The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) has infuriatedcampaigners by announcing that it will scrap the current system underwhich Deaf pupils do not take listening tests but still receive marks.The QCA will also prevent Deaf pupils from using "oral communicators"who enable them to lip-read sections of a listening module.
The controversial changes are due to take effect in the autumn. The QCAis introducing them in order to meet the Disability Discrimination Act2005, which will affect exams from 2007. The changes are designed toensure that pupils with disabilities are not treated differently fromothers.
But the move has provoked a furious response from the National DeafChildren's Society. Chief executive Susan Daniels said: "Either the QCAexpects Deaf children to sit in a room trying to hear things that theycan't, or they are content to see them excluded from this part of theexam but lose the grades anyway."
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