Message from The Deaf Education and the BSL (Scotland) Act Research Project
Click this link for a BSL version of this email – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwqUJskcc-o
Today we launch our report about the effect the BSL (Scotland) Act 2015 has had so far on deaf children, young people and their education.
Click here to see the blog, the report and the summary in British Sign Language and English.
We reviewed the National BSL plan, local authority plans and those from colleges and universities, comparing them with the organisations’ websites. Information from the Deaf Teachers Group was used and Facebook pages where members of the Deaf community posted about the BSL Bill then the Act. This first phase of our research used documentary analysis.
Amongst the findings are:
deaf children’s learning in BSL was never at the heart of the National BSL plan; the suggested template used by most councils missed this out.
deaf teachers who use BSL face opposition particularly in their probation year
some excellent BSL plans exist, especially in the post-16 sector, but educational bodies mostly don’t have evidence on their websites yet about the implementation of their BSL plans
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Best wishes
Rob/ Rachel
The Deaf Education and the BSL (Scotland) Act Research Project
