Support for Deaf Children

There must be more support available for children who are d/Deaf and their teachers.

Supporting children and learners with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) should be at the heart of the education system. Sadly, I do not believe this is the case as children are facing a postcode lottery in the availability and quality of specialist provision and parents are having to fight to get their needs met.

I want to see a proper plan to ensure there are inclusive mainstream schools with the expertise to support children with SEND and end the postcode lottery of specialist school provision.

Government proposals to improve support, as set out in its SEND and Alternative Provision (AP) Green Paper, do not match the scale of ambition or deliver the comprehensive reform that is so urgently needed in my view. The Government ran a public consultation on its proposals until July, and it says it is currently analysing feedback.

When asked about teachers of the d/Deaf, Ministers said they will set out how they are supporting the workforce to meet the needs of children and young people in their response to the consultation. Disappointingly however, they have postponed publishing it until early 2023, despite previous commitments to do so by the end of 2022.

I am concerned there is a teacher recruitment and retention crisis more widely, with the Government missing its own recruitment targets and almost a third of teachers leaving the profession within five years. For too long, teachers have been overworked, overstretched and undervalued in my view.

I support calls to end tax breaks for private schools and use that money to raise standards for every child, including: 6,500 more teachers to fill vacancies and plug skills gaps; ongoing training for teaching staff to ensure they have the skills they need to support children with SEND; and specialist mental health support in every school.