Careers: Teacher of the deaf

What does the role involve?
Teachers of the deaf work with children one-on-one and in classroom settings. They might be involved in assessing and testing a child’s hearing needs; fitting assistive listening devices; and providing advice and support to children, parents and schools.

Who employs teachers of the deaf?
The majority are employed by local authorities and work in specialist support services, or units within mainstream schools. Some are employed directly by specialist schools for the deaf, of which there are about 20 in the UK.

“Schools for the deaf have changed hugely over the years,” says Paul Simpson, national executive officer at the British Association of Teachers of the Deaf (Batod). “Nowadays, they are mostly for children with significant additional needs as well as deafness.”

Some teachers of the deaf are employed by the NHS, and may be attached to a cochlear implant centre.

Teachers are increasingly working with younger children following the introduction of the Newborn Hearing Screening Programme. “Most deaf children are now picked up at birth and families need support from that moment,” says Simpson.

What qualifications are required to become a teacher of the deaf?
All teachers of the deaf must hold qualified teacher status and have two years’ experience under their belt. They also need to hold a specific additional postgraduate qualification, offered by five universities, which they must acquire within three years of starting to work with deaf children.

In the past, those who knew they wanted to become a teacher of the deaf from the outset were able to specialise at the same time as doing their initial teacher training, but this option is no longer available.

“Even if people have the zeal to become a teacher of the deaf, they have to go into a mainstream school for two years and may get distracted by becoming head of year for example, or head of music,” says Simpson. As a result, the age profile of teachers of the deaf is quite high, which is an issue for the profession. “Most are over 50 and many over 55,” he adds. “Some of those coming into the profession are quite advanced in years already.”

Are there any legal duties relating to the role?
Local authorities have a legal duty to provide support for deaf children. There are no statutory requirements for continuous professional development, but this is something Batod would like to see change.

“There are moral and professional requirements, but no statutory ones in England,” says Simpson. “We would like there to be a statutory requirement that we would be able to monitor, in the same way that speech and language therapists, for example, have to register with a professional body.”

What are the rewards of being a teacher of the deaf?
The role is multi-disciplinary, bringing together an understanding and knowledge of communications, education, emotional and social development, and working with parents among other things, says Simpson. “The job is always changing because of technology and an evolving understanding of how language develops,” he says. “A lot of techniques used by teachers of the deaf are relevant to all children in a class – for example, the use of visual presentation benefits everyone.”


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