Senedd Cymru | Welsh Parliament
Bil Aelod Arfaethedig – Mark Isherwood AS | Proposed Member Bill - Mark Isherwood MS
Datblygu'r Bil Iaith Arwyddion Prydain (BSL) (Cymru) | Development of the British Sign Language (BSL) (Wales) Bill
Ymateb gan: NASUWT Cymru, Undeb yr Athrawon | Evidence from: NASUWT Cymru, The Teachers’ Union
1. The NASUWT welcomes the opportunity to comment on the British Sign Language (BSL) (Wales) Bill consultation undertaken by Mark Isherwood MS (the Bill.)
2. NASUWT - The Teachers’ Union, represents teachers and headteachers in Wales and across the United Kingdom.
3. The NASUWT broadly welcomes the proposals set out in the Bill and will confine responses to the education aspects within.
4. The Union notes that the Bill intends to address the deficiencies and barriers that exist such that people who use BSL are not treated less favourably than those who speak Welsh or English.[1]
5. From an educational standpoint, the Union notes the 2019 Petitions Committee report[2] and the recommendations within on BSL access in education.
6. The Consultation Document[3] notes that the Bill will also place a duty on other public bodies to report on their progress in promoting and facilitating
BSL. In terms of local authority maintained schools, the NASUWT would seek that this duty should lie with the local authority and not the individual schools themselves.
7. This would allow the local authority to have a strategic oversight of provision and ensure consistency across the authority, where they can direct resources to schools that have deaf learners on their roll.
8. This will better address any disproportionate educational attainment and target language deprivation that may arise from inadequate access to any provision.
9. Schools will struggle to achieve this in isolation, as the provision required will be subject to the Individual School Budget and so it is essential that the local authority be given responsibility for the funding of, and subsequent oversight of provision.
10. A substantial part of this provision will be suitably trained and qualified BSL-able teachers. The Welsh Government will need to ensure that all parts of the country will have access to BSL-trained teachers – in both English and Welsh. Whilst the Education Workforce Council has data on the number of teachers that can currently provide this provision, the respondents to the Petitions Committee report[4] said that many Teachers of the Deaf (a qualified teacher, who is additionally qualified to teach deaf children) do not have a specific BSL qualification and that many are being replaced by teaching assistants over time.
11. It is therefore essential that local authorities and schools would be adequately funded to be able to meet any provisions in the Bill. Any expectation that schools and local authorities would have to meet any financial consequences of any provisions in the Bill with their current funding arrangements will see precious resources diverted from elsewhere and may see piecemeal provision as schools struggle to meet any statutory requirements.
12. The Bill proposes to install a BSL Commissioner. Such commissioners can have statutory enforcement powers, and so the Union would be concerned if any such commissioner would seek enforcement in education and educational settings that would unintentionally adversely affect school funding and budgets that may well affect the workforce.