120 credit Masters Level qualification should be recommended in the guidance, rather than a partial 90 credit qualification.
• Teachers of Deaf children and young people must obtain a higher level of fluency in relevant sign languages than introductory SCQF Level 3 (Signature Level 1) or SCQF Level 5 (Signature Level 2). We call for higher aspirations and qualification levels, and support for teachers to reach full fluency in BSL.
• The guidance should recognise and reference the Signature Level 2 Award in Communicating and Guiding with Deafblind People as an expected part of qualifying as a teacher of children and young people who are Deafblind.

We also recommend that it is essential that there are clear accountability measures in place to monitor progress. We recommend that governance should be part of the Chief Inspector of Education’s remit for individual inspections. We also suggest that the General Teaching Council of Scotland (GTCS) is well placed to support national reporting on the numbers of teachers with qualifications at different levels. We recommend that the Scottish Government should work with GTCS to create a new registration category for qualified teachers of children and young people who are Deaf, Deafblind, or who have Visual Impairments. We strongly recommend that any registration standards should be co-produced with people who are Deaf, Deafblind, and who have Visual Impairments, as well as experts from the sensory and education sectors

Finally, we recommend that is it vital that the Scottish Government increase the pay of teachers supporting children and young people who are Deaf, Deafblind, and who have Visual Impairments. At present, there is no salary uplift (unlike in England) to recognise the additional training and expertise required of teachers in these roles – often paid for at their own expense – and the vital support they provide to children and young people. If Scotland is to properly support all children and young people to have equal access to education, in line with the incorporation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, we must invest in supporting a fully qualified and valued workforce of specialist teachers

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