Debate contribution: Support for Deaf Children

Debate contribution by Mr Danny Donnelly on 21 October 2024.

MLA

Mr Danny Donnelly

Party at the time

Alliance Party

Date

21 October 2024

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Support for Deaf Children

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4604171

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I thank the Ulster Unionist Members for tabling the motion. As outlined by my party colleagues from Strangford, we will support the motion. It is vital that we improve support for deaf children in our education system. The key to doing that is to train and recruit more specialist teachers of the deaf. The motion calls on the Minister of Education to:

"ensure that every deaf child and their family has access to a qualified teacher of the deaf"

regardless of other circumstances. As has been mentioned, there are around 1,400 deaf children in Northern Ireland, and there is not the necessary level of support for all of them. As also mentioned, we are seeing a concerning decline in the number of teachers of the deaf, down 32% since 2011, with another 30% expected to retire in the next decade. That parallels the experience that we see in many other professions, such as general practice, which I have seen in my role as a nurse and as a member of the Health Committee. In many such professions, better pay and working conditions are available elsewhere, such as in the Republic of Ireland, but an additional challenge for teachers of the deaf is gaining the necessary qualifications. The sensory service has highlighted challenges in providing cover for teachers of the deaf, which impacts on the level of support that is available for deaf children and young people. As my colleague Kellie Armstrong mentioned, Jordanstown School in East Antrim is well-respected in the area for the level of service that it provides to children and their families. There are many logistical challenges for the recruitment and training of teachers of the deaf, many of whom work in Jordanstown School. Northern Ireland does not have the capacity to provide training locally, so trainees are required to travel. That incurs significant costs and can be difficult for trainees who have personal or family connections locally. Although the sensory service helps with costs, which can be very beneficial, other challenges persist. Another problem is that career pathways are not always clear to the trainees or teachers who wish to become teachers of the deaf, which creates a barrier to further recruitment. The Department of Education should play a role in encouraging and facilitating those pathways and consider commissioning local training in Northern Ireland. Maybe the Minister will speak to that. As the Alliance Party's health spokesperson, I think that it is important to discuss the importance of teachers of the deaf to our health and social care service, especially as they work in a range of health and social care professions. As has been mentioned, in Northern Ireland, deaf children are more likely to suffer from anxiety and other psychological disorders. That comes from a lack of awareness from the wider community, barriers to communication and from the social isolation that comes with such barriers. In a debate on 20 February 2024, in one of the first such debates of the mandate, I spoke about the vital role of our speech and language therapists. Since then, I have been questioning the Department of Health on the need to improve training and provide more training places for speech and language therapists in our local universities. More broadly, there needs to be a collaborative approach between the Department of Education and the Department of Health to address the wider challenges that require a response from them both, as opposed to them working separately on it. The absence of specialist support for deaf children reflects the failure of successive Assemblies to update vital equality legislation. Scotland recently legislated to incorporate the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child — the UNCRC — into its domestic law. Article 23 of the convention states that children with any disability:

"should enjoy a full and decent life".

It also recognises their right to special care that is appropriate to their condition and to the circumstances of their parents or carers. That should be a requirement of the Department of Education, the Executive as a whole and all public authorities in Northern Ireland. We should also recognise the importance of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities — the UNCRPD — which I plan to address through a private Member's Bill. Such actions would seek to reduce the unacceptable gap in equality legislation and the impact that that has been having on deaf and disabled people in Northern Ireland.

We must ensure that all children are supported to reach their full potential, and that should not be subject to any limitations. Therefore, support for deaf children is extremely important, and I encourage the Minister to do what he can to ensure that all deaf children have access to qualified teachers of the deaf. That is a vital part of their educational development and, more widely, their health and well-being.

813 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:25 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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