• MLAs referred to these stats in a recent debate on support for deaf children – based on a briefing paper that contained some errors.
  • The number of qualified teachers of the deaf (TODs) not working in schools specifically for children with hearing loss has actually decreased by 40% since 2011.
  • Survey data found that 23% of “peripatetic” TODs (visiting teachers who move between schools) were aged 50 or over so are likely to retire in the next 10 to 15 years.
  • The MLAs who quoted the erroneous stats may wish to correct the Official Report (Hansard). 

In an Assembly debate on support for deaf children that took place on 21 October, Ulster Unionist MLA Robbie Butler said:

“The number of qualified teachers of the deaf in Northern Ireland has declined by 32% since 2011, with 30% of the workforce expected to retire in the next decade.”

Mr Butler – whose own motion led to this debate – was quoting from a briefing paper circulated by the National Deaf Children’s Society. When we got in touch with NDCS before starting our own research, they informed us that the briefing paper contained some errors.

The most recent findings from the Consortium for Research in Deaf Education (CRIDE) indicate that:

  • The number of qualified TODs working in schools that aren’t specifically for deaf children has dropped by 40% since 2011.
  • 23% of peripatetic TODs are aged 50+ and therefore set to retire in the next 10 to 15 years

NDCS told FactCheckNI that its figures focus on teachers working outside schools specifically for deaf children because data about those specialised settings have not always been available over the past ten years.

The corrections with these statistics do not undermine the central point being debated in the Assembly – in fact, the first statistic is arguably more concerning after being fixed – but nonetheless the figures quoted by Mr Butler (and others) are not accurate, based on evidence.

  • Debate

The debate in question was a Private Member’s Motion tabled by Mr Butler himself. The motion, which ultimately passed, read:

That this Assembly recognises the negative impact that the lack of specialist teachers of the deaf and other essential specialist educational support professionals has on deaf children and their families; and calls on the Minister of Education to bring forward plans to ensure that every deaf child and their family has access to a qualified teacher of the deaf and other specialist support staff as early as possible, regardless of their level of deafness.

During the discussion, the original claim from Mr Butler was repeated by Alliance MLAs Nick Mathison and Danny Donnelly.

  • Source

FactCheckNI contacted Mr Butler to ask where he got this information. He pointed us to a briefing paper given to MLAs by the National Deaf Children’s Society (NDCS) ahead of the debate, which included the statistics in the claim:

Figure 1 – source: NDCS briefing paper

Mr Butler also put FactCheckNI in contact with the NDCS.

  • Mistakes happen

The NDCS responded quickly, saying that there had been a “human error” with the briefing paper and that the quoted statistics were wrong.

They pointed us to analysis by the Consortium for Research in Deaf Education (CRIDE), an umbrella group of organisations from around the UK (including NCDS) interested in hearing loss and learning.

At the time of the claim (and the time of writing), the most recent CRIDE surveys are from 2023, and its findings for Northern Ireland include the following:

  • The number of qualified TODs in employment working in a peripatetic role, in a resource provision and/or in a special school or college not specifically for deaf children has decreased by 7% since 2022 and decreased by 40% since we started the survey in 2011.
  • 23% of peripatetic TODs were aged 50 or over and thus are likely to retire in the next 10 to 15 years. 

The first statistic refers to TODs working in a peripatetic role (visiting teachers who move between mainstream schools, and also special schools that do not cater specifically for hearing loss), those in “resource provision” (which is where a mainstream school has its own dedicated, on-site provision for children and young people with hearing loss), and those working in special education not specifically for deaf children – in other words, all TODs who are not working in specialist settings for deaf children.

NDCS told us that “the data about changes to TOD numbers does not apply to those working in the special school for deaf children as this information has not been collected consistently by CRIDE over the past decade.”

The statistics also refers specifically to “qualified” TODs Not every working TOD has the relevant qualifications – according to the 2023 CRIDE report, of the 44 full-time-equivalent TODs in NI “61% held the mandatory qualification, whilst 18% were in training and 20% were qualified teachers without the mandatory qualification and not in training.”

In other words, the number of qualified TODs working in schools that aren’t specifically for deaf children and young people has dropped by 40% since 2011.

However, this is different from the claim that the number of qualified TODs has dropped by 32% since 2011 – with the percentage decrease actually larger than in the original claim, but also making clear that this excludes any qualified teachers working in specialist schools for the deaf.

The second statistic is again different from that in the original claim, stating that 23% of peripatetic TODs are aged 50+ and therefore “likely” to retire in the next 10 to 15 years, as opposed to “30% of “the workforce” (which would imply all TODs) set to retire in the next decade.

  • Children

How many deaf children are there in Northern Ireland? While the number of qualified teachers in non-specialist schools has been declining, the number of children with hearing loss is higher than in 2011, albeit growth has not been steady and reported numbers have fluctuated from year to year.

Figure 2 – source: 2023 CRIDE survey for NI.

There are some caveats with these figures, which are based on surveys, including that information about children in specialist schools for deaf children were not included before 2019, and that the most recent figures tried to collect data from the school for deaf children in NI but received no response (as a guide, 43 children were reported to be in the school for deaf children in the 2022 survey response).

According to the CRIDE report, of the 1,428 children reported as deaf in 2023, “77% of school-aged deaf children attended mainstream schools; 1% attended mainstream schools with resource provisions, whilst 21% attended special schools not specifically for deaf children.”

  • Review

Mistakes happen. FactCheckNI exists to improve the quality of information and help people engage better with the flood of facts, statements and assertions that has become a torrent in the internet age. We’re not here to scold people.

It’s worth repeating that NDCS pointed out the errors in the briefing paper to MLAs before we had even started our own research, and said they were already working to rectify things. That is to be commended – again, mistakes can happen to anyone, and it’s encouraging to see an organisation proactively fix them.

It is also important to note that the thrust of the argument being made by MLAs during that debate, and by NDCS, about the trends in support for deaf children still stands up to scrutiny. The number of qualified teachers of the deaf in non-specialist schooling has gone down while the number of deaf children may be rising – and, at the very least, is significantly higher than in 2011. NCDS told us:

“Qualified Teachers of the Deaf (QToD), as specialist teachers of deaf children and young people, perform a vital role in enabling deaf children and young people to fulfil their potential. They support families with information and guidance, work with educational settings in providing deaf awareness training, advise on teaching strategies in the classroom, support with amplification and listening assistive devices, and often work as part of a multi-disciplinary team with other professionals. They specifically also support the deaf child themselves with their social and emotional well-being development. Their work with deaf children and their families starts from birth and the early years through to transition to adulthood.”

Ultimately, however, the statistics quoted by Mr Butler and others weren’t quite right and, on that basis, this check comes with a rating of Inaccurate with Consideration. The MLAs who quoted the erroneous statistics may wish to correct the Office Report (Hansard).