Peer-reviewed article
Perceptions of Deaf education in the Deaf community.
McEvoy G ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This qualitative research explores how Deaf people in Ireland, Finland, and the UK perceive education for Deaf children, based on interviews with Deaf community members. Participants identified significant concerns about the quality and accessibility of Deaf education, including systemic barriers to access and declining numbers of Deaf schools. The study highlights that despite legal recognition of sign languages in these countries, Deaf people report limited meaningful choice in educational options and call for better bilingual education provision.
Key points
- Research participants expressed concerns about the quality of Deaf education across the three countries
- Systemic problems in accessing Deaf education were reported as a major barrier
- Participants noted a dwindling number of Deaf schools
- The perceived choice of school options for parents of Deaf children is limited despite appearing available
- Meaningful access to bilingual education was identified as a needed improvement
Limitations
This is a qualitative study based on perceptions and experiences reported by interview participants; it does not measure actual educational outcomes or systematically compare the three countries' education systems. The document does not provide quantitative data on school closures, enrolment rates, or specific educational achievement gaps.
Abstract
This article explores perceptions about education for the Deaf community within Deaf communities in Ireland, Finland, and the UK. Ireland, Finland, and the UK all provide legal recognition of sign languages in various forms. However, it is important to understand how these laws impact Deaf people, what their experiences with the law is, and how might the law be altered to improve the lives of people it purports to serve. Interview data from Deaf people across the three countries is presented here which explores these experiences. When asked about what they might improve in the law, an overwhelming number of responses related to the introduction of law to improve access to education. And so, this article has taken those responses and presented them for analysis. Research participants reported concerns about the quality of Deaf education, systemic problems in accessing education, acquisition of other language in Deaf people, the illusion of a choice of school options for parents of Deaf children and the dwindling number of Deaf schools. Participants suggested that meaningful access to bilingual education is needed for Deaf people.