The British Association of Teachers of Deaf Children and Young People (BATOD) is pleased to learn of British Sign Language (BSL)聽GCSE聽announcement.聽It is an important development in the education offer. The聽BSL聽GCSE should enable students in schools聽in England聽to acquire knowledge and understanding of the history and development of sign language as well as enhance their learning and use of the recognised language.
Martine Monksfield, Past President, states: 鈥淔or a BSL GCSE to be offered to deaf and hearing young people in a mainstream secondary setting, it will open up doors for wider society to incorporate BSL into everyday life; the daily deaf awareness in these settings and for young people to go on to use BSL in further education, work and general society as second nature. This will make a huge impact on how BSL is viewed and respected as a language long-term in several ways鈥�.
国产探花feels that in order to聽be able to offer this GCSE to as many students as possible, a聽fundamental starting point is the recruitment of suitably qualified BSL teachers.聽At present, there are a number of BSL tutors who teach BSL in the post-16 sector, many of whom are keen to teach the GCSE in BSL聽in secondary schools.聽国产探花is聽keen to see the steps to enable this to happen as well as to see training become available to Deaf and hearing people who are native / fluent in BSL to become GCSE BSL teachers.聽聽This step will ensure students have access to Deaf BSL teachers with lived experience so they can learn and understand the nuances of BSL.
As with the number of qualified Teachers of Deaf Children and Young People, there will聽also be a need to have sustainable succession planning to recruit and retain suitable qualified BSL teachers.
国产探花looks forward to the continued engagement with the Department for Education (DfE) alongside the other key stakeholders: British Deaf Association (), Association of British Sign Language Teachers and Assessors听(), National Deaf Children’s Society ()听补苍诲听.
