North Wales MS and Chair of the Cross-Party Group on Deaf Issues in the Senedd, Mark Isherwood, has called on the Education Minister to respond to National Deaf Children's Society Cymru’s warnings of “a looming educational crisis for deaf children in Wales”, with falling numbers of specialised teachers.
Questioning the Minister on support for deaf school pupils in today’s meeting of the Welsh Parliament, Mr Isherwood said across Wales there are 59 children per Teacher of the Deaf, rising to 81 in north-east Wales, and that numbers of Teachers of the Deaf are likely to drop further across Wales in the next 10 to 15 years as many retire.
Speaking in the Chamber, he said:
“Well, during the Business Statement here on 8 February, I stated that ‘National Deaf Children's Society Cymru have warned of a looming educational crisis for deaf children in Wales. Their Consortium of Research in Deaf Education survey of local authorities shows that the number of Teachers of the Deaf in Wales has fallen by 20 per cent over the last decade. In addition, more than a third of Teachers of the Deaf across Wales are over the age of 50, meaning there they're likely to retire in the next 10 to 15 years'.
“After I then detailed their calls on the Welsh Government, the Trefnydd told me that she would ask you to write to me. During a follow-up meeting with the National Deaf Children Society, I learnt that across Wales there are 59 children per Teacher of the Deaf, rising to 81 in north-east Wales. How do you therefore respond to their call for the Welsh Government to look at the Teacher of the Deaf network and workforce planning in Wales, with sustainable, affordable, long-term funding, where, without these actions, deaf children will continue to fall behind, and the gap between them and their hearing peers risks becoming even wider than it already is?”
In his response, the Minister said:
“I thank Mark Isherwood for this important question. I recognise the points that NDCS Cymru make in relation to workforce strategy and ensuring sufficient provision in relation to teachers of the deaf.
As he will know, the ALN reforms include the ALN code, which lists teachers of the deaf amongst those that local authorities should consult to obtain their views and emerging needs and patterns of needs and the workforce skills profile in order to ensure that we can support learners with hearing impairment.
“A key part of our reforms is to ensure that the teaching workforce is sufficiently skilled to be able to provide for the needs of each individual child and also to be able to make best use of experts' advice and support provided by specialists like teachers of the deaf. We have in the past provided funding, as I'm sure he will recall, to ensure that we have postgraduate training of local authority based specialists and advisory teachers of learners with sensory impairment, including teachers of the deaf. But, we will reflect further on the report to see what more we can do.”