Access to Basic Skills for People who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing 35. There are 8 million people in the UK with some form of hearing loss. Deafness at birth or in childhood has significant effects on the learning of basic skills and this affects 180,000 people in the UK. A further 500,000 people become severely or profoundly deaf later in life. For them, deafness does not in itself create a need for basic skills, but those who wish to acquire basic skills might find it difficult to access appropriate provision. There are two important subgroups of deaf learners: those who use British Sign Language (BSL) as their preferred language and those who use speech and lipreading. Although the best medium of instruction is different for each group, the required strategies for teaching and learning are similar. The last survey of deaf school leavers was in 1979. It found that the average reading age for all deaf learners was 8.6. This situation has not improved. 36. The main barrier for deaf people who have BSL as a first language is that their school education was often not conducted in that language. When adult deaf BSL users attend local classes in basic skills they may not find tutors who can sign fluently and communication support workers (CSWs), where provided may not have high level interpreting skills. Tutors of basic skills classes may not be aware of the specific difficulty born-deaf students have with writing and grammar. English as the structure of BSL is different from English and in numeracy classes, learning materials are usually inaccessible to deaf learners. Deaf students need visual teaching methods and explanations of new technical terms. 37. The quality of current provision is variable. Although much work is of a good standard as evidenced in FEFC inspection reports, some centres are under-resourced. Larger towns tend to offer provision at several levels. There is no standard nationally of what should be the minimum qualification for tutors. Initial assessments vary a great deal in their effectiveness; the BSA tests are inappropriate to this group. Overall, there are too few resources for tutors and deaf students. 38. The views of learners, trainers and teachers were as follows. There was strong support for the position that basic skills tutors for groups of deaf students be qualified to a minimum level of stage 3 CACDP BSL (Council for the Advancement of Communication with Deaf People). Respondents wanted basic skills provision at an appropriate level, available within easy travelling distance from home. Deaf respondents were concerned about the prospect of national tests being used by employers, as they felt this could cause further discrimination. There was support for the idea of developing CD ROMs and videos for basic skills learners, but most respondents felt this should be a supplement to, not a replacement for classes. NATED, the National Association for Tertiary Education of Deaf People, thought that a teacher of the deaf qualification was important for tutors of basic skills to adults. At present, there is no training course for tutors of deaf students in further education colleges. The Teacher of the Deaf schools course does not include adults. 39. What should the ideal basic skills arrangements look like? Ideally there should be different levels of classes for deaf BSL users in basic English and numeracy. The classes would be within travelling distance, and would be advertised on a basic skills website. In basic skills classes where there are deaf students, the tutors would have a minimum of Stage 3 or VQ 3 BSL CACDP skills, teacher training and knowledge of both English and BSL. Students living in rural areas would be able to use video conferencing from a local venue, such as a library, to join these classes. CD ROMs would provide supplementary study courses taught in BSL. 40. For deaf and hard of hearing students who do not use BSL, access to local basic skills provision would be improved by the provision of more qualified CSWs. There should be more training for tutors in the literacy and numeracy needs and learning styles of deaf learners. Tutors of all basic skills classes should receive training about the learning needs of deaf students as part of their graduate-level initial training course. 41. Employers could be encouraged to allow deaf employees paid time off work to study for basic skills qualifications. 42. The literacy and numeracy tests should be available in accessible formats including BSL on CD-ROM. At one FE college, there are classes at 3 levels in literacy and numeracy. The classes are taught in BSL by tutors who have CACDP BSL stage 3. The tutors also have degrees in the subjects they are teaching and several have further experience of ESOL teaching methods. The materials are specially written for deaf learners and use the resources of the deaf community for assignment work. For example, students can chair meetings in their local deaf club to gain evidence for Wordpower stage 1 & 2. Students use video to record their communication work and members of the numeracy class uses a CD ROM maths dictionary in BSL. Recommendations specific to this group There should be classes at the appropriate level where deaf people can learn basic skills within each Learning and Skills Council area. Classes taught in BSL should be available at levels 1, 2 and 3. Deaf students who use speech and lipreading should be encouraged to attend local classes, and high quality assessment and communication support should be available. Information about provision suitable for deaf learners should be advertised on an accessible website and publicised to careers officers, DEAs, social workers and deaf centres. Tutors of classes in which there are deaf learners who use BSL should aim to have a minimum level of competence in BSL; for example, stage 3 CACDP BSL or the equivalent. The government should sponsor the development of a higher education level training course for deaf and hearing tutors in the form of an additional module to the new basic skills teaching qualification. Tutors should be able to study by distance learning and the curriculum should include training in working with deaf people who use speech and lipreading as well as those who use BSL. The government should invest money in developing a basic maths course and a basic English course taught through the medium of BSL: teaching and learning activities relating to a deaf focused curriculum based on national standards. To meet their particular needs, deaf learners in basic skills classes should have access to IT in the form of email, video cameras, CD ROM and a wide selection of appropriate reading books to support their learning. The national literacy and numeracy tests should have a BSL version. Given the concern that testing may particularly disadvantage deaf people, the impact of the tests on the employment prospects for deaf candidates should be closely monitored. The government should invest money in a good practice guide for basic skills tutors to explain the effects of deafness, and to advise on the teaching strategies to be used with deaf or hard-of-hearing students.

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