§ 37. Mr. Carter-Jonesasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many deaf teachers are currently employed in schools for the deaf.
§ Mr. ArmstrongExact information is not available but there are believed to be very few.
§ Mr. Carter-Jonesasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) 349W how many deaf students are currently training in the United Kingdom to become teachers; what restrictions are imposed by his Department and the colleges of education, respectively, to prevent deaf graduates and suitably qualified school leavers from training and practising as teachers of the deaf; and if he will make a statement;
(2) where deaf teachers can obtain the qualifications required to enable them to teach in schools for the deaf.
§ Mr. PrenticeNo information is available about the number of deaf students currently undergoing initial teacher training.
Teachers of deaf children must have the status of qualified teacher and, unless, engaged solely in teaching trade, craft or domestic subjects, additional specialist qualification.
No special restrictions are imposed on deaf candidates for initial teacher training provided the college concerned is satisfied as to their physical capacity for teaching, with, where appropriate, a hearing aid. On first employment deaf teachers must, in common with all other qualified teachers, satisfy me as to their health and physical capacity for teaching.
In England and Wales, training for the additional qualifications to teach deaf children is available, without special restrictions applying to deaf teachers, at the Department of Audiology and Education of the Deaf, Manchester University—where a combined course leading to both qualified teacher status and the additional teaching qualification is also available; the London Institute of Education; Lady Spencer-Churchill College, Oxford; and the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. In addition, the diploma of the National College of Teachers of the Deaf may be obtained through a course of part-time training.
§ Mr. Carter-Jonesasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if, from international sources available to him, he has any information about how the United States of America differs from the United Kingdom in the employment of deaf teachers to teach deaf children.
§ Mr. ArmstrongMore teachers with hearing impairment are employed to teach deaf or partially hearing children in the350W United States. A direct comparison, however, is difficult, for three reasons: the range of hearing loss which individual teachers may have; the extent to which teachers are employed as instructors in practical subjects; and the difference in teaching training requirements in the United States, where I understand that teachers can qualify to teach the hearing impaired without first training as teachers of un-handicapped children.