Support for the 45,000 deaf children in England is in "complete disarray" as staffing levels fail to match increased demand, a lobby group has claimed.
Specialist staffing levels have dropped by 14% over seven years, despite a 31% rise in the number of children requiring support, says the Consortium for Research in Deaf Education (CRIDE). Almost 60% of existing specialist staff are due to retire within 15 years. Ministers say an extra £223m is being spent on special needs education. But the National Deaf Children's Society says there has been a "dereliction of duty".
Its CEO, Susan Daniels, urged the government to act: "The evidence couldn't be clearer. From every angle and at every turn, a whole generation of deaf children will have their futures decimated if the Government doesn't act before it's too late."
She added that despite deafness not being a learning disability, deaf children often fell "a whole grade behind their hearing friends at school".
The CRIDE survey of almost every authority in England found that more than a quarter of services employed one specialist teacher for every 80 students. In some areas there is one specialist teacher for every 100 students. The figures also revealed that a third of councils are struggling to recruit new specialist teaching staff.
