Survey: educational staffing & service provision for deaf children

In 2017, the Consortium for Research into Deaf Education (CRIDE) carried out its seventh annual survey on educational staffing and service provision for deaf children. It covers the 2016/17 academic year. This report sets out the results of the survey for England and is intended for heads of services, policy makers in local and central government and anyone with an interest in deaf education.

Summary of key findings

There are at least 45,631 deaf children in England; a reported increase of 11% over the past year.
78% of school-aged deaf children attend mainstream schools (where there is no specialist provision). 6% attend mainstream schools with resource provisions, 3% attend special schools for deaf children whilst 12% attend special schools not specifically for deaf children.
22% of deaf children are recorded as having an additional special educational need. The most common additional need appears to be moderate learning difficulties.
Around 7% of deaf children have at least one cochlear implant whilst 4% of deaf children have a bone conduction device.
14% of deaf children use an additional spoken language other than English in the home.
66% of severely or profoundly deaf children communicate using spoken English only in school or other education settings. 29% of severely or profoundly deaf children use sign language in some form, either on its own (8%) or alongside spoken English (21%).
The most common post-school destination for deaf young people is further education, with 79% taking this option.
The School Census continues to under-record the number of deaf children, missing 42% of those identified by CRIDE.
19% of deaf children identified by CRIDE have a statement of SEN or an Education, Health and Care plan.
There are at least 1,095.4 Teacher of the Deaf posts, of which 4% were vacant. Of the 1,050 staff working as Teachers of the Deaf, 87% held the mandatory qualification.
The number of qualified Teachers of the Deaf in employment fell by 2% over the past year. It has fallen by 14% since the CRIDE survey started in 2011.
57% of peripatetic Teachers of the Deaf are over the age of 50 and thus are likely to retire in the next 10 to 15 years.
There are at least 1,378 other specialist support staff working with deaf children in England, a 9% decrease since last year.
83% of services are based in the local authority.
There are 251 resource provisions across England. This is down slightly from 2016 when CRIDE identified 260 resource provisions.