Our Deaf students lag behind their hearing peers – teachers and parents say the fix for the problem is obvious, so why do we continue to fail these kids? Gill Higgins investigates.
“We’re setting them up for failure” – Watch this story on TVNZ+
Amanda Everitt is a deeply impressive woman. She has a law degree, a master’s in education, she’s worked in France and the UK where she set up networks for young Deaf people, and she’s worked as a TV reporter.
As a profoundly Deaf person, Everitt attributes her success to growing up with something most Deaf people don’t have: a Deaf mother. A mother who understood her need for visual communication and who made NZSL her first language.
Everitt’s daughter Alexa is also deaf and, like her mum, has been raised from the beginning with NZSL. Everitt believes every Deaf child deserves that chance. But it’s far from the case.
Why are we failing our Deaf kids? Watch an indepth investigation on TVNZ+ (Source: TVNZ)
‘We’re not troublemakers’
From the moment I stepped into the world of New Zealand’s Deaf community, I was struck by their powerful sense of identity. Here was a group of people who were proud, warm and determined. And they were something else too. Intensely frustrated.
They feel ignored. Their opinions dismissed. Their calls for change unanswered. Their cry is for New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) and Deaf culture to be prioritised in Deaf education. They say they’re not.
This is despite NZSL being one of our official languages, despite the establishment of a new national school, Ko Taku Reo, with campuses in Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington, to improve Deaf education, and despite the many promises in the school’s strategic plan.
Since last November, reporter Thomas Mead and I have spoken to dozens of parents, teachers, students and leaders in the Deaf community. Some were close to tears as they expressed their anger at how Deaf children are being held back.
Many of the parents say they’ve been labelled as troublemakers. But as one mum put it “we’re not troublemakers. We’re advocating. We’re crying out for someone to realise, ‘hey, our kids need this’”.
What the community wants isn’t complicated: teachers fluent in NZSL, Deaf role models, recognition of Deaf culture, and the right to lead their own future.
What’s missing is action.
‘Why are we employing teachers who can’t sign?’
When I first met Amanda Everitt I was blown away by her achievements. And then I paused. It’s awkward to admit, but in a way my admiration exposed my preconceptions of Deaf people’s capabilities.
Everitt understands this. As she told me, “I have visited many Deaf schools in the US. I have met multiple Deaf professionals overseas who have graduated as mathematicians, scientists, lawyers, doctors. And I ask myself, what’s wrong in New Zealand? Why are we not producing that level of graduate?”.
For years, Deaf students in Aotearoa have lagged behind their hearing peers. Action was taken in 2020, merging the Deaf schools in Christchurch and Auckland into a single institution, Ko Taku Reo. It oversees the education of 3800 Deaf or hard of hearing students in mainstream schools who get help with interpreters or tutors, along with the 120 students in dedicated Deaf units in Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington.
But most of the leadership isn’t Deaf.
Ten of the 12 senior leaders are hearing. The Commissioner is hearing. Many in the deaf community worry that teachers are being hired for their mainstream school experience, over ones who have fluent NZSL. Deaf advocate and interpreter Evelyn Pateman compares this with a kura kaupapa, “they would not employ teachers that were not fluent in te reo Māori. So why is Deaf education employing hearing teachers who can’t sign?”
Ko Taku Reo says there’s a shortage of teachers with fluent NZSL, so it offers teacher the chance to learn NZSL once they’re employed. Also, until recently, there’s been a need to comply with Ministry of Education requirements that beginner teachers have two years of mainstream experience before teaching Deaf children.
This is a huge barrier to Deaf graduates. “In the real-world people don’t employ what they don’t know,” says Beca Harper, a Deaf graduate herself, who has struggled to find work as a teacher.
Without teachers fluent in NZSL, it’s impossible to achieve full NZSL immersion for students and that leads to a concern that many Deaf children will suffer language deprivation.
And it starts young. Around 95% of Deaf children are born to hearing parents, who often aren’t aware of their child’s need for visual communication.
Parents say First Signs – a Ministry-funded service that helps families learn NZSL – does an amazing job, but it only provides 15 facilitators for the whole country. The waiting list is huge. Some families will only receive a home visit for an hour a month.
Having learned to sign with her mother from the get-go Amanda Everitt knows the difference it can make. She applauds the signs of progress. Ko Taku Reo has a Deaf Futures group at the school. A Board of Trustees that will include parents and Deaf people has been reinstated. But in her opinion, these changes aren’t enough.
Our months-long investigation for TVNZ+ shows the reality: We met students who’d had to step up and interpret when the teacher’s NZSL wasn’t up to scratch. “I was shocked that at Ko Taku Reo they would bring in teachers in the provision that didn’t understand sign language, that couldn’t communicate with us,” says one.
We met teachers who told us of a toxic culture but were afraid to speak on camera, saying they’ve seen what happens to those who do. “We’re losing wonderful people. People with skills and experience are being forced out,” says a teacher, who chose to remain anonymous.
And we spoke to graduates with teaching qualifications and fluent NZSL who’ve been refused jobs at Ko Taku Reo, despite being accepted with open arms when they enquired overseas. “Australia were willing to take me on. They said fantastic, a teaching qualification and a NZSL qualification. It’s confusing to me why here, a school with profoundly deaf children who use NZSL to communicate, wouldn’t want a teacher who has fluent sign language.”
Ko Taku Reo and the Minister of Education Erica Stanford declined our many requests to be interviewed, but they did provide written responses. They say they’re not aware of any students needing to interpret for teachers; that a culture of fear and targeting of staff has not been a feature of any of their reports or surveys; and that beginner teachers can now be hired directly to teach Deaf children – albeit only if mentoring is available, and only in Auckland or Christchurch.
The school also reiterates it values NZSL highly.
It is valuable. It’s incredibly powerful watching a child sign confidently with their friends. It’s more than language. It’s connection. It’s identity. It’s pride.
It’s also a right. Some in the Deaf community would argue Ko Taku Reo’s not doing enough to protect that right.
Still, change could be around the corner. A new Executive Principal for the school is about to be announced.
It took Gallaudet University, a private university in Washington DC, US, and the only Deaf university in the world, 145 years before it recruited a Deaf president, and that was only after a week of student protests.
Here, the Deaf community would warmly welcome a Deaf principal who could fully understand their needs. Or at the very least, one with Deaf experience who has fluent NZSL. They’re not holding their breath.
If you’d like to share your experience as a Deaf person or with the Deaf community, please contact [email protected].
“We’re setting them up for failure” – Watch this story on TVNZ+
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