|
|
|
|
The Teachers Responsibility for delivering the curriculum rests with the teachers. They vary in their knowledge of and commitment to the deaf community and to deaf perspectives. Rarely will they have been prepared for the deaf community by their training. The training, which they have received commonly, is based on hearing views and relates to the delivery of curriculum. Although individual teachers vary in their degree of contact with the deaf community, in any one school, there are likely to be teachers of different age and different extent of training and ability. These differences do not immediately disappear as soon as a policy decision is made to introduce sign language. In fact, they become resistances to change. One of the major focal points of change in a proposed bilingual system is the learning of sign language. Hearing people have difficulty in learning sign language. A range of social, psychological, linguistics and educational factors tend to limit their language learning. Teachers are rarely taught sign language at a high enough level for educational (teaching) purposes, have their own problems in attitude which suggest that a minority language is less important (it does not have a grammar or vocabulary etc). Even more significant is the mixed signal provided by the school system. Seldom does the head teacher or other management of the school see it as a priority to acquire sign language. Teachers see the request to learn sign language as coming from those who are not prepared to learn themselves. Teachers may be expected to learn to sign in their own free time - out of school hours. Usually they will be expected to learn to sign as individuals in situations which are divorced from the school and/or classroom. Most significantly, it is highly unlikely that there will be sign teaching in a context which understands the school itself as a language community. There are rarely classes, for learning sign language which involve all the staff at the same time and which work within the school's daily routine, but work within sign language. One guiding feature of the teacher's life is the curriculum - but it remains a curriculum determined by hearing people. It is as if the curriculum in Brazil was controlled by someone from the USA. It is likely that deaf children will continue to fail in this curriculum - even if sign language is used. |
Back to MLEDC
homepage |
