BATOD response – Enhanced Support Model Consultation (Northern Ireland)

BATOD response – Enhanced Support Model Consultation (Northern Ireland)

1 Which of the following best describes you?
On behalf of an organisation
British Association of Teachers of Deaf Children and Young People (BATOD)

The Enhanced Support Model – What It Will Change?

9 Do you agree with the proposed new enhanced support model for children and young people with a statement of SEN?
No
You can provide more detail on your answer below.:

10 Do you agree that schools should have greater freedom to tailor support for children and young people with a statement of SEN to their
particular needs?
Don’t know

11 Do you agree that those working with children and young people with a statement of SEN should have specialist skills to help and support
the children and young people to reach their full potential?
Yes
You can provide more detail on your answer below.:
Staff working with deaf children and young people require a range of specialist skills to enable them to support the development of communication, language, access and advocacy skills for the school environment. Classroom assistants supporting deaf children and young people should have a recognised specialism in deafness to embed the recommendations and support the interventions recommended by the qualified Teacher of Deaf Children and Young People (QToD), deaf specialist Speech and Language Therapist, and other allied professionals. They require time to link with these specialists and access the training from the respective Education Authority Sensory Support Service and Health services. Some classroom assistants should be employed, trained and paid as Communication Support Workers (CSWs).A model where they share classroom assistant hours around the school is not adequate for deaf children and young people due to the low incidence of deafness. Mainstream school staff often lack the knowledge and experience in deafness, and may subsequently underestimate the impact of deafness, and not prioritise shared hours for the deaf child/young person. Therefore, CSWs should also be employed by the centralised Sensory Service to retain specialist skills and to grow the NI workforce in this area.
The Sensory Service could then deploy CSWs where required and assist schools in supporting deaf CYP. Educational settings also require access to effective technology and resources to support the inclusive learning environment. Inclusive practice includes ensuring that information is accessible in multiple formats. It is vital the classroom staff and those in CSW roles are trained in supporting technology including audiological equipment, undertaking the use of note taker as required, communication support, and managing assistive digital technology such as captioning technology. In addition, training should include areas reflected in the BATOD/NDCS specialist deaf curriculum framework Empowering schools is positive, but autonomy must be balanced with safeguards to ensure consistency for low‑incidence groups such as deaf children and young people. BATOD strongly recommends all staff are aware of the role of professionals to be informed about informed choices  (https://www.batod.org.uk/information/being-informed-on-informed-choices-with-bsl-translation-soon-to-be-added/) and the responsibility of policy writers to outline how consistency will be monitored across areas.
Workforce

12 Do you think we should invest in enhanced training and career development opportunities for classroom assistants?
Yes

13 Do you believe classroom assistants should have greater opportunities to develop specialist skills and knowledge to support children’s
educational needs?
Yes
You can provide more detail on your answer below.:
Some deaf children require specialised support, via a 1:1 assistant to access lessons and social times. Those staff must have skills to adapt language;
spoken, signed, written to the child/young person’s level, scaffold understanding, promote independence, support use of assistive technology and work collaboratively with teachers, QToDs and SALTs. Deaf children and young people benefit most from coordinated support, particularly given the higher prevalence of additional needs and mental health concerns. The staff need access to ongoing specialist training e.g. language and communication development, language modification, examination access arrangements, deaf identity, Deaf culture, and the social and emotional impact of communication barriers is essential. Northern Ireland does not have a recognised Communication Support Worker (CSW) role in education, despite the complex communication and access needs of the deaf children and young people. The CSW role should be with the mainstream, the specialist deaf&VI school (Jordanstown), deaf resource provisions and Education Authority Sensory Support Service staffing structure. The CSW role requires staff to have adequate level of BSL skills (level 3 or above)- this represents up to 4 years additional study to develop the signing skill. Staff appointed to a CSW role should complete the CSW qualification (Signature). The high level of specialist skills should be reflected in the payscale for the role. There must also be
recognition of the role of Deaf instructors, BSL/ISL tutors, and Deaf role models as part of a culturally and linguistically appropriate workforce. The employment of CSWs in the EA sensory support service would enable effective timely input and support for the children/young people, their families, and school staff.

14 Do you agree that all staff working with children with special educational needs should receive ongoing, high-quality training to ensure
they are equipped to meet pupils’ diverse needs effectively?
Yes
You can provide more detail on your answer below.:
Some deaf children require specialised support, via a 1:1 assistant to access lessons and social times. Those staff must have skills to adapt language; spoken, signed, written to the child’s level, scaffold understanding, promote independence, support use of assistive technology and work collaboratively with teachers, QToDs and SALTs. Deaf children and young people benefit most from coordinated support, particularly given the higher prevalence of additional needs and mental health concerns. The staff need access to ongoing specialist training e.g. language and communication development, language modification, examination access arrangements, deaf identity, Deaf culture, and the social and emotional impact of communication barriers is essential. Northern Ireland does not have a recognised Communication Support Worker (CSW) role in education, despite the complex communication and access needs of the deaf children and young people. The CSW role should be with the mainstream, the specialist deaf school and Education Authority Sensory Support Service staffing structure. The CSW role requires staff to have adequate level of BSL skills (level 3 or above)- this represents up to 4 years additional study to develop the signing skill. Staff appointed to a CSW role should complete the CSW qualification (Signature). The high level of specialist skills should be reflected in the payscale for the role. There must also be recognition of the role of Deaf instructors, BSL/ISL tutors, and Deaf role models
as part of a culturally and linguistically appropriate workforce. The inclusion of CSWs and Deaf instructors in the EA Sensory Service staffing structure would benefit the enhanced model in providing targeted support to CYP but also in improving the ongoing training and modelling needed for schools and CAs. Effective training implementation for deaf children and young people requires: ongoing professional learning; embedded coaching and modelling; follow-up support; collaborative working with specialist qualified teachers of deaf children and young people, speech and language therapists specialist in deafness and other allied professionals ; protected time for training; and opportunities to apply learning in practice.

15 Do you agree that other professions should be part of the support model (for example, speech and language therapists, physiotherapists,
mental health workers, youth workers)
Yes
You can provide more detail on your answer below.:
Many deaf children require access to a specialist team that includes Qualified Teachers of Deaf Children and Young People, deaf specialist speech and language therapists, communication support workers/specialist classroom assistant, deaf role models, BSL/ISL sign language tutor, deaf specialist mental health workers, Deaf CAMHS, education psychologists, and as 40% of deaf children have co-occurring needs the model will often require engagement from other specialist professionals. There should be clear structure for collaboration between education, health and wellbeing services, with defined roles and communication pathways.

16 Do you agree that we need to enhance the support model as a matter of urgency?
Neither Agree or Disagree

17 Is the proposed timeline appropriate?
Too fast

Impact Assessment
18 Are there any additional equality impacts that have not been identified, or considered, within the EQIA document? (e.g. impacts relating to Section 75 protected categories age, gender, disability, race, marital status, dependents, sexual orientation, religious belief or political opinion).
No
Please elaborate on your response below.:
Deaf CYP are a protected disability group with unique linguistic and cultural needs.

• Language rights — BSL/ISL users face additional barriers not addressed in the EQIA.

• Technology inequality — Inequity in access to assistive technology and audiology support is not considered.

• Rural impact — NI’s rural geography disproportionately affects access to specialist services.

There may also be inequity between: • mainstream and special schools;

• primary and post primary settings;

• urban and rural schools;

• schools with embedded specialist provision and those without;

• schools with differing financial capacity and staffing levels. Deaf children and young people may face further inequalities if schools lack:

• trained staff;

• specialist support;

• equipment maintenance;

• good acoustic environments (see BATOD Statement on acoustics 2026);

• consistent implementation;

• access to digital resources and technical support and effective connectivity to specialist equipment used by deaf children/young people.

There are also concerns regarding:

•understanding of informed choices

• access to multidisciplinary services;

• workforce shortages;

• regional differences in multi-agency service provision;

•continuity of care between education and health;

• differences in parental advocacy and ability to navigate systems.

Without clear standards, accountability, funding and specialist oversight, there is a significant risk that implementation could unintentionally widen inequalities rather than reduce them.