How the acoustics campaign victory woz won

Well, it’s been two weeks now since we won the campaign victory on acoustics and the Government announced a package of measures to improve acoustics in new schools. So how did it all happen? Having mused and reflected upon it, here are what I think were the five key ingredients behind the campaign success:

1) Getting good media coverage. We were fortunate that the Times Educational Supplement, which is read avidly by civil servants and Ministers at the Department for Children, Schools and Families, were keen to follow the campaign throughout the year and to keep highlighting the issue with stories popping up in January on the launch of the campaign, May about support from other disability charities and, more recently, in October about a new school with poor acoustics.

2) Getting the message out to MPs and peers. We invested lots of time and effort in making MPs aware of the campaign, encouraging them to sign a parliamentary petition and to write to the Department to demand action. We couldn’t have done this without our supporters taking action and writing to their MP to check they were on board. In total, nearly 600 emails or letters were sent to MPs and the Government on acoustics by our supporters. It helped that we had a simple message that was easy for MPs to understand and get on board, all of which ensured we had a cross-party army of supporters within Parliament…

3) Making sure deaf young people led the way. Of course, one of reasons why so many MPs were keen to support the campaign is that they had attended a parliamentary event we arranged in June and met with a group of deaf young people to hear about their own personal experiences of poor acoustics, and why action is needed. The same group also appeared on the telly on BBC2 programme See Hear to demand action. They made a powerful appeal for action which was difficult for MPs and the Government to ignore.

4) Making sure we developed a strong case for action. Whether it was doing our own survey of local authorities to confirm that too many new schools were being built with poor acoustics or commissioning research from a school in Essex to show the dramatic impact that improved acoustics can have, we were keen to make sure that our briefings to Government were backed up by a compelling set of facts, pointing to a problem that needs to be solved.

5) Negotiations over a possible law change. Having got lots of attention from MPs and peers, several were keen to try and get the law changed to improve acoustics. Baroness Wilkins, a member of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Deafness, tabled an amendment to the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill. We were quite lucky in a way; the Government was already behind schedule on this Bill and were keen to reduce the amount of time spent on debates in the House of Lords. But a good campaign exploits any luck and opportunities that presents itself. And so we entered into a game of brinkmanship and a series of negotiations to agree to a deal whereby the Department agreed to acoustic testing in exchange for the amendment being withdrawn. We ended up getting a good package that surpassed our expectations of what we could realistically achieve.

All in all, a good result for deaf children and lots of lessons to take forward to the next big campaign! I can’t chose but any thoughts on which was the most important factor out of this five?

NDCS campaigns at Labour conference 2009: day 2

Louis Kissaun with MPs Ed Balls and Mary Creagh

Every now and then I get paranoid that deaf young people want to steal my job… Louis Kissaun has now joined that list of people to fear. Here’s what Louis had to say at lunchtime today about his first morning of the Labour party conference:

“I am Louis Kissaun, a 17 year old student who is now studying his last year of A levels at Mary Hare School for the deaf. I am studying Art, English Literature and Media Studies. I have also recently taken an opportunity to work and appear in a TV series called Shameless on C4.

Because of my experience of Shameless, I have been asked by the National Deaf Children’s Society to act as a representative for deaf children and young people at the Labour party conference. They have also chosen me because I went to a mainstream primary school before Mary Hare which had very bad acoustics which affected my English and Maths grades. So it’s nice to campaign for something and help others like me avoid the same struggles in lessons.

My first morning has been interesting at times. Particular the first moments with the MPs which was quite nerve racking. At one point, we met with 3 MPs at the same time, one of which was Ed Balls, the Children’s Secretary. After a few moments, I felt more relaxed and confident in explaining why acoustics is important. I feel that almost all the MPs agreed with the issues we talked about. I think we have certainly got a few more MPs on board with the campaign.

We are meeting more MPs today. I feel tired but am looking forward to it!”

What makes me fear Louis even more that he’s being somewhat modest. He did a fantastic job of explaining to MPs what it’s like for deaf children to be in a classroom with rubbish acoustics, referring back to how he used to get headaches because of the noise in his primary classroom and how he had to move to a specialist school for deaf children to be able to listen and learn effectively in the classroom.

Impressively, in a chaotic morning with MPs either being late or early, he managed to hold court with three MPs at the same time. And one of them was the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, Ed Balls, and another was the Minister responsible for special educational needs, Diana Johnson. Louis also later met Jonathan Shaw, Minister for Disability and Phil Hope, Minister responsible for audiology services. And if that wasn’t enough, he also met two other MPs and two people likely to become MPs at the next election. All of them seemed interested in our work and campaigns, thanks in no small part to Louis. We feel pretty confident that it will help move our campaign for better acoustics in schools forward in a big way.

Thanks to Louis, my role was pretty much limited to fetching the tea. Pah! Not bad for a 17 year old… A few more meetings tomorrow where I shall be watching out to see if Louis goes for the kill…

Why we need you to contact the England Children’s Minister

So, just to recap on NDCS’s Sounds good? campaign for better acoustics in schools in England, Baroness Wilkins has joined NDCS in calling for a change to the law on acoustics. NDCS has been calling for all new school buildings to be tested for their acoustics before they open, to ensure there are incentives in the system for everyone involved in building a new school to make sure the school doesn’t just look good, but sounds good too. After all, what is the point of spending millions on a school if it’s too noisy inside to learn? And so Baroness Wilkins has proposed a change to the law – or an “amendment” that does just that – makes acoustic testing a legal requirement.

The Government is resisting the amendment. They say the case for action is unproven, even though we’ve shown that currently lots of schools are not being tested and those that are, are failing the tests. Even though independent research shows acoustics benefit all children, not just deaf children and help teachers manage behaviour in the classroom. Even though the cost of an acoustics test is peanuts, compared to the cost of fixing rubbish acoustics. Even though over 15 diverse organisations agree that urgent action is needed. Even though after months of consideration, hardly any voices of objection have been raised by builders.

I feel like the only people who don’t want to take action is Government. It feels like things are stuck in a bureaucratic inertia by people who care more about processes than taking action that will make a real difference. We want to get the law changed now to stop the scandal of new schools being built with rubbish acoustics as I type. Not in some indeterminate future after “further investigation” and “careful consideration” where things fall into a governmental black hole and never reappear.

If you agree that urgent action is needed now, then contact the Children’s Minister for England, Baroness Morgan. She’ll be representing the Government when the amendment is debated in the House of Lords. It’s being debated on October 19th, so we need lots of people to get writing asap to show how much people want this change. We need your voices to be louder than those of the nay-sayers.

As always, our website makes it quick and easy for you to do this. Just fill in a few details about yourself and your email is off within around 3 minutes. 100 people have taken action already so you’re in good company.

If you’re still unconvinced, then watch the BBC 2 programme See Hear and listen to the deaf teenagers explain why good acoustics are so important to them. At the end of the day, it is deaf children who will benefit most from this.

Campaigning for deaf children at the Lib Dem conference 2009: day 2

Day two of our Bournemouth Liberal Democrat party conference adventure started with a morning of meetings on the patio of a cliffside hotel in the beautiful morning sunshine. It sounded like perfection at first. Two hours later, we were stumbling off the patio, blinded by the sun and with a deep tan on the half of our face facing the sun.

But the meetings went well. We met Baroness Garden, who works on children and education in the House of Lords for the Lib Dems. I got asked lots of questions about childhood deafness which put me on my toes but was quite nice since it showed an active interest in deafness and a desire to find out more. She was aware of our work to get the law changed on acoustics which was positive. Our message is getting out there before we’ve even come to party conferences…

We also met with Annette Brooke who also asked lots of questions and made a few requests for further information. She raised a new issue – how we do make sure that deaf children who are home educated get the right support from their local authority? A good question and something we’ll be coming back to her on.

There were lot of other charities there all waiting to meet MPs too. At times, it felt a bit like a political form of speed dating with MPs moving between different tables to talk to different charities. All that was missing was a little bell ringing at the half hour mark.

Once that was done, the afternoon was spent stalking MPs and getting their views on our simulation of acoustics in the classroom. One MP said she thought it sounded like a baby listening to the world from the womb!

And then finally, we ended the day with an impressive fringe meeting hosted by Every Disabled Child Matters. This was the best fringe meeting I went to, primarily because it had two young disabled people interrogating two shadow Lib Dem Ministers – David Laws MP (who looks after education) and Steve Webb MP (who looks after benefits) – on what the Lib Dem manifesto will have for disabled children. The highlight for me was when one of the young people was asked if her teachers had low expectations of her. She replied that her teachers told her that she would only ever end up working in a fried chicken takeaway, and how this motivated her to prove her teacher wrong. Her advice to others was simple: don’t give up. She also suggested she did end up working in a fried chicken takeaway, she would get her revenge by spitting in the food! It was a very spunky and inspriring reply.

And that was it. Time for a late night train back to London to reflect on a good two days with the Lib Dems. Now the travelling circus moves to Brighton for the Labour party conference next Sunday…

So what does it sound like for a deaf child in a school with rubbish acoustics?

As a campaigns officer, we’ve used a range of tools in our attempts to cajole Government into taking action on acoustics in schools for deaf children as part of the Sounds good? campaign. Two things, in particularly, have worked particularly well…

1) Deaf children explaining the personal impact of poor acoustics in their own words. You can now see the BBC2 See Hear feature on acoustics on youtube. Some of the children’s comments are really powerful – like how poor acoustics makes them feel lonely and left out in the classroom. Recommended viewing.

2) A sound simulation of what it sounds like for deaf children when they’re in a classroom with poor acoustics. We used this to powerful effect at the parliamentary event we did back in June where a group of deaf children demonstrated the simulation to MPs. The simulation is now available on our website for everyone to listen for themselves. It is just a simulation – but it gives a powerful indication into how much harder it is for deaf children to listen and learn in the classroom. As one of my colleagues said, it’s a real “ear” opener.

The campaign is now moving into a new phase, and there’ll be new campaign action soon. Watch this space…

UPDATE! (11/9/09) We’ve just launched a new campaign action. We’re asking our supporters to contact the Children’s Minister, Baroness Morgan, to agree a change to the law on acoustics. We want to make sure all new schools get tested for their acoustics before they open. So if you want to help make sure deaf children don’t feel left out in the classrom, take action now!

Tweeting for deaf children

Exciting days as I get to grips with new-fangled technology – Twitter! We have a new twitter account at c4dc. I feel very modern. It all started a while back when we were thinking of the different ways in which people might like to get information about our campaigns – and figured that a system involving short 140 character statements aka Tweets might be an option worth experimenting with for a trial period.

At first, I was a bit cynical about it all, and mindful of David Cameron’s views on this. But after a few days, and thanks to some help from NDCS’s ever patient web-team, I’m now quite enjoying having a little mini-blog to play with. It’s a good opportunity to quickly highlight some of our campaigns work and issues that probably doesn’t merit a full blog. We also thought it might be a good way of getting feedback on things like points we might raise in a meeting coming up or views on a particular controversy.

And now I’m merrily tweeting away! The plan is to literally go to town with Twitter at the party political conferences coming up later this month with regular quick updates on who we’ve met, where we’ve been and what we’ve learnt. A way of giving our supporters up-to-the-moment information for those that want it.

You can read the tweets via the right hand column of this blog or become a proper follower at c4dc. ‘Campaigning for deaf children’ was too long so we acronymed it to cd4c. Any feedback or suggestions on any other good deaf tweets for us to follow would be great. Enjoy the tweets.

Support for deaf children post 16

I got an email earlier this week from a father of a deaf son, offering to act as a case study for NDCS campaigns. Case studies like this really help us demonstrate the case for action and help make our campaign asks more personal and real.

As a campaigns officer, I come across lots of examples of how deaf children and young people have been let down. But this was a pretty upsetting email to read:

“I am writing as a parent of a deaf teenager who is coming to the end of his A levels at 6th form. My son who has a severe to profound loss was well supported at his secondary school but when he moved on to do A levels it was a disaster. The local Hearing Impaired Service informed us that they covered the 6th form college he was to attend (his secondary school had no 6th form so he had to move on). However, once at the 6th form he was given 1 visit per term (20 minute chat with a teacher for the deaf). When I asked for support with issues of educational concern I was given the message that there was no one designated member of staff for my son as he was an older student and that the focus for their service was with the younger ones. They went on to say that the older students should be able to advocate for themselves by this stage. My son had been given a separate room for his GCSE’s at school and a support assistant in the class to ensure he had understood and got the correct notes he needed in class. At A level he had nothing. The 6th Form even put him in the main exam hall during the first round of exams in the first year with all students and he was told to take his hearing aids out during the exams as the feedback noise might disturb other students. I informed the Hearing Impaired Service of this and they were concerned but felt that this was something that I as a parent should really sort out for my son, if he could not do it himself. They eventually came over to see the SENCO and my son was given a separate room for his exams 6 months later in the summer of the first year (his results for the Janaury exams were really bad but the Hearing Impaired Service did not even ask). In the second year of sixth form when I asked the Hearing Impaired Service to check that my son would be given the correct support during his exams the Hearing Impaired Service (manager) evetually rang to instruct me to do this work as her staff were busy with the younger students and reiterated that this was something I should do and that her staff were really not responsible. I was extremely disappointed by this attitude.

Given my son’s experience of A levels I can well understand that deaf young people find it hard to keep up with their peers. I have had to spend a lot of money on private tutors to give my son the extra support to keep up and follow the courses he has chosen. He has lost all confidence in his abilities educationally and this is very upsetting as he did well in his GCSEs and felt as though he could achieve anything.”

Support for deaf young people who go to further education colleges is clearly an issue we need to take a closer look at.

What did you think of the above case study? Have you come across similar experiences?

Big shindig at Parliament to demand action on acoustics

God, I’m glad today is over. Today, we went off to Parliament for a parliamentary event to promote our Sounds good? campaign for better acoustics in schools. The event was hosted by John Bercow MP, a respected Conservative MP, who has made it his mission to ensure that the needs of children with special educational needs are high on the political agenda.

Around 40 odd MPs turned up. It was a fantastic show of support. But it did mean that for 2 hours, I felt completely mobbed, even with a large contingent of NDCS staff on hand to help out. I’m not sure I ever want to meet a MP again.

The idea behind the event was to give MPs the opportunity to find out more about the importance of acoustics. They could do this by a) meeting some local deaf children and b) listening to a computer simulation of what a teacher’s voice in a classroom with rubbish acoustics sounds like. And they got to get their photo taken with the deaf children. The photos will be winging their way out to local media across the UK and will help us raise awareness of the campaign. We also published results of a survey of local authorities – which I’ll be blogging about soon.

Two Ministers were due to come but they got reshuffled at the last minute in the governmental game of musical chairs. Shame but the new Ministers will be hearing from us soon!

It was a great day and a culmination of a lot of campaign work to try and produce a ‘critical’ moment. Along with the survey, we hope we’ve now reached the moment where we hope that the mass of support and the case for urgent action is so compelling that the Government just gets on with it. It will be a few weeks before we can see if it’s worked.

Data on how deaf children are doing at school

Apparently, there are lies, damned lies and statistics. And then there’s a new category: figures relating how deaf children get on at school.

The Department for Children, Schools and Families have given us the latest figures on the attainment of deaf children and we intend to publish them next Tuesday with some accompanying analysis and a pretty little spreadsheet. I don’t think it will come as a huge surprise when I say the figures will confirm that there is still a large attainment gap between deaf children and all children. We’ll be doing some media work to promote the figures and to call for more support for deaf children at schools.

At the same time, I’m bracing myself for a barrage of tut-tutting. The figures are quite controversial in some quarters because they don’t include all deaf children, only those who are getting specialist support at schools. Some have argued it’s misleading to use these figures and that it demoralises professionals.

I take a different view. The figures are not perfect but they are still the best available. No evidence has been provided to suggest the figures are unrepresentative or that there is not a wide attainment gap between deaf children and their hearing peers. If there was, I’d quite happily go home and watch Hollyoaks all day.

I see the point about demoralising staff. Which is why we’re always careful to say that we think professionals are dedicated and doing a good job with a lack of wider support and funding from their local authority and central Government. In any event, should professionals working with deaf children be exempt from wider discussion and scrutiny about how deaf children are doing?

Finally, the data is used for an important end – to shine the spotlight on the education of deaf children and to persuade Government to take action. If we held off from ever using data unless it was 100% verifiable and perfect, then we may never be able to make the case for action. And all the time, the education of deaf children would suffer. And that’s not acceptable.

It’s going to be interesting to see the reaction. In the meantime, what do you think? Are we right to publish the data and to use it to shine a spotlight on education of deaf children.

Have you contacted your MP yet? Reminder no.2

When we met with Iain Wright, the Minister responsible for building regulations, earlier this week, he revealed that he had received a letter from one of his constituents about our campaign for schools that sound good.

Was that you? If so, then it was fantastically helpful. We’re sure it helped him realise that acoustics in schools is an issue that lots of people think is important – and made him more positively inclined to listen to what we had to say.

It was a great example of how people taking part in our campaigns can make a big difference. It may just be a letter or an email – but MPs do pay attention to what their constituents are saying and they do remember. Not everyone is Minister for building regulations, but MPs can, do and will make a difference.

So have you contacted your MP yet about our campaign for schools that sound good? It’s easy and only takes three minutes. Click here and our website will do all the work for you. At the time of writing, over 160 people had already contacted their MP. The more MPs we contact, the more impact we’ll have and the more likely we can change the world for deaf children. So if you haven’t already, get on with it!