BSL GCSE welcomed but 'will be a struggle' says Manx Deaf Society CEO

For those who would like to read the chief executives interview, please see below:

Lucy Buxton: Here and in the UK, in England, they are going to struggle to find qualified teachers who are capable of teaching the BSL GCSE. As such, I haven't even seen the syllabus so I don't know what's included at the moment when you learn BSL.

If you take examinations and qualifications, so you're taking a registered course, you have to do a certain minimum number of hours and there are standards that are applied. And ideally you are taught by a member of the deaf community, so someone who uses sign language themselves. It's their first language, or possibly somebody who is a close family member of someone who uses sign language and the number of teachers qualified teachers in England who are qualified to teach BSL is shockingly small. I think from memory there are about 1000 teachers and about 2000 secondary schools, so that's going to give you an indication of how difficult it is.

But here on the Island, I'm not aware of anyone who is a registered, qualified British Sign language teacher. So when we offer courses, we offer a level one and a level 2. We work with a deaf teacher from the UK. I don't know how schools are going to manage to do that without somebody here to actually be able to deliver that. 

Chanelle Sukhoo: How beneficial would it be if we had something like that here? 

Lucy Buxton: You never know who is going to find themselves with hearing loss, and BSL can be helpful for a lot of people. 

Chanelle Sukhoo: Have you noticed more people interested in learning BSL? 

Lucy Buxton: Yes, there are definitely more people interested in learning BSL, but the actual number of people who use BSL as their first language is decreasing here on the Island.

It would be lovely to have a thriving growing population of British Sign language users. However, the support that is needed for that community, it's not just being able to use the language, you have to think that it needs some sort of formal legal recognition. You also need all the other support that are in place. For example, if a BSL user wants to go and make a will and see their solicitor, how they going to manage to do that?  You need an interpreter.

The number of sign language users that we have at the moment aren't enough to have somebody working here full time as interpreter too.

We are interested to knowing what's happening across the water, and it's not something that I think we should rush in too quickly here. I would like to see how things develop in the UK, but obviously if people are interested in becoming a BSL teacher, then please get in touch.