Should British Sign Language Be Taught In Schools?

by Isobel Geddes

On Monday 5th March 2018, the film The Silent Child won an Oscar for the best live action short film. The film featured a young deaf girl who communicated through sign language and was a historic breakthrough for the deaf community. However, this is not the only reason the day was important. That Monday was the first time Parliament had ever used BSL as part of a debate on whether British Sign Language should become part of the national curriculum. Unfortunately, to this date it is still not widely taught in schools, despite being recognised as an official language in 2003.

It can be argued that deaf children do not receive an equal opportunity with regards to education, and statistics can further support this; in 2014, 41.3% of deaf children attained five GCSEs (grades A*-C) compared to 69.3% of children with no identified special needs. It is important to note that BSL being part of the curriculum wouldn't only benefit deaf children but also hearing children. As part of a report conducted by the National Deaf Children’s Society’s Youth Advisory Board and Signature, 97% of the children who participated (2000 in total; 700 deaf and 1400 hearing) stated that they believed that BSL should be taught in schools: a statistic that can hardly be ignored. 

Unfortunately, there has been a continual closure of specialised deaf schools over the past few years which has forced deaf children into mainstream environments. With so many children being unable to communicate in BSL, these deaf children who are unable to access specialised schools can have trouble communicating with their peers and thus not receive the full educational experience that hearing children have access to, due to natural barriers that cannot easily be broken down. Furthermore, we are currently facing a chronic shortage of BSL interpreters which further hinders deaf children. By incorporating BSL into the national curriculum, the Government would encourage more to further study it and undergo training which would help tackle this problem. Similarly, the lack of interpreters in employment means the deaf community remains hindered throughout their life; senior positions are much harder to access if they are not given an equal opportunity. 

Our society is not set up to incorporate deaf people and they constantly face challenges that would never cross the minds of the hearing community. Whilst some may argue that something else would have to be cut in order to fit BSL into the curriculum, we should look at how the curriculum has been changed before. In 2015, English primary schools faced a historic curriculum change: for all children aged 7-11 language-learning was made compulsory. In many primary schools, language learning had previously been little to none, thus forcing a large change into how the curriculum was taught. This provides evidence for the fact that BSL could be added to the curriculum. Whilst I acknowledge the large amount of work this would take, even as little as one lesson a week would help to support the deaf community and include them more in our society. 

For more resources and online courses: 

https://www.british-sign.co.uk