Deaf Education in South Africa Claudine Storbeck Fulbright Scholar University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

South Africa - Facts Southern tip of Africa 9 Provinces Size – > than France, Italy & Germany combined 35° south latitude (CT = distance from equator as Sydney and Los Angeles) Leading producer of gold, platinum, chromium and much of world’s diamond market

South Africa – The people 45 Million people > 20 ethnic groups 11 Official Languages Predominantly Christian National Anthem has 5 languages

South African - Politics South African Democracy is born in 1994 South Africa's national anthem Nksi sikelel' iAfrika Maluphakanyisw' uphondo lwayo, Yizwa imithandazo yethu, Nkosi sikelela, thina lusapho lwayo. Morena boloka setjhaba sa heso, O fedise dintwa la matshwenyeho, O se boloke, O se boloke setjhaba sa heso, Setjhaba sa South Afrika - South Afrika. Uit die blou van onse hemel, Uit die diepte van ons see, Oor ons ewige gebergtes, Waar die kranse antwoord gee, Sounds the call to come together, And united we shall stand, Let us live and strive for freedom, In South Africa our land.

South African History Brief Timeline Early Times Colonisa- tion from Europe Slavery abolished Union Of SA Apartheid State Bannings & unrest Tumultuous early 90’s Decade of Democrac y Various black peoples settle in South Africa Hugenote Settlers arrive Importing Slaves from East Indies & Madagasc. Slavery abolished and The Great Trek Union founded, after which the ANC is founded Apartheid initiated in various forms SA leaves commonwe alth- republic, ANC armed struggle ANC unbanned, Mandela released, armed struggle suspended, UN lifts sanctions ANCwins 1 st non- racial elections, Mandela 1st president of democracy, TRC, New Constitutio n, Thabo Mbeki, AU

South African Laws South African Constitution promote, & create conditions for the development & use of... sign language South African Schools Act South African Schools Act, 1996 Chapter 2.6 No 4 A recognised Sign Language has the status of an official language for purposes of learning at a public school – Integrated National Disability Strategy Language in Education Act 2001 – White Paper 6 Building an Inclusive Education System

Education in South Africa Mainstream Education Recently adopted an Outcomes Based Education system (OBE) → Curriculum 2005 Inclusion – broad philosophy as a reaction against apartheid and oppressive education Education for all Equal Education for all + Human rights approach says – equal outcomes for all Deaf Education Teachers battle to implement Outcomes Based Education system (OBE) → Curriculum 2005 Inclusion: there is a false assumption that inclusion is bad or that all schools will close down

South African Deaf Community 1 st school The great debate begins 1 st Deaf Clubs National Association SASL dictionaries Deaf LeadershipConference New directions /41928/ st school for the Deaf in Cape Town, started by Irish nuns Oralism formally adopted in SA due to the Milan conference. The 1 st two Deaf Clubs initiated in Cape Town and Pretoria respectively 1 st conference for workers in deafness, which was the precursor to the birth of the National Council for the Deaf 1980 “Talking to the Deaf” published and in 1990 the “South African Sign Language Dictionary” (6 volumes and hotly contested) SANCD becomes DEAFSA (which is allowed membership of WFD), 1 st Deaf director of DEAFSA elected 1 st International Conference on Deaf Education 1 st National DEAFSA Indaba DEAFSA relaunches with new vibrant logo 1 st Deaf women elected as the Chair of DEAFSA

Deaf Education in South Africa 1.6 million Deaf people in SA 200 – users of SASL 43 Schools for the Deaf Religious roots Historically racially established Residential schools Language policies vary 1/3 functionally illiterate 70% unemployed

How do we challenge the status quo…? Train Teachers of the Deaf (not yet compulsory) Honours and Advanced Certificate level Teachers reflect our population

Preparing our Teachers … Content Knowledge Skills Challenge their philosophy, their paradigm … We acknowledge plural identities Deaf hearing Racial Language Gender Religious other

Research Train Deaf researchers to do research into SASL Provide opportunities for training, sharing, growing Empower

Community Service

Community Service – Deaf Baby programme

Yet…. despite all we are doing as a Country and as a Deaf Community Decade of democracy leading to true transformation Policies and legislation are in place Inclusive philosophy prevails Lobbying has gone well ……. it seems as if we are not doing enough

Asking the unasked questions …..

What are the issues of concern? Why such high levels of illiteracy? Why are most Deaf learners vocationally/skills oriented? Why do we allow our kids to be chanelled so soon Why is the distribution of success (h vs D) so different? Why are educational outcomes so different (content and level) Why is employment still a problem?

Why aren’t progressive policies implemented Perhaps we have not thought through the implications…? Perhaps we have not thought through the strategies (short, medium and long term) Perhaps we don’t have the resources and need an interim plan Perhaps we are just not implementing them…?

What does it mean to be a good teacher of the Deaf? Teacher efficacy Communication skills Effective and appropriate discourse The correct knowledge, skills & attitudes

The unasked questions … Is Sign Language enough…? Is Deaf Culture enough…? Is Bilingualism enough…? Why reject inclusion in favour of the status quo? Do we need a new theory…? Is there a Deaf Pedagogy…?

What needs to be done…? We need to start asking more questions (both re-asking the old and asking new/ unasked questions) We need to reflect (and be BOLD) We need to challenge the status quo (current theories, practices We should truly aim for equality/