British Sign Language: National Curriculum

Liz Twist Excerpts

Monday 5th March 2018 Westminster Hall

[Ian Austin (in the Chair)]

I draw Members’ attention to the fact that today’s proceedings are being made accessible to people who are deaf or hearing-impaired. The interpreters are using British Sign Language, and Parliament TV is showing a live, simultaneous interpretation of the debate. I call Liz Twist to move the motion.

[Liz Twist (Blaydon) (Lab)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered e-petition 200000 relating to British Sign Language being part of the national curriculum.

It is an honour to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Austin. Last September, I had the pleasure of meeting Erin, a young woman involved in the National Deaf Children’s Society. Erin told me very clearly that many young people such as her who are deaf feel strongly that British Sign Language should be taught in schools, and that it should become a GCSE subject. As a result, more young people would be able to learn BSL, and it would be properly recognised as a language qualification, equal to other GCSEs. Erin’s determination, and her clear explanation of why BSL should be a GCSE subject made a lasting impression on me. When today’s petition, created by Wayne Barrow, who is in the Gallery, came before the Petitions Committee, I was keen to speak on it, and to introduce it on behalf of Wayne, the many other petitioners and Erin.

Other hon. Members on the Committee were very conscious that, although the petition had not reached 100,000 signatures, which is the usual threshold, the issue should be considered by the House, because it is difficult to ask for 100,000 signatures when fewer than 100,000 people speak BSL as their first language. The Committee was also very keen that the debate be signed, so that young deaf people, and the not so young, could follow the debate as it happened—a first for a live debate in this House. I hope it is the first of many, as Parliament reaches out and becomes more inclusive. I thank our signers, the Committee and the House staff who made it possible.

What a day to be holding this debate, after the British film, “The Silent Child”, won the Oscar for best live-action short film last night. Furthermore, the acceptance speech by actress Rachel Shenton was signed—another achievement, and another step forward.

[Justin Tomlinson (North Swindon) (Con)]

The hon. Lady is making a powerful speech. Maisie Sly, the six-year-old actress in the film, who is profoundly deaf, is one of my constituents. The mainstream state school that she goes to has embraced sign language, which has really inspired lots of young people, who want to take it up. As the former Minister for Disabled People, I know that we have a chronic shortage of BSL interpreters in this country. If we can tap into that inspiration, we can solve more problems and help people like Maisie, whom we are very proud of in Swindon.

[Liz Twist]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention and for the information about the school, which I am sure is a good example to many others.

[Laura Smith (Crewe and Nantwich) (Lab)]

While I was training to become a primary school teacher during the early 2000s, I completed a placement in a mainstream primary school that had fully embraced the integration of all children. Teachers spoke with a special microphone that was tuned into the children’s implants, and every session was signed. All the children benefited, and I benefited as a teacher; everyone benefits from this. I also congratulate Rachel Shenton and Maisie—what an amazing achievement. Let us hope that we see plenty more signing going on in Parliament in every debate.

[Liz Twist]

I thank my hon. Friend for her intervention. She gave a good example of how everyone benefits from BSL and signing, which is an idea that I will touch on later.

As I was saying, yesterday “The Silent Child” won an Oscar. Starring six-year-old Maisie Sly and Rachel Shenton, it tells the story of a four-year-old profoundly deaf girl who struggles to communicate until she learns sign language. I am sure that all Members will join me in sending our congratulations to Maisie, Rachel and the team that produced the film. Now all I have to do is follow that.

Moving on to the petition itself, the petitioners ask for BSL to be part of the national curriculum. They point out that about 50,000 people in the UK use BSL, that many children are born deaf and that those children should be given

“a better chance at a more integrated future.”

[Thelma Walker (Colne Valley) (Lab)]

I commend my hon. Friend on securing today’s debate. Deaf children should be able to interact with their peers as much as those children who can hear. Does she agree that a simple solution to make our education system truly inclusive would be for the Department for Education to include British Sign Language in the national curriculum for all schools and all children?

[Liz Twist]

I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention. I agree with that statement, and I hope to explain why.

The petitioners want BSL to be part of the national curriculum, giving better life chances to young people who are deaf. They believe that if BSL becomes part of the national curriculum, that will even up the chances of deaf young people being able to play a full part in school and attain the best results they can.

Let us look at the case. Research by the National Deaf Children’s Society into the attainment of deaf children in 2017 shows that deaf children continue to underachieve throughout their education compared with other children. Although the Department for Education claimed recently that attainment for deaf children is at an all-time high, the latest figures show that the attainment gap between deaf children and children with no identified special needs is widening, with the gap at GCSE level being particularly worrying. In 2016, 41.3% of deaf children achieved the expected benchmark of five GCSEs at A* to C grade, compared with 69.3% of children with no identified special needs. That is a difference of more than 20%, which is just not acceptable in this day and age.

All that is in the context of a reduction of 14% in the number of qualified teachers of the deaf since 2011, and a 2% reduction in just one year—2016-17. We know that we have to do more to help deaf pupils to achieve their full potential and that we need to reverse the reduction in the number of teachers of the deaf. We can do that partly by ensuring that young deaf pupils are able to have effective communication. For many, that will be through BSL. BSL has been a recognised language since 2003, but unlike other languages it is not recognised as a GCSE that can be taught in schools.

[Mike Hill (Hartlepool) (Lab)]

In Hartlepool, there are many initiatives to promote inclusion and the use of BSL. Does my hon. Friend agree that BSL should at least be offered as part of the curriculum?

[Liz Twist]

I agree with my hon. Friend that that is very important.

A pilot GCSE has been trialled and is ready to go, but the DFE is refusing to give it the go-ahead. I ask the Minister to talk to his colleagues in other Departments, and to work with them to agree the GCSE and make it available to students. The absence of a qualification in BSL with the same status as other GCSEs discourages schools from teaching sign language—a view supported by a survey run by an organisation called Signature, which I will talk about shortly.

However, making BSL a national curriculum subject is about more than just exams. It is about the whole young person and ensuring that they are able to play a full part in school activities, get on with their peers and have a full life in school and out of school.

[Bambos Charalambous (Enfield, Southgate) (Lab)]

Is my hon. Friend aware that 23,000 children aged under 15 suffer from deafness? Teaching BSL in schools will increase the inclusion of those children, help others understand what it is to be deaf, and therefore help social cohesion in school for all pupils.

[Liz Twist]

I agree strongly with my hon. Friend’s point. It is really important that deaf children are able to take part fully in the life of the school.

In 2016-17, Signature carried out a survey of more than 2,000 young people, of whom 700 were deaf and 1,400 were hearing, on behalf of the National Deaf Children’s Society youth advisory board, which is made up of young people from across the UK, such as Erin, who believe strongly that there should be more opportunities for young people—deaf or hearing—to learn BSL, which is an officially recognised language in the UK. The survey showed that 91% of young people want to learn sign language, 92% think schools should offer a BSL GCSE, and 97% think BSL should be taught in schools. Their reasons include inclusivity, as doing those things would ensure that deaf people are fully integrated into society and not disadvantaged because others cannot communicate with them effectively; the importance of communication in general; and equality—they likened learning BSL to learning French or Spanish and said that BSL was at least equally important. They thought that being able to use BSL would improve employment prospects, both directly and indirectly, but many did not know of anywhere they could learn it at no or little cost.

I have already mentioned the shortage of qualified teachers of the deaf, but there is a wider shortage. In 2017, the Department for Work and Pensions highlighted that shortages in sign language interpreters have resulted in higher costs for Government programmes such as Access to Work, and have made it harder for deaf people to enter the workplace. A GCSE could lead to more people considering interpreting for deaf people as a career.

I do not want to make this petition downbeat. Some amazing young and older people are getting out there and making the case for BSL and other measures to improve inclusivity. Since this debate was announced, a number of people—not just young people—have contacted me to tell me about the work they are doing. They include Kathy Robinson, who runs Signs for Success, which teaches very young children to sign so they can communicate from their earliest days and do not face the isolation that can come with deafness. She believes that all children—not just those who are deaf—can benefit from learning to sign. People such as Erin and other young people from the National Deaf Children’s Society are out there campaigning on this issue.

As you do these days, I googled Wayne and had a look at his Twitter feed and at the site that he and his friend Lizzy Jay have, on which they sign and sing pop songs—actually, Wayne assures me that he does not sing, because he cannot, but he signs along to pop songs. This debate and this petition are about BSL helping young people to have fun as well as learn. It is not all about serious stuff.

I was contacted by a young constituent from Blaydon— I will not give her name—who told me about her time at school, which was not an easy experience. She is out there pushing for more people to learn BSL. We need to ensure deaf young people have the best possible chance. This petition is one way of ensuring we make progress in this area.

It is about time that some of us MPs had a go at learning BSL. I am sure we could arrange classes in this place. I am sure that is achievable. I will commit to putting my name down to learn, and I know that many other Members will join me.

One of the great things about petitions is that we get a Government response—hon. Members may have seen it on the website—so we know what the Minister may be going to say, although I very much hope he will be much bolder in what he says about the proposal to include BSL in the national curriculum. I am sure other hon. Members will ask him to do the same. Basically, the Government said, “Schools can already teach it. It doesn’t need to be part of the national curriculum. We have no plans to change it.” Well yes, Minister, we know that schools can do it, but those of us who have been teachers, governors or just parents know that the school timetable is already under huge pressure. Without an additional push, in most cases it will not happen. We know from the National Deaf Children’s Society survey that young people are keen and willing to learn BSL, but the Government must help to make it part of the curriculum.

The Government said—a number of people said to me that they took exception to this comment—that BSL is a “useful tool”. It is not just a useful tool; it is an essential part of communicating with the outside world and other people. It is an essential tool for many of our young people, and we should respect that.

In conclusion, I ask the Minister to push the boat out a bit, to respond positively to the request to make BSL part of the national curriculum, and to give our deaf young people the best possible chance.

--- Later in debate ---

[Liz Twist]

I thank all hon. Members who made contributions to the debate. Most of it was fairly upbeat. It is a shame about the ending, but I will come on to that.

I thank the hon. Member for Waveney (Peter Aldous) for his support for the cause. I also thank my hon. Friend the Member for Poplar and Limehouse (Jim Fitzpatrick), who chairs the all-party parliamentary group on deafness; my hon. Friend the Member for Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle (Emma Hardy); and my hon. Friend the Member for York Central (Rachael Maskell), who so powerfully reminded us that it is we who are erecting barriers, not people who have hearing difficulties or deafness, which is an important point to remember. I thank the hon. Member for Glasgow North West (Carol Monaghan) for her contribution and my hon. Friend the Member for Brent Central (Dawn Butler). Some really interesting and exciting points were made, all of them supporting the need for us to be more inclusive and to reach out and include young people with deafness, about whom we are talking today.

Then we come to the Minister’s comments. I have to say that I was really disappointed. I asked the Minister to go further than he had in his written response. I am disappointed that we have not been able to go further today. I heard all the reasons he gave, but we need a can-do approach. We have a problem and we need to find a way around it, so that all our young people can take part not only in school activities, but in life in the wider community, through the development of a BSL GCSE and the inclusion of BSL as a curriculum subject. I remain convinced, having been a governor in a number of schools, that it is really difficult to find time to teach BSL, although it is allowed. I look forward to his further discussions with the APPG.

I hope that there will be a change in the future to include BSL in the national curriculum and to recognise a GCSE qualification. I do not think that Wayne and his mates, Erin and other young people are going away. I think we will hear much more about this issue in the next few days. I am reminded that next week is Sign Language Week. I think there will be a lot going around among the Twitterati and the public about this, so watch out for a lot more questions from the public, as well as from hon. Members, on this issue.

To finish, I remind everyone that although we have spent a lot of time talking about the national curriculum and GCSEs, this is all about allowing deaf young people to be included in activities and school life, and to just have some fun, like Wayne and his mates do. I thank hon. Members and I am sure we will come back to this issue.

[Ian Austin (in the Chair)]

Before Members leave, I want to formally thank the interpreters who have been translating this debate into BSL, the people who have been organising the live simultaneous interpretation on television, and the Officers of the House who have made all of this possible.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved,

That this House has considered e-petition 200000 relating to British Sign Language being part of the national curriculum.