Deaf children falling behind as specialist teacher numbers fall | Deafness and hearing impairment

The number of specialist teachers of the deaf in England is at its lowest for a decade, leading to warnings that the decline is leaving hearing-impaired children “fighting for their futures”.

The number has fallen by 16.5% since 2011, a report by the Consortium for Research into Deaf Education shows. The report found there are 887 fully qualified teachers of the deaf, compared with 1,062 in 2011.

The National Deaf Children’s Society (NDCS) fears the decline will worsen the achievement gap between deaf and hearing children. Deaf children already fall behind at every stage of school, the charity said, including a whole grade at GCSE. More than half of teachers (53%) are over 50, according to the report, prompting concerns that staffing levels may further drop in the next 10 to 15 years without intervention.

Nina Greaves, 44, a social worker in Lincoln, said support from their teacher of the deaf was a lifeline when her six-year-old son, Marshall, was identified as deaf as a newborn. “Straightaway, she just normalised everything,” she said. “I didn’t know anything about deafness before.”

The support began when Marshall was a baby, with the teacher visiting monthly to give advice about the acoustics in the family’s home, lip-reading and other techniques. Now he is at school, his current teacher of the deaf visits him there, checking his hearing aids and giving teachers training.

With the right support, deaf children can achieve everything other children can, the NDCS said. Almost 80% of deaf children attend mainstream schools without specialist provision. Marshall is now in Year 2, and a “testament to the support” the family has received. “He’s not struggling at all at school: he’s very good with his speech, he’s an avid reader,” Greaves said.

Mike Hobday, director of policy and campaigns at the NDCS, said: “Teachers of the deaf play an absolutely crucial role, but year after year they’ve been cut just to balance the books. As a result, deaf children are left fighting for their futures and falling behind at every stage of school. We need urgent action to fix this issue, but there’s no guarantee that more funding for schools will be enough to provide exactly what deaf pupils need.”

The NDCS is calling for a £1.3m bursary to replace the teachers of the deaf who have been lost and “make sure every deaf child gets the right support”.

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “All children and young people, including those who are deaf or have a hearing impairment, should receive the support they need to succeed in their education. That’s why there is a legal requirement for teachers to hold relevant mandatory qualifications when teaching classes of pupils who have a sensory impairment.”