A host of organisations voiced their concerns after the RNID unveiled research suggesting that many deaf pupils were not receiving any support from specialist teachers. The campaigners suggested that children with other special needs were similarly at risk.
The RNID's report said that support services were suffering because budgets had been "cut, restricted or static". It cited one local education authority where "some of the deaf pupils with statements were not receiving the support of a teacher of the deaf".
Susan Mackenzie, head of education at RNID, said that the situation was deteriorating and warned that the case highlighted in the research could just be the tip of the iceberg.
Mackenzie said: "There are two problems. Firstly, there aren't enough teachers of the deaf; secondly, people are having to employ unqualified people and train them up, so many of the people who are working are not technically qualified.
"It is becoming a crisis in some areas. Not across the country as a whole, but in some areas there really is a crisis in terms of the number of people training as specialist teachers for the deaf and becoming qualified."
Deaf-blind charity Sense expressed concern that both deaf and blind children were not receiving enough specialist support in mainstream schools.
Education officer Eileen Boothroyd said: "We strongly associate ourselves with the ideas in the RNID report. It is very important that support services are provided by the local authority, whether or not the child is in a mainstream school."
Lorraine Peterson, chief executive of the National Association for Special Educational Needs, said that many children with special needs were not receiving appropriate levels of support from teachers.
The Council for Disabled Children also expressed concern that a recruitment crisis could be imminent. Director Christine Lenehan said: "We're seeing signs of huge variations in support services. There is a real danger that the level of specialist support teachers will slip."
P A new report says there is no evidence of systematic discrimination or unfavourable treatment of pupils with special educational needs in the annual admissions process.
But the report, produced by the National Foundation for Educational Research for the Department for Education and Skills, said that some schools displayed "reluctance to admit a pupil with SEN" if they already had a high proportion of pupils with SEN, or if they had inadequate financial resources.
- www.dfes.gov.uk/research/data/uploadfiles/RR608.pdf.
