British Sign Language: National Curriculum

Stephen Doughty Excerpts

Monday 5th March 2018 Westminster Hall

[Carol Monaghan (Glasgow North West) (SNP)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Austin. I pay tribute to Wayne Barrow, whose work has brought the debate to the House. This has been a consensual debate. I sometimes think this place works best when we are all pushing for the same thing, so let us hope there is some movement today as a result.

The hon. Member for Blaydon (Liz Twist) kicked off the debate by paying tribute to Maisie Sly. As the hon. Member for Waveney (Peter Aldous) pointed out, it is almost as if someone had a hand in the debate coming about on the same day as the Oscars win. The hon. Lady spoke on various aspects, and the attainment gap in particular. I, too, speak as a teacher, and it really is important to consider that gap. No child should start education knowing that, in the end, they will have a worse set of results than another child. We need to ensure we are taking steps to combat that.

There is not yet a GCSE in BSL, but, as a result of this debate, I hope there will be. In Scotland, we are developing a Scottish Qualifications Authority qualification in BSL, so there will be certification in Scotland. It seems appropriate and sensible that the same happens for a GCSE in England, especially if the work has already been done.

The hon. Member for Enfield, Southgate (Bambos Charalambous), who is no longer in his place, talked about the difficulties of inclusion and social cohesion when people are excluded from society. That is an important point. The hon. Member for Waveney talked about the range of languages available at GCSE, which probably took many of us by surprise. That hammers home starkly the point that, without a GCSE in BSL, we are selling short a large group of young people—not just those from the deaf community but other children who may want to pursue a career in that area.

The hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle (Emma Hardy) talked about the educational benefits to all children from learning BSL. I liked the phrase she used about the data obsession in school results. Something rich and valuable is lost in education when all we are interested in is the results at the end. She correctly pointed out that, unless BSL became a GCSE, it would remain low priority.

The hon. Member for York Central (Rachael Maskell) shamed us all with her abilities and demonstrated in a simple way how barriers are created and removed. I liked her suggestion that older people who are suffering from hearing loss could learn sign and BSL as a method of continuing communication with loved ones and in their daily lives.

The hon. Member for Poplar and Limehouse (Jim Fitzpatrick) talked about the work done in Scotland, and I want to say a bit about that. Obviously, the issues faced by deaf people in Scotland are exactly the same. The Scottish Government have a national strategy to make Scotland the best place in the world for deaf people. The British Sign Language (Scotland) Act 2015, which was passed unanimously by the Scottish Parliament, promotes the use of British Sign Language and made provision for the preparation and publication of the British Sign Language national plan for Scotland, which we now have. A good thing about the Bill was the fact that it had cross-party support, and was passed unanimously. Let us hope we can deal with the present issue in the same way.

[Stephen Doughty (Cardiff South and Penarth) (Lab/Co-op)]

I am sorry I have not been able to be present for more of this important debate. My mind has been opened by the Cardiff Deaf Centre and by interpreters in my constituency such as Julie Doyle and Tony Evans, and by constituents such as Stuart Parkinson. They have made it clear to me that we need to improve BSL services across the UK. I commend what the Scottish Government have done, and the hon. Lady is probably not aware that Wales has a scheme called BSL Futures, as well as many others. However, we all need to do much more across these islands and to learn from each other how to improve services for deaf people.

[Carol Monaghan]

In this place we often say, “Look north at what Scotland is doing,” but we can look to Wales as well—and, in this context, to many other places—to see where good work is being done. We need to take that on board.

The British Sign Language (Scotland) Act 2015 requires certain authorities to prepare and publish their own British Sign Language plans in connection with the exercise of their functions. There is potential for the Act to have a positive impact on the lives of people in Scotland whose first or preferred language is BSL. It provides an opportunity to appreciate and celebrate regional variations, including certain Scottish signs. We want that variation to flourish. The more BSL is promoted and celebrated throughout the UK, the more exposure it will receive. Because the Act is Scottish legislation, it follows that all of Scotland’s regional variations will be included and valued, but there is no reason why that could not also happen for regional variations from across the UK.

The Act also paved the way in Scotland for the national plan for British Sign Language—the first of its kind in the UK. The plan aims to ensure that sign language users are

“fully involved in all aspects of daily and public life”

north of the border. As part of the plan, major transport hubs such as train stations and airports will be expected to provide important information in BSL, as they would for any other language. Sign language interpreters will also be made more widely available across Scotland’s public services, making it easier for deaf people to hold senior positions. Sign language has been recognised as an official language in Scotland since 2011.

We hope that more British Sign Language users will be encouraged to become school teachers and share their skills with other people; but we also hope that they will infiltrate into every profession so that people have more access to every aspect of government. The Scottish Government also have a plan for primary schools, called the 1+2 language plan, which requires every child of primary school age to have experience of their native language, whatever it may be, and of two additional languages—it might be French, Mandarin, Scottish Gaelic or BSL. That has had an interesting impact, particularly on some children with learning difficulties or speech and language difficulties. It is often far easier for them to sign than to talk.

The BSL national plan also sets out 70 actions that Ministers will take by 2020 to improve the lives of people who use sign language. That is backed by £1.3 million of public funding. I shall not go through all 70 actions, but I will highlight a couple. Scottish Ministers will be asked to make progress on investigating the level of BSL among teachers and support staff in schools in Scotland and on further developing the Scottish Qualifications Authority award in BSL. Hopefully that will come into being shortly, with, as I have said, the GCSE to follow. Something else on which Ministers will be expected to make progress is enabling parents who use BSL to be fully involved in their child’s education. For parents who are part of the deaf community, situations such as parents evenings and school concerts can be difficult. Progress is also asked for on expanding the teaching of BSL to hearing pupils in schools, and improving the experience of students who use BSL when they move from school to college, university, training or the world of work. Finally, we hope to ensure that every Scottish Government-funded employment and training opportunity is fully accessible to BSL users and that they are properly supported.

I want to end by quoting Dr Terry Riley, the chair of the British Deaf Association:

“The Scottish Government’s National Plan is a brilliant example, for the rest of the United Kingdom to follow.”

We are not gloating about that, or feeling smug. It is only a starting position, and there is a lot more to do. However, I hope that the UK Government can follow suit on some of the key objectives of the plan. Our long-term plan has an ambitious aim: we want to make Scotland the best place in the world for people whose first or preferred language is BSL. That means that deaf and deaf-blind BSL users will be fully involved in daily and public life in Scotland as active, healthy citizens, and will be able to make informed choices about every aspect of their lives.