Government failing deaf children in academies?

I mused a long while ago in this blog whether academies are bad news for deaf children. The way the Government is going, the answer seems to be a pretty resounding yes.

I’m not anti-academies. If it delivered a good education, I wouldn’t care if deaf children were being educated in McDonalds. What worries me is that the funding system is set up in a way that risks deaf children in academies not getting the help they need.

Charlie Swinbourne’s recent article in the Guardian explains, but in a nutshell, imagine, if you will, a pie. The local authority normally looks after the pie and gives it out according to whoever needs it most. Now allow a group of schools that decide to become independent from councils and become academies, to take a chunk of the pie and split it evenly amongst themselves.

If everyone’s need for the pie was the same, there would be no problem. But when it comes to support for deaf children, the need isn’t the same. Most academies won’t have any deaf children and so will have no need for any pie. This bit of the pie gets wasted. But the academies that do have some deaf children are only getting a tiny piece of the pie. It won’t be enough.

Worse, the more academies taking a piece of the pie, the less that is left for the local authority to give out to deaf children in other schools. At some point, the service will become unsustainable.

Not all local authorities deliver a good service to deaf children. If they did, there wouldn’t be such a wide attainment gap. But without any changes to the funding arrangements, things aren’t going to improve and the pie isn’t going to taste any better.

What really hacks me off is that none of this is new. The National Deaf Children’s Society has been raising these concerns for ages. And the Government promised – in the Houses of Parliament, no less – that they would sort it. A year on, we are still no closer to a solution. And yet the Government is still expanding and accelerating its programme for more academies through it’s new Education Bill.

The message the Government is giving? Deaf children are an afterthought and it’s OK to leave them in limbo. Is this fair?

Another deaf superstar

And here’s another example of deaf young people breaking down barriers – a nice story from Sussex about Kathy, a deaf young person from Belfast who became a teacher of both deaf and hearing children. Very inspiring.

Any more examples out there? Any more, and I might start to think deaf people are taking over the world…

2011 predictions on campaigning for deaf children

What will 2011 bring for my work as a campaigns officer for deaf children? Last year, the general election meant that it was impossible to predict anything with any certainty. This year, I’m tempted to have a shot. Here are three predictions from me.

1) Acoustics in schools is going to come back on the agenda. At the end of 2009, the National Deaf Children’s Society won a big campaign victory on acoustics. However, this year we are expecting the Department for Education to come up with a new strategy for how it builds new schools, whilst the Department for Communities and Local Government is revamping Building Regulations. Both could potentially result weaken, rather than strengthen, standards on acoustics. If they do, the Sounds good? campaign may be making a return.

2) The cuts are coming. Last year, the Government announced the cuts it would be making to overall budgets. This year, the impact will start to be felt and we are likely to see some heavy cuts in many parts of the UK. Much of my time this year is going to be spent working with parents to fight the cuts to help for deaf children.

3) The special educational needs debate goes out of the box. The Department for Education is publishing its policy ideas on special educational needs. This year. Probably. It’s already been postponed twice. Assuming they do see the light of day, we can expect to see some quite radical proposals. Personal budgets for children with special educational needs is rumoured to be one of the proposals coming out. Some MPs think that the Government might go further and ditch the whole statementing system. It will certainly be interesting at the very least.

Do you have any other predictions for the year ahead in campaigning for deaf children? Leave a comment below to share them.

A deaf superstar

Is it too late to wish everyone a happy new year? Oh well, better late than never.

One nice way to start off a new year of blogging is to read about a super deaf person – Naomi – who featured in the Northern Echo newspaper recently. I am biased as Naomi was recently one of my colleagues, but I think by any objective measure she proves that deaf young people can succeed and do fantastically well. A great role model for deaf young people.

As it’s my first blog of 2011, this is your chance to say if there are any particular issues you’d like the blog to cover in the coming months? I can’t make promises but will do my best.