Teaching British Sign Language in schools : Final report

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Turner, Graham and Beveridge, Madeleine (2016) Teaching British Sign Language in schools : Final report. Scottish Universities Insight Institute.

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Abstract

The British Sign Language (Scotland) Act passed in September 2015 with the aim of promoting British Sign Language (BSL), a visual-gestural language used at home by over 12,500 people in Scotland (Scottish Census, 2011). The Bill requires from Scottish Government a national plan outlining an action framework for promoting BSL as a language. “Promotion of BSL in an education setting” was identified by the Education and Culture Committee of the Scottish Parliament as one of five areas requiring particular attention in the national plan. At the same time, schools and Local Authorities are currently half way through the implementation stage of the 1+2 Languages Policy: by 2020, each child starting primary school in Scotland will learn an additional language (“L2”) from P1 to the end of the broad general education phase in secondary school, and a second additional language (L3) from P5. The teaching of BSL as a language in Scottish schools therefore meets both these policy objectives. This project aimed to bring together key stakeholders from sign language and from education, to explore how BSL could be sustainably taught in the mainstream Scottish education system. In the long-term, the aim is for an inclusive society where Deaf BSL users can communicate in BSL with their friends, peers and colleagues.

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