JOURNEY TO EXCELLENCE – PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PACK
Learning Together: Deaf Education
Achieving success for all learners
Journey to Excellence
Professional development pack topics have been chosen to help you plan a
journey through popular staff development themes. They provide ‘guided
tours’ through some of the resources on The Journey to Excellence website
as a window onto excellent practice. Engaging with the associated
activities will help you to reflect on and develop your practice purposefully.
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This resource will be updated to reflect new and innovative approaches
as Curriculum for Excellence is developed. Please email or comment in
the box below any feedback on the resource or suggestions for
improvement to help keep the resource up to date.
General Enquiries:
Education Scotland
Denholm House
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EH54 6GA
Learning Together Resource: Deaf Education
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Purpose of this activity
This pack provides opportunities for reflecting on your own practice and explores
approaches to working with children and young people who are deaf*. It will allow you to
draw on the characteristics of excellence in this area and on illustrative practice.
The activities will enable you to:

reflect on your practice against quality practice in this area;

extend your knowledge and expertise through studying and activity based learning;

plan how to develop your practice to incorporate some new concepts and ideas; and

share views and suggestions with colleagues on meeting the needs of children and
young people who are deaf.
Learning outcomes
After completing this programme you will have:

identified your current level of knowledge of approaches;

a deeper understanding of how approaches can be developed to support children’s
learning;

gained a knowledge of practice in other schools;

discussed and reflected on research evidence and the contributions of fellow
professionals; and

planned, implemented and reviewed ways of developing approaches to working with
children/young people’ who are deaf.
Who is this for?
This programme is for all who work with learners in all sectors. It has particular relevance for
those who design and deliver learning experiences in the classroom but is not restricted to
teachers. Indeed the programme has relevance for a wide range of partners and
professionals working in other sectors and who contribute to children.
* Throughout this resource the term ‘deaf’ is used to refer to all children experiencing hearing loss, including
temporary deafness.
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What will I/we need to work through this professional development pack?
You will need access to the Journey to Excellence website. It may also be helpful to have
your copy of The Journey to Excellence (Parts 1 and 2) to hand. It may also be useful to
have access to Improving Outcomes for Learners through Self-evaluation and learning
together: Opening up learning.
Is this an individual activity or do I need to work with others?
The core activities in this pack can be completed individually or collaboratively. In some
activities it will be essential to work with others. Ideally working with a deaf person or a
Teacher of the Deaf (ToD) would facilitate better discussions and understanding.
The pack may easily be adapted at stage, department or whole-school levels to allow larger
groups of staff to work certain aspects.
How long will it take?
You can use the pack selectively. It does not all have to be completed at once. You may also
wish to adapt activities to suit your context.
Title of Activity
Introduction: Awareness raising including
personal research
Accessing the curriculum
Teaching for effective learning
Expectations and achievement
Meeting learning needs
Self-evaluation
Approximate timing
120 minutes
45 minutes
45 minutes
45 minutes
45 minutes
60 minutes observation, 30 minutes
feedback
60 minutes
45 minutes
60 minutes
Inclusion
Health and well-being
Parental involvement
Partnership working
Final Reflections
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60 minutes
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Awareness raising
‘Deafness is not a learning disability, and there is no reason why, with the right
support, the majority of deaf children should not do as well as their hearing peers.’
NDCS 2009
PDF file - Count Us In: Achieving success for deaf pupils
Scottish Sensory Centre
Action on Hearing Loss
NDCS
Pauline Dillon, the experiences of a deaf teacher in a secondary school
1) Using the links above, research aspects of deaf education related to the following
key areas:





Accessing the curriculum
Meeting learning needs
Teaching for effective learning
Expectations and achievement
Partnership
2) Produce a mind-map of ideas for each of the areas. For example:
Acoustics
Differentiation
Accessing the
curriculum
Linguistic access
www.ssc.education.ed.ac.uk/res
ources/deaf/sasli/intro.html
3) Collate and discuss your mind-maps with colleagues and add additional thoughts.
Pull together common themes and key messages.
We will now look at each of these areas in more detail.
‘What is certain is that every child can learn. It is up to the people who support them
through the learning process to strive to ensure that each and every one of them
learns at the pace that is most appropriate for them, and to meet their needs in the
best possible way.’
How good is our school?
Journey to Excellence, Part 1 Aiming for Excellence
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Accessing the curriculum
Watch the clip from the nursery and reflect on how the children and young people in your
establishment are supported to access the curriculum.
Learning using all the senses: Donaldson's School nursery
1) Take each of the entitlements of Curriculum for Excellence and in groups/pairs or
ideally with a ToD or deaf person, consider how a deaf learner in your
playroom/class/school will fully access these entitlements.
2) Use the grid below to record current practice and key areas for development linked
to the entitlements.
Entitlement
A broad general
education
Current practice
e.g.
Areas for development
e.g.
Extracted from Modern
languages to work with
ToD
More effectively differentiate approaches and courses
in French to meet needs. Use ToD expertise in class.
Hilary McColl’s website has many good practice
examples:
http://www.languageswithoutlimits.co.uk/deafness.html
A coherent curriculum
Senior phase
Positive destinations
Support
Skills for learning, life
and work
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1) Count us in: achieving success for deaf pupils identified linguistic access to the
curriculum as a key factor in ensuring deaf learners achieved. Ongoing evaluation
of how much deaf learners hear in class, and how much they follow and understand
helps ensure children and young people access their entitlements.
2) Use the following grid, which uses prompts from the Count Us In document, to help
you evaluate your learners’ experiences.
Prompt
What we do now
What we could do
better
Careful and detailed ongoing assessment of what the
child needs to maximise hearing and follow fully what
is going on in the classroom
Example
Example
In collaboration with a
deaf specialist and the
child, audit the classroom
environment to consider
positioning, external
noise and acoustics
Consider the results of
the classroom audit and
in discussion with the
child and specialist, agree
on adaptations to
maximise learning,
through avoiding
extraneous noise,
reducing reverberation
and ensuring appropriate
light for lip reading and
signing
Adaptation of communication within the classroom to
match the assessed needs
www.ssc.education.ed.ac.uk/resources/deaf/deflit.html
Balanced and informed choice about the full range of
language and communication choices at regular
reviews of child’s progress
Reflective questions

How will you know that your deaf learner is fully accessing the curriculum?
o
o
o
o

Full access to all subjects?
Planning outcomes across all levels?
Feedback from deaf learners?
Progress made across different areas of the curriculum?
Is your classroom acoustically enabling?
o Communication friendly environment?
o Improved visual access?
You will find helpful articles on acoustic friendly classrooms on The Scottish Sensory
Centre website under resources/inclusion.
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‘We would never teach reading in a classroom without lights. Why then do we
teach in ‘acoustical darkness?’
NDCS
Teaching for effective learning
Including all pupils: Dingwall Academy
View the movie and then look at the signposts to excellence grid below from the Count us
In document. Highlight areas you think you currently do well in green and those which
require further development in yellow
A wide range of teaching approaches which enable deaf children/young people to
become successful learners.
Prompts

Pre-teaching and/or opportunities for consolidation ensure children/young people have
followed lessons fully.

Teachers regularly check to ensure that children/young people have understood teaching
points and instructions.

Children/young people understand what teachers are saying through audition,
lipreading/speechreading, signed support or interpreting.

Visual approaches are used to support learning.

Teachers understand what deaf children/young people are communicating and always take
time to hear the contributions of deaf children/young people.

When planning group activities teachers take account of the needs of deaf children/young
people.
Full involvement of deaf children/young people in all aspects of learning in the class,
enabling them to become effective contributors.
Prompts

Deaf children/young people have appropriate access so that they are able to communicate
and develop their own ideas.

When planning group activities, teachers take account of the needs of deaf children/young
people.

In class, comments, questions and answers from other children/young people are interpreted
or explained to deaf children/young people.

Class teachers or support teachers regularly check learners’ prior knowledge.

Strong links between home and school enable parents to support the development of a
wider knowledge base for children.
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Choose one area for improvement to take forward this week in your playroom, class or
school.
Reflective questions

How do you know if your pupil is becoming an independent learner?
o Children/young people regularly ask for clarification or check that they have
fully understood?
o Children/young people take responsibility for ensuring they are fully
participating in class?
o Children/young people are developing their own ideas, and contributing well in
class?

How can you ensure that your pupil is actively involved in their learning?
o Regular discussion between children/young people and class teachers, support
teachers and support assistant/communicators?
o Active involvement in IEPs/reviews?

Discuss your evidence with a colleague.
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Expectations and achievement
Positive mindsets – David Perkins
1) Watch these movies which include educationalists discussing excellence in schools
and having a positive mindset.
2) Is the provision for deaf children/young people in your school ambitious and based on
improving capability?
‘The national survey of 5-14 national assessments in 2004 showed that the percentage
of P7 deaf children/young people in primary schools who had achieved in line with
national expectations in mathematics and reading and writing was approximately half
of the pupil population as a whole’
The Achievements of Deaf Children/Young
People in Scotland.(ADPS)
Curriculum for Excellence is focussed on closing the gap and raising standards for all
learners.
Consider the attributes and abilities of a Successful Learner for a deaf child or young
person in your establishment. We have turned these into questions below. Answer these
questions briefly for one learner in your class over an appropriate period of time. Record as
many achievements as possible which link to that particular young person. In doing this,
take account of the prompts below from the Count Us In document.
Attributes
 How does this child/young person:
o Show motivation and enthusiasm for learning?
o Show determination to reach high standards?
o Show openness to new challenges and ideas?
Abilities
 How does this child/young person:
o Use literacy and communication?
o Use numeracy?
o Use technology?
o Think creatively?
o Learn independently and as part of a group?
o Make reasoned evaluations?
o Link and apply learning?
o Overall how successful as their learning been?
The Achievements of Deaf Children/young people in Scotland (ADPS) was a project which ran from 20002004 as an annual, national, longitudinal database of deaf children in Scotland.

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Reflective questions

Are these achievements linked to the highest expectations for this learner?

Learner is achieving in line with or above expectations of peers?

Communication development is optimised?

Children/young people are positive and ambitious about what they can achieve?

Leaver destinations of deaf young people reflect the profile of leaver destinations of
young people generally?
In considering these questions you may also wish to talk to deaf students or former pupils
and ask them about their experiences.
As teachers of the deaf we need to constantly and persistently seek to raise achievements
through overcoming barriers to learners’ progress.
With a colleague, or within your school or service, consider how you address barriers to
children/young people’s progress, taking account of prompts from Count Us In. Add your
own prompts to extend discussion.
You will find articles on teaching English language to deaf children from SSC resources
Prompts
What we do now
What we could do better
Approaches to enriching deaf
children/young people’
vocabulary and
understanding of English
idiom?
Ensuring assessments take
account of specific supports
child/young person uses, and
reflect learner’s accurate
level of competence?
Developing approaches to
teaching literacy and English
language which take account
of deaf child’s different
exposure to English in
everyday life?
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Meeting Learning Needs
Personalised learning: Dylan Williams
1) Use the link above to watch the Dylan William’s movie on individualised and
personalised learning.
2) Consider the difference between individualised and personalised learning. What are
the implications of this for a deaf learner?
3) List examples of individualised and personalised learning which are currently common
in your establishment/class when working with deaf children/young people.
Individualised approaches
Personalised approaches
Can you merge or balance these two approaches in order to better meet learning needs?
Reflective questions

Does the support provided meet each child’s personal needs?
o
o
o
Appropriate types and levels of support to ensure linguistic access?
Support which is well planned and delivered by staff with appropriate
competencies and experience?
Support from staff who have appropriate skills, for example in BSL and/or
Signed Supported English?
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1) Use the prompts on pages 27 and 28 of Count Us In: Achieving success for deaf
children/young people to help you think about the important aspects of support for your
children/young people
2) Consider carefully the seven design principles of Curriculum for Excellence. In terms of
meeting the needs of the deaf learners in your school, how well are the principles
reflected in practice?
3) Look at a current individualised plan you may have for a deaf pupil and benchmark the
contents against each of the principles. What needs to be improved?
4) Does your planning ensure that your deaf learners have access to the same range of
learning opportunities as others, but also has their specific needs met?
Principle
Strengths
Areas for improvement
Personalisation
and choice
Challenge
and enjoyment
Progression
Breadth
Depth
Coherence
Relevance
5) How do you ensure that planning to meet needs is connected securely to experiences
and outcomes and reflects the design principles?
‘To effectively communicate, we must realise that we are all different in the way we
perceive the world and use this understanding as a guide to our communication with
others.’
Anthony Robbin
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'Every child and young person is entitled to support to enable them to gain as much
as possible from the opportunities which Curriculum for Excellence can provide.'
Curriculum for Excellence
6) Look at the Journey to Excellence improvement guide on personal learning below:
A school is good to the extent that…
A school is excellent to the extent that…
Relationships are consistently friendly and
trusting, within a strong sense of equality and
fairness. Values are shared throughout the
school community. Learners understand their
rights and responsibilities and respond to
situations accordingly.
As children progress in maturity their
personal values and an awareness of wider
held social values are understood.
Learners enjoy and participate in their
learning experiences, some of which are
highly motivating. These experiences develop
skills in literacy, numeracy, health and
wellbeing.
Learning experiences (both in class and out
of class) are imaginative, creative,
stimulating and challenging. They engage
and involve all learners including those at
risk of missing out. Staff consistently
promote curiosity, independence and
confidence. They interact skilfully with
children and provide high quality feedback to
support and extend their learning.
Staff are aware and take account of young
people’s motivations and emotions. They
listen to, and take account of, learners’ views.
Staff recognise the importance of motivation
and emotional responses and how they affect
young people’s learning – including their
need for concentration and hard work. They
actively keep children safe and well looked
after.
Staff understand and develop young
people’s motivations and emotions. They
hear the learners’ voice and make sure it has
a positive influence on individuals and on the
whole school community. They build on
learners’ motivation and feelings and are
successful in achieving their sustained
attention and commitment to successful
learning.
Staff use approaches which promote
independent learning and develop children as
successful learners, confident individuals,
responsible citizens and effective
contributors.
Staff use a range of information which they
have gathered on children’s progress to
provide activities which build on their prior
learning. All children know and can discuss
their strengths and next steps as learners.
They feel safe, successful and confident
7) Highlight the areas on the grid you feel you still need to develop.
8) Considering the description of best practice in the grid above. Enter into a dialogue
with a colleague/ToD centred on excellent practice for deaf children and young people.
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Self-evaluation
Self-Evaluation Prospect Bank School
This movie demonstrates how important self-evaluation is in meeting learners’ needs.
It also highlights the importance of involving staff, partners, parents and pupils in
self-evaluation.
One of the activities staff undertook to support these developments was to observe each
others practice.
1) With another colleague observe each others practice with a focus on providing high
quality learning experiences for deaf learners.
2) Record three aspects of positive practice you have observed and two suggestions for
improvement.
Inclusion
‘An inclusive school (or other education setting) expects all children or students
within its community to be educated alongside each other. It sees the diverse needs
of children and students as a rich vein of opportunity to develop its approaches to
teaching and learning and thereby achieve excellence for all learners.’
NDCS
The inclusive classroom: Martyn Rouse interview
Martyn Rouse gives clear messages related to inclusion.
Including all pupils: Dingwall Academy
The Dingwall Academy movie also highlights good practice in terms of inclusion.
Reflective questions

Are deaf children/young people confident individuals who are included in the life of the
school?
o Hearing children/young people make good use of approaches for effective
communication with deaf children/young people and staff?
o Deaf awareness incorporated into the health and well-being programme for the
school and delivered by deaf children/young people where appropriate?

Do deaf children/young people participate in all activities available through the school,
including study support, and cultural and sporting activities?
o Personal achievements tracked?
o Roles of responsibility?
o Awareness of specific interests?
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Health and wellbeing
‘Good emotional health and wellbeing is important for all deaf children, not just those
at risk of developing difficulties’
NDCS
It is important to consider the emotional wellbeing of deaf children and young people.
Consider a pupil you know and look carefully at some of the health and wellbeing outcomes
which are the responsibility of all staff:

I am aware of and able to express my feelings and am developing the ability to talk
about them.
HWB 0-01a / HWB 1-01a / HWB 2-01a / HWB 3-01a / HWB 4-01a

I know that we all experience a variety of thoughts and emotions that affect how we
feel and behave and I am learning ways of managing them.
HWB 0-02a / HWB 1-02a / HWB 2-02a / HWB 3-02a / HWB 4-02a

I understand that there are people I can talk to and that there are a number of ways in
which I can gain access to practical and emotional support to help me and others in a
range of circumstances.
HWB 0-03a / HWB 1-03a / HWB 2-03a / HWB 3-03a / HWB 4-03a

I understand that my feelings and reactions can change depending upon what is
happening within and around me. This helps me to understand my own behaviour and
the way others behave.
HWB 0-04a / HWB 1-04a / HWB 2-04a / HWB 3-04a / HWB 4-04a

I know that friendship, caring, sharing, fairness, equality and love are important in
building positive relationships. As I develop and value relationships, I care and show
respect for myself and others.
HWB 0-05a / HWB 1-05a / HWB 2-05a / HWB 3-05a / HWB 4-05a

I understand the importance of mental wellbeing and that this can be fostered and
strengthened through personal coping skills and positive relationships. I know that it is
not always possible to enjoy good mental health and that if this happens there is
support available.
HWB 0-06a / HWB 1-06a / HWB 2-06a / HWB 3-06a / HWB 4-06a

I am learning skills and strategies which will support me in challenging times,
particularly in relation to change and loss.
HWB 0-07a / HWB 1-07a / HWB 2-07a / HWB 3-07a / HWB 4-07a

I understand that people can feel alone and can be misunderstood and left out by
others. I am learning how to give appropriate support.
HWB 0-08a / HWB 1-08a / HWB 2-08a / HWB 3-08a / HWB 4-08a
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Reflective questions

What particular issues do you need to address in considering the health and wellbeing
of deaf children and young people?
o Fewer opportunities to develop social skills through interaction with peers?
o Sense of isolation?
o More difficult to access support services where professional may not know how
to communicate with them?

Is there a strong commitment in your school to valuing Deaf culture?
o Deaf awareness training for all?
o Opportunities for children/young people to meet other deaf children and make
links with the deaf community?
o Access to BSL for staff, children/young people and parents?
o Commitment to enhancing the environment to reduce barriers for deaf
children/young people/parents?
o Deaf role models?
Take one of the outcomes and plan for working around this outcome with all teachers
involved with the learner. Discuss this plan with the learner and their parents
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Working with parents as partners
'Like an extended family. From the minute they walk in we're all on the same side.'
Depute headteacher
While parents were routinely given information about individualised educational
programmes for their children, not all were sufficiently involved in contributing
their views on appropriate learning targets. Some parents stated that their views
were listened to and given due weight, while others felt that their opinions were
not valued sufficiently. Although parents could discuss the progress their
children were making towards individualised targets, they did not always have a
clear view of how they were progressing in relation to national expectations.
Count us in: achieving success for deaf pupils.
As a result of strong partnership with the school, and, in particular the quality of
support and information they receive, most parents help their child to engage
with learning, sustain their attention and develop their confidence.
Journey to Excellence Improvement guide
Ask a group or individual parents to come to school and engage in a discussion about the
partnership work supporting their deaf child. The child or young person could also be
involved. Use the statements above to stimulate discussion.
The discussion should focus on the following reflections:
 Do parents have clear information about education authority policies and the choices
available to children, based on the principles of informed choice?
 Do parents receive high quality and accurate information about their child’s progress in
school?
 Are there strong links with home which enable learning to be continued there and which
help parents to contribute to their child’s learning?
 Do the school and the authority actively support the specific needs of parents of deaf
children?
 How could staff/parent partnerships be improved?
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Working with other partners
‘Staff work in genuine partnership with a variety of agencies to provide rich and
inclusive educational experiences for children/young people. Staff participate
actively in initiatives led by other agencies. School staff and partner agencies
learn from each other and value each others contributions.’
Journey to Excellence Improvement Guide
Additional support: Identifying needs – planning responses
Complete the activity suggested at the end of the movie with a focus on deaf learners.
In discussion with relevant partners and parents consider everyone’s role and use the grid
below to share and improve partnership practice. Remember to consider partners from
other organisations and other specialists such as health professionals and representatives
from voluntary organisations.
Partner involved
Current role and
impact
Future development.
Reflective questions

Is joint planning among professionals working with deaf children/young people
regular, of a high quality and focussed on the child/young person across school and in
the community?
o Joint planning in IEPs?
o Plans evaluated with clear next steps identified?

Does partnership working ensure that staff, children/young people and parents have
confidence in approaches being used?
o A range of communication options available?
o Well managed transitions?
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Final reflections - Taking stock
Collate the responses to the professional dialogue sections of this pack through mindmaps. Conclude this bit of professional development by documenting an action plan to
take forward key areas for improvement.
Return to the professional dialogue questions in a year’s time and look for progress you
have made.
‘There is a pressing need to take stock of what we know, within a context where
children and families have the right to meaningful choices in an educational system
which is increasingly open to a multi-lingual/multi-cultural approach to learning’
Scottish Parliament 2003
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