British Sign Language and Linguistic Access Working Group ...

In England, a consortium of organisations and Universities is currently exploring thepossibility of establishing just such an arrangement throughout the UK. The groupincludes representatives from the National Deaf Children’s Society (NDCS), the BritishAssociation of Teachers of the Deaf (BATOD), Birmingham University and UniversityCollege London. A pilot project is underway in one English area, and the group hope toraise funds to begin implementing across the UK within the next year. The group areaware that a way will need to be found to ensure that the complexities of the distinctivefeatures of the Scottish system (as well as, to a lesser extent, Wales and NorthernIreland) are fully considered and addressed.5.5. RECOMMENDATIONS■ There is a need for detailed knowledge of the population of deaf pupils, in order totrack the impact of relevant developments in policy, legislation, technology andlinguistics. A project similar to ADPS could collaborate with ScotXed to share andcomplement data. It is essential that there is Scottish representation on theconsortium which is currently planning UK-wide data collection.■■■Consideration could be given to exploiting data on numbers of deaf children andyoung people held by audiology departments across Scotland.Consistency is needed in the criteria for opening deaf pupil IEPS among individualschools and local authorities. Investigation of the current picture across the countrywould be helpful. National networks of Additional Support for Learning Officers andof Educational Psychologists could be usefully exploited in such a study.Caution is needed in referring to currently available statistics on deaf pupils; there isa need to clearly state the definition of the group quoted.16