Joint briefing for Stage 1 of the Education (Scotland) Bill
18 December 2024
Read a joint briefing statement for Stage 1 of the Education (Scotland) Bill from the National Deaf Children’s Society, DeafBlind Scotland, Deaf Action, RNID, the
Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland (the ALLIANCE), Lothian Children’s
Deaf Club and the British Deaf Association.
As organisations supporting deaf and deafblind children and young people we therefore warmly welcomed the Education, Children and Young People Commitee’s recommendation in their Stage 1 report on the Education (Scotland) bill that “the Bill is amended to place specific requirements on Qualifications Scotland and HM Chief Inspector of Education to take account of the needs and interests of those who use BSL or wish to do so”.
We would ask MSPs to speak in favour of this recommendation during the stage 1 debate on the bill on Wednesday 18th December.
British Sign Language (BSL) is recognised in law as one of Scotland’s languages. It is a vibrant language that allows access for deaf children and young people to
a rich deaf culture, heritage and identity.
Under Article 30 of the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child, now incorporated into Scots law, access to language and culture is a right for all children in Scotland, including deaf and deafblind children’s right to learn and use BSL. The importance of BSL was recognised in the BSL (Scotland) Act 2015, and access to BSL for children and young people is a key part of the BSL National plan for Scotland.
Amending the Bill in the way suggested in the stage 1 report would mean the
new education bodies created by the Bill gave equivalent treatment to BSL and to the Gaelic language. This would recognise the significance and importance of both BSL and Gaelic.
We would therefore support adding new clauses to the Bill to cover BSL where currently recognises the needs of users and learners of the Gaelic language.
Without specific legislative commitments to recognising the needs of users and learners of BSL, there is a real risk that deaf and deafblind children and young people will not receive access to information and support from Qualification Scotland in their preferred language, or that appropriate inspection of the provision of BSL in education will take place.
We therefore also welcomed the commitment made by Jenny Gilruth MSP in the Scottish Government response to the Stage 1 report on the bill that “The Scottish Government is very mindful of BSL as a language in Scotland, and that Qualifications Scotland and HMIE should be understanding of their particular needs and interests.
"The Scottish Government is therefore considering how both the new bodies can better take account of those that use or wish to use BSL, and whether the existing measures in the Bill should be strengthened to this effect.”
We believe that the only way to effectively ensure that the rights of deaf and
deafblind children and young people to access inclusive education is to strengthen the Bill through amendment in the way that is proposed in the Stage 1 report on the Bill.
We therefore urge all MSPs to support the committee’s recommendation to amend the Bill to specifically reference BSL. We look forward to working with the committee, the Cabinet Secretary and her officials, and the wider deaf community on potential amendments for Stage 2.
Such amendments should cover the needs of deaf children who are being educated in BSL, deaf children who wish to acquire BSL in school, and those deafblind children who use and understand the tackle form of BSL.
We also noted the recommendations made in Stage 1 report about the Inspection Plan to be developed by the new Chief Inspector of Education. Local authorities across Scotland run Sensory Education Services that employ Qualified Teachers of the Deaf (QToD) to make education inclusive for deaf and deafblind children and young people.
The new inspection plans represent an opportunity to ensure sensory education services are appropriately inspected.
The response to the Stage 1 report from the Scottish Government stated that “the Bill sets further provision for the Chief Inspector to consult with the Advisory Council, in addition to others as considered appropriate by the Chief Inspector.
This may include consulting children and young people and other learners on the plan for inspection”. We would ask MSPs to highlight the importance of including Sensory Education Services in the new Inspection Plan, and the benefits of involving deaf and deafblind children and young people, their parents and the wider deaf and deafblind community in discussions of how best to do this.
Further information
For more information, please contact Mark Ballard (National Deaf Children’s Society) [email protected], Hannah Tweed (the ALLIANCE) [email protected], Teri Devine (RNID) [email protected], Mike Hobday (BDA) [email protected], Isabella Goldie (Deafblind Scotland) [email protected] and Philip Gerrard (Deaf Action) [email protected].