hearing loss and the criminal justice system - Australian Indigenous ...

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Senate Inquiry March 2010_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________excluded from exercising power in schools is thecounterpart to the way unfamiliar and uncomfortableclassroom participation styles exclude Indigenousstudents from educational opportunity. The Indigenousstudents who suffer the worst consequences inculturally unresponsive schools are those with aConductive Hearing Loss.The ways parents are excludedfrom exercising power in schools isthe counterpart to the wayunfamiliar and uncomfortableclassroom participation stylesexclude Indigenous students fromeducational opportunity.HEARING LOSS AND SCHOOLINGA key concept in meeting the educational needs of Indigenous children with hearing loss isthe child’s ‘familiarity’ with people, content and communicative processes. Indigenousstudents’ have better educational outcomes when they have a high level of familiarity withthe people who teach them and they are taught in ways that are familiar to them. The firstimplication of this is that local Indigenous people should provide classroom support(Howard, 2004). It also means that non‐Indigenous teachers should operate, as far as ispossible, in ways that are both culturally familiar to students and use culturally responsivepedagogy (Howard, 1994).It is important to note that the hearing loss of Indigenous children is often invisible becausethe focus on cultural differences acts to mask awareness of the hearing loss. Certainbehaviours tend to be explained as culturaldifferences rather than being identified as being…She thought they were ‘just moreIndigenous than the otherstudents’. Her focus on culturaldifferences masked the presenceand effect of hearing loss.related to hearing loss. This was highlighted in acomment made by a teacher after a group ofstudents in her class who found it difficult to learnfrom ‘teacher talk’ were found to have impairedhearing. Her explanation for their learning difficultieswas that she thought they were ‘just more Indigenousthan other students’ (Howard, 1992). Her focus oncultural differences as the reason for certain behaviours masked her ability to look for thepresence and effect of hearing loss.An understanding of the combined effects of cultural difference and listening problems(Conductive Hearing Loss and/or Auditory Proceeding Problems) is an important componentin providing effective educational services to Indigenous students. Addressing theeducational disadvantage of Indigenous students with hearing loss, demands culturallyresponsive practice as well as the use of amplification, the improvement of school acoustics,and the use of more visually oriented teaching styles.Just as hearing related behaviours are misinterpreted as ‘culturally based’ behaviours, thereis also a tendency to view school behaviour problems within a socio‐political context, ratherthan linking the behaviours to the effects of hearing loss. While there are many realcomponents to the socio‐political dimensions of Indigenous disadvantage, Indigenouslistening problems add to the overall complexity of the problem by interacting with some ofthese components in ways that are often not recognised._________________________________________________________________________________________________________________34 Phoenix Consulting
Senate Inquiry March 2010_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Some work (Stehbens et al, 1999) on school exclusions, identified a complex interplay ofpower relationships based around social, economic, gender and racial elements that allwork together to disadvantage Indigenous students. The authors reported that Aboriginaland Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) students comprised only 3 per cent of the total NSWstudent population, but they were the subject of 18 per cent of all suspensions in 1995.A number of factors that contributed to school exclusions were discussed. The factor mostcommonly mentioned by the Indigenous students, as being a catalyst to exclusion, was theirfrustration at not being able to understand what was happening in the classroom and theirdifficulties in understanding the teachers’ spoken instructions. It is Indigenous studentswith hearing loss who are most likely to have difficulty understanding teachers’ verbalinstructions and have behaviour problems at school (Howard, 2004). It seems probable thathearing loss contributed to the ‘difficulties in understanding instructions’ that led to manyof the school exclusions in the Stehbens et al (1999) research.Research that I have conducted, shows that school behaviour problems among Indigenousstudents is strongly associated with Conductive Hearing Loss (Howard, 2004). The followingsection describes research that helps explain this association.UNDERSTANDING SCHOOL BEHAVIOUR PROBLEMSMy doctoral research (Howard, 2005) examined how the behaviour problems of Indigenousstudents’ were related to current Conductive Hearing Loss and to the levels of backgroundnoise in their environment.There is a strong professional expectation upon teachers to maintain control in theclassroom. Teaching requires the compliance of students in remaining quiet and followingthe teacher’s directions. Student responses that contravene these expectations quicklycome to the attention of teachers. I found certain behaviours, which were exhibited bychildren with Conductive Hearing Loss, whilst attempting to cope in noisy classrooms wereseen as behaviour problems. These behaviours are outlined below.1) Talking when the classroom was quietThe majority of Indigenous students with current Conductive Hearing Loss wereobserved to ‘talk when it is quiet’ more than Indigenous students with no currentConductive Hearing Loss. Talking when the classroom is quiet enables the child to takethe opportunity to verbally communicate during the best ’listening’ conditions availablein a classroom. However, these quiet times are generally when the teacher is teaching,or other students are working silently. Students seeking to speak at these timestherefore contravene classroom rules and so are likely to be seen by teachers asexhibiting ‘behaviour problems’.2) Teasing when noisyThe majority of Indigenous students with current Conductive Hearing Loss wereobserved to talk less when it was noisy but to engage in verbal and non‐verbal teasingas noise levels rose. These responses appeared to be related to disguising theirlistening difficulties, attempting to entertain themselves in the face of listening_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________35 Phoenix Consulting
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