Mr. Brendan Lennon:

I thank the committee members for organising this session on the education needs of children who are deaf or hard of hearing, and for extending an invitation to Chime to address it on this important subject.

Chime is pleased to have the opportunity to highlight a key issue for us, which is the significant gap between how deaf and hard of hearing children are doing in our schools, compared with their hearing peers of similar ability. We have good reason to believe this gap is significant, and that it is widening. We do not know for sure, because information on educational attainment of deaf and hard of hearing students is not being published. We would like the committee's support in having this information made public, so that we can see the exact educational attainment gap, and agree what we need to do to close it.

One thing we know is that according to National Council for Special Education, NCSE, figures in 2021 there were 5,391 deaf and hard of hearing children supported by the visiting teachers of the deaf. The majority are enrolled in mainstream schools, with 170 students currently enrolled in the two deaf schools. In terms of today's discussion, it is crucial to understand that being deaf or having a hearing loss is not in any way an impediment to learning. It is the environment that creates barriers to learning, such as lack of support for parents, lack of training for teachers, and low expectations among professionals. Chime fully endorses the NCSE’s goal for the education of deaf and hard of hearing children as outlined in the council’s policy advice paper of 2011. The council stated that the goal should be that these children, “graduate from school with levels of educational attainment that are on a par with their hearing peers of similar ability.”

However, in the intervening period neither the Department nor the council have produced any evidence to indicate this goal is being realised. Late last year Chime met with the Minister of State at the Department of Education with responsibility for special education and inclusion and asserted that there is an immediate need to publish information on the levels of educational attainment for deaf and hard of hearing children. We know this information is already available to the NCSE, but it is not being collated to create a national report to determine the extent to which the council’s goal for these children is being achieved. We have good reason to believe there is a significant gap between how deaf and hard of hearing children are doing in our schools in respect of their hearing peers of similar ability. We also have reason to believe that the gap may, in fact, be growing.

In the UK, where they publish this information, the gap between the attainment of deaf and hard of hearing children and their hearing peers is roughly one grade per subject. The gap in Ireland may be even greater because we believe children in Ireland are receiving less support. For example, the visiting teacher service is widely recognised as a vital support to parents, children and classroom teachers.

It is operating at approximately 60% of the capacity of the service in the UK. We also believe that teachers primarily involved teaching deaf and hard of hearing students in Ireland are much less likely to have a postgraduate qualification in deaf education than their counterparts in the UK. It is widely recognised that such qualifications are critical to providing a good quality education to these children.

As I have stated, we believe the gap is growing. Since the introduction by the Department of Education of the new special education teacher allocation model in 2017, many parents tell us that their deaf and hard of hearing children are receiving less support than previously. A small survey completed by One Family Ireland showed that 80% of children are receiving learning support. Of those who had hours prior to 2017, more than 80% now have fewer hours. The numbers in that survey are small, but it is consistent with the message parents are giving us anecdotally. We raised this matter directly with the Minister, and queried how the principle that the child with the greatest level of special educational need receives the greatest level of support is being applied in schools, in particular as it relates to deaf and hard of hearing children. Until we begin to collate an evidence-based picture of how deaf and hard of hearing children are achieving in our schools, we believe they are increasingly less likely to get the support they need, and the education gap may increase.

There are other issues relevant to this discussion, such as teacher training in deaf education, Irish Sign Language, ISL, competency amongst teachers of the deaf and visiting teachers, access to assistive technology outside schools, waiting lists for services, a broken ISL home tuition scheme and low participation rates in third level education. All of these fall short of what is required. On a positive note, we welcome the new teacher training course delivered in Dublin City University, DCU, through ISL, which will have its first deaf primary school teacher graduates this year. This is a huge boost for deaf education in the country, and for the deaf community. We also welcome the new ISL in-school support scheme, although we are concerned at the pace and manner in which it is being implemented. There is also the opportunity for some quick wins. For example, assistive technology known as personal FM systems, which have been traditionally seen as educational technology for use in schools, should be made available to families of young children from the age of six months.

In summary, it is fair to say we have more questions than answers. In our view, the first step should be to establish how well deaf and hard of hearing children are learning in our schools, by collating and publishing educational outcomes. This will enable all stakeholders to have a more informed and transparent view of where we are and what we need to do to improve. The support of the committee to help achieve this would be most welcome.