Deaf people in Flanders asking for bilingual education Flemish Sign Language - Dutch

Flanders: deaf people want full bilingual educationThese days, in Flanders (Belgium), deaf children have to choose between regular education or special education.

Both options are far from ideal for the development of the child, as more and more parents are experiencing.

Doof Vlaanderen (the umbrella organization of Flemish organisations for the Deaf) and the Advisory Committee of the Flemish Sign Language (which the Flemish Government advises on policy related to Flemish Sign Language) are advocating in the Flemish Government for the establishment of bilingual classes: real bilingual education in Flemish Sign Language and Dutch. In hearing schools, in regular education. Without interpreters.

What is a bilingual education Flemish Sign Language - Dutch exactly? And why is it more inclusive than the inclusive education on which Flanders is working today?

 

Regular education

In regular education classes, deaf children follow courses in Dutch, with the help of Flemish Sign Language (FSL) interpreters, among other things.

The disadvantages are that the deaf child easily gets socially isolated because there are no (deaf or hearing) classmates who can use sign language. Additionally, FSL is not a language class in regular education (such as Dutch for hearing children). Teaching material is offered exclusively in Dutch, there are no (deaf) teachers who can do sign language.

And the use of FSL interpreters does not quite make the education bilingual. The deaf child does not communicate with the interpreter, but with non-FSL classmates and teachers through the interpreter.


Special education

In special education, deaf children are often in class with children with multiple disabilities.

The level is not comparable to regular education. There are few or no chances for a diploma, Flemish Sign Language is not widely supported and deaf children do not get in contact with hearing children of deaf parents or hearing siblings of deaf children either.


Alternative: bilingual education

Both education solutions which are presented to deaf children these days, are far from ideal, as more and more parents are realising.

Doof Vlaanderen (the new name for Fevlado, the umbrella organization of Flemish organizations for the Deaf) and the Advisory Committee on the Flemish Sign Language are pleading at the Flemish Government for the establishment of bilingual classes: real bilingual education in Flemish Sign Language and Dutch. In hearing schools, in regular education.


Human right

Flanders wants children with disabilities to get a regular education as much as possible, instead of a special education. Therefore, since the introduction of the so-called M-Decree in 2014, the special education is being gradually reduced.

But the M-Decree, which can support deaf pupils in regular education (e.g. for 2 to 4 hours a week with a supporter who, however, usually does not know FSL), is, according to Doof Vlaanderen and the Advisory Committee on Flemish sign language, not a good implementation of (article 24 of) the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: "Deaf children are often alone in a hearing school, without (deaf) classmates who can use sign language. They have no teachers, no FSL as a language course, and teaching material which is offered exclusively in Dutch."


Language bubble

The Deaf community is asking the government to organise a real bilingual education. In a Dutch-speaking class environment, the deaf child is together with its FSL interpreter in a separate language bubble. An FSL interpreter does make the Dutch lesson accessible to the deaf child, but as soon as the interpreter is not present (on the playground for example), the child is largely isolated from its classmates.

The Deaf Community is calling for classes in which both deaf children and their hearing brothers and sisters and hearing children of deaf parents are taught in Flemish Sign Language and in Dutch.

"For hearing children who grow up in FSL (hearing children of deaf parents, hearing siblings of deaf children) there is no educational offer in FSL at all. However, even these hearing children would benefit from education which uses and stimulates FSL. Hearing brothers and sisters would be able to go to school with their deaf brother/sister."


Test projects

In 2015, Doof Vlaanderen carried out (with the support of the Equal Opportunity Department of the Flemish Government) an exploratory study of the most appropriate form of education for Flemish children using sign language. In addition, schools with bilingual education for deaf and hearing children were visited in the United States, France and Hong Kong.

The most feasible, appropriate and desirable solution, according to this research, is that education for deaf children, their siblings, and hearing children of deaf parents is embedded in bilingual classes.

The start-up of bilingual classes is ideally done in an existing or starting school in regular education. A first step is to set up a kindergarten, and then gradually expand the classes to the sixth grade. Doof Vlaanderen wants to start with one or two test projects from the school year 2019-2020 on, in one or two places in Flanders.

Last week, there was a hearing about the legal status of Flemish Sign Language in the Flemish Parliament, as a result of a research which the Institute on Constitutional Law of the KU Leuven carried out on the advice of the Advisory Committee on Flemish Sign Language and commissioned by Flemish Minister Gatz. Setting up a bilingual education would certainly also contribute to the legal anchoring and recognition of FSL, researchers said.

Flemish minister of education Hilde Crevits (CD&V) has already asked Doof Vlaanderen to draw up a concrete proposal for a test project on bilingual education FSL-Dutch.


Interpreters do not make an education bilingual

In regular education, about 230 students a year rely on the help of a Flemish Sign Language interpreter in class. The number of available interpreter hours has risen from 37,000 in 2014 to 40,000 in 2016.

The Flemish Government introduced the Flemish Sign Language interpreter in secondary and higher education in 1997 and also in kindergarten in 2013-2014. It was a test project back then and it basically still is, though the number of available interpreter hours has increased substantially.

But a true evaluation of working with interpreters hasn't been given over the past twenty years. That the use of interpreters FSL does not make education bilingual yet, is still not clear to everyone.

With an interpreter, there is no direct language input in the native language (FSL) for the deaf child, which is not optimal for language development. In addition, there is also no direct interaction with teachers and classmates. A further condition to be able to work with an interpreter FSL, is that the deaf child has mastered FSL well. The cycle is vicious.


And you? How strange would you have found it as a toddler and as a child if in your whole school career an adult interpreter had sat next to you?


Article 24 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

1. The States Parties recognise the right of persons with disabilities to an education.

In order to fulfil this right without discrimination and on the basis of equal opportunities, States Parties ensure an inclusive educational system on every level and facilities for lifelong learning with the following purposes:

a) the full development of the human potential and the sense of dignity and self-esteem and the enhancement of respect for human rights, fundamental freedoms and human diversity;

b) the optimal development of persons with disabilities concerning their personality, talents and creativity, as well as their mental and physical abilities, to state of power;

c) enabling persons with disabilities to actually participate in a free society.

2. By exercising this right, States Parties ensure that:

a) people with disabilities are not excluded on account of their disability from the general education system, and that children with disabilities are not excluded on account of their disability from free and compulsory primary education or from futher education;

b) persons with disabilities have access to inclusive, high-quality and free primary education and secondary education on the basis of equality with others in the community in which they live;

c) reasonable changes will be provided according to the needs of the person in question;

d) persons with disabilities, within the general education system, receive the support they need to facilitate actual participation in education;

e) effective, customised to the individual, supporting measures are taken in environments where the cognitive and social development is optimised, in accordance with the purpose of education in which no one is excluded.

3. States Parties enable persons with disabilities to learn practical and social skills in order to facilitate their full participation in education and in community life on an equal footing.

To this end, States Parties take appropriate measures, including:

a) facilitating the learning of braille, alternative spellings, the use of assistive and alternative communication methods, resources and forms, as well as gaining skills in the area of orientation and mobility and facilitating support and guidance from fellow sufferers;

b) facilitating the learning of sign language and stimulate the linguistic identity of the deaf community;

c) ensure that the education of persons, and in particular of children, who are blind, deaf or were born deafblind, takes place in the languages and communication methods and means which are most appropriate for the person and in an environment in which their cognitive and social development are optimised.

4. In order to facilitate the practice of this right, States Parties take appropriate measures to assign teachers, including teachers with disabilities, who are trained for sign language and/or braille, and to train executives and employees on all levels of education. In this course, students must be trained in dealing with persons with disabilities and in using the relevant supporting communication and other methods, means and forms of and for communication, education techniques and materials to support persons with disabilities.

5. States Parties ensure that persons with disabilities, without discrimination and on an equal footing with others, gain access to tertiary education, vocational training, adult education and lifelong learning. To this end, States Parties ensure that reasonable changes are provided to persons with disabilities.

 

More info (video): https://www.vlaamsparlement.be/commissies/commissievergaderingen/1224115

More info (PowerPoint, pdf): https://www.vlaamsparlement.be/bestanden/Documenten/presentatie-onderwijs-vgt-ned-20180125.pdf

More info: http://www.doof.vlaanderen/nieuws/hoorzitting-tweetalig-onderwijs

 


Powered by CrossLang

Author: Dries Debackere

Machine translation: SDL Machine Translation (previously SDL BeGlobal)

Post-editing: Quick Post-Editor 7

Source language: Nederlands (nl)


Additional information