Concern is swirling around the quality of teaching at New Zealand’s education service for the deaf, after a protest by three primary school children earlier this month.
The pupils – aged 8 and 9 – attend a class run by Ko Taku Reo, a publicly funded service which is designed to provide education to deaf children through both New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) and English.
But it’s claimed the service has, at times, been using teachers that are not fluent in sign language, leaving some students unable to understand their lessons.
Concerns bubbled over two weeks ago when three deaf students in Christchurch became upset that their relief teacher was unable to sign.
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Classmates Otto Stokell, Betty Skinley and Brylin King can hear through cochlear implants, but also use sign language.
All three children say they were worried about other children in their class, who are completely deaf.
“I felt sad,” Otto said in an interview through a sign language interpreter this week.
“The other people in our class were not involved because they couldn’t understand.”
In an act of solidarity, the trio decided to remove their implants – leaving them unable to hear – and reverted to sign language alongside their other classmates.
“[We wanted] to show them that if we take off our hearing aids, we can’t hear you, we can’t understand you, and you need to sign for us,” said 9-year-old Betty.
The children and their families claim many in the Ko Taku Reo team are unable to sign fluently.
Betty said her teachers have even asked her to translate on their behalf at times.
“It’s just really wrong,” she said.
“It made me feel a wee bit sad – she’s not doing her job.”
Ko Taku Reo works with partner schools to run what are called “provisions” in several cities. It promises to provide a high-quality bilingual education that values NZSL and English equally.
It is a new entity, created when two well-known schools for the deaf – Van Asch Deaf Education Centre in Christchurch and Kelston Deaf Education Centre – merged in 2020.
The service’s commissioner Michael Rondel said he could not comment on the specifics of the children’s protest when 1News asked questions this week, but suggested Ko Taku Reo had “no greater priority” than its students.
He added the service had met with two families in Christchurch that had raised concerns.
“We take all issues raised with us seriously,” he said.
“We also strongly value close working relationships with our families and are committed to addressing issues appropriately and swiftly.”
‘They are being language deprived’
However, some families feel Ko Taku Reo is failing to live up to its promise to put a high value on sign language.
Otto’s mother Joyce Stokell – who is also deaf – argued the children were being “language deprived”.
“I’m so really proud of them but they shouldn’t have to do this,” she said through NZSL.
The children had acted on their own, and parents were unaware of their protest until after it happened, Stokell added.
“The children are going to a deaf provision, they should be able to communicate at an age-appropriate level and to continue their education,” she said.
The mother likened Ko Taku Reo’s behaviour to a foreign language speaker being hired to teach at a mainstream school.
“They would be teaching in their foreign language, and maybe a tiny bit of English. Would they be employed in a mainstream school to teach maths?” she said.
“Those kids in that class would get behind. It’s the exact same example for our deaf children in that deaf provision.”
Stokell added that she felt neglected, and asked Ko Taku Reo to “listen to the parents”.
“We want the best for our children. Why are they taking that away from them?”
School has ‘preference’ for NZSL users
In response, Rondel said his staff were discussing the incident further, and were working to find “appropriate solutions”.
He said the service did have highly skilled interpreters, but acknowledged there were times where vacancies for NZSL educational interpreters were “difficult to fill”.
However, he defended the service’s record.
“We are confident that we have expert, capable and experienced staff in each school setting,” he said.
“In each enrolled school setting there are always qualified and experienced teachers, including a significant number who are NZSL fluent.”
Relievers were always qualified and the school had a “preference” for fluent NZSL users, Rondel said.
The commissioner also claimed Ko Taku Reo has a “strategic focus” that aims to increase the numbers of NZSL-fluent staff in classrooms.
“We will continue to work closely with the Ministry of Education as they look to increase the numbers of NZSL-fluent teachers,” he said.
However, that’s little comfort the children who sparked the protest.
“I go to a deaf school, they should be able to sign to me,” Betty said.
“I felt really not confident and sad,” added 9-year-old Brylin.
