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Scoping Study, Part 12 – The need for a centralised linguistic access resource

Equality Forward’s Deaf Students Working Group is currently considering the establishment of a national Centre for Linguistic Access. The fact that there is so much geographical and institutional variation in provision, and the hidden complexities of linguistic access issues, reinforce the potential value of such a centre. A significant number of F&HE related interviewees indicated the need for a centralised resource to provide pooled services and specialist information, guidance and resources relating to assessment and access/support.

For example:

the need for a specialised supplement to the ‘QI Toolkit’ for establishing access/ support requirements of deaf students in F&HE;
the development of specialist Access course provision;
guidance on professional standards, appropriate pay scales etc for language support professionals;
co-ordination of regional shared pools of specialist staff.

In addition to these functions, it is suggested that such a resource could also address at least some of the need for further study. Examples identified in this report include:

indications that there may be under-achievement and unmet need within F&HE provision;
indications that Extended Learning Support may be under-used for linguistic access services in further education colleges;
indications and implications of different patterns of age range and programme levels between deaf and hearing HE students;
the use of English based sign systems ( SSE, Signed English etc);
exploration of appropriate assessments for spoken language/literacy – particularly at upper primary level onwards;
lipreading as a linguistic strategy;
negotiation, assessment and recording of all linguistic strategies used by pupils in mainstream secondary schools;
isolation of deaf pupils and students in mainstream situations;
transition arrangements between school and further education, including audiological provision;
the roles and functions of individual professionals (eg access/support balance in ToD role and the role of the Support Tutor for Deaf Students in F&HE).