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A NEW UNDERGRADUATE programme in DCU that enables Deaf and hard of hearing people who use Irish Sign Language (ISL) to enter primary teaching is being launched today.
The new Bachelor of Education programme is the first of its kind in Ireland.
It will be provided by DCU’s Institute of Education from this September and applications are now invited through the current CAO process, which is closing on 1 February.
The new pathway into the course is being introduced initially on a pilot basis from September with six places available, with subsequent intakes of students scheduled for September 2023 onwards.
Until now, there has been no entry route to primary teacher education for someone who communicates through ISL and cannot meet the minimum entry requirement for Irish in the Leaving Certificate.
The B.Ed will be open to students who have come through schools for the Deaf or special classes and have taken the Leaving Certificate using ISL and want to teach. It will also be open to mature students.
While entry to the course is exclusively for members of the Deaf community who wish to become primary school teachers working in the deaf education sector, core modules will be delivered along with hearing peers in the B.Ed programme.
Modules specific to deaf education will be delivered separately.
Some deaf education-specific modules will be made available as electives to hearing student-teachers.
Explaining the background of the course, executive dean of DCU’s Institute of Education Dr Anne Looney said: “The new course means that children who access learning and express themselves through Irish Sign Language can be taught by teachers who do the same and who will be fantastic role models for Deaf students in our education system.
Traditionally, the languages needed to enter primary teaching have been English and Irish. Now, ISL gets its full recognition and equal status as a path to primary teaching.
The full-time four-year undergraduate course also includes a 30-week school placement.
Announcing the programme, Minister for Education Joe McHugh said: “This new degree programme for people who are Deaf and hard of hearing to become teachers is a hugely important step towards ensuring increased access and inclusion for all in the classroom.
It is a historic development.
“It will open the door to a world of teaching both for young people who use Irish Sign Language but also for people who want to teach through sign.”
The programme is receiving funding from the Department of Education under the Path 1 inclusion programme.
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That’s great,
@Mick Hannigan: It is but sad it has taken this long.
Absolutely fantastic, I know someone who will be thrilled to bits with this for their own child!
I wish we were all taught sign language at primary school. It would be so beneficial for everyone in my ways.
Should the minister for education not of called it AN historic development?
@Rebecca Kinsella: *have* called it
@Rebecca Kinsella: In all main varieties of English, the use of an as the article preceding historic (an historic) is an unnecessary affectation. The rule for the indefinite article is that we use a before words beginning with a consonant sound, and an before words beginning with a vowel sound. The h at the beginning of historic is a consonant sound, soft though it may be. As far as we know, there are no modern English dialects in which the h in historic is silent (please correct us if we’re wrong), so there’s no reason for anyone to use an instead of a before the word.
@Eoin Dixon Murphy: cockney dialect, in which all h sounds are silent.
Ok, I guess I’ll be the ‘bah humbug’ type to say it …
This is absolutely pointless. How many pupils are actually going to benefit from this? Surely it would be far better to put the resources into improving the english sign language services and teaching availability?
@Dara O’Brien: really?? Irish sign language is a separate language used for deaf people and it’s not conducted in Irish. The signs are all for English except it’s called Irish sign language!
@Dara O’Brien: it doesn’t work like that – you’re thinking of *signed* langauges, not *sign* langauges. Sign languages are not signed versions of spoken languages – they are separate entities in their own right. Different morphology, different syntax etc. Case in point – the USA and UK are both English-speaking, but their Deaf communities cannot understand each other. Irish Sign Language and American Sign Language both have more in common with French Sign Language than they do with British Sign Language.
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