The British Deaf Association (BDA) welcomes today’s launch of a new official consultation on the long-promised GCSE in British Sign Language (BSL), and applauds the long-awaited progress toward recognition and equality in education.
“Let’s be clear, it’s a step in the right direction, but there is much further to go,” signs Deaf CEO Rebecca Mansell. “After a lengthy period of silence from the authorities, we appreciate this development.” The BDA statement comes in response to this week’s announcement that Ofqual has launched a further ‘technical’ consultation on the British Sign Language (BSL) GCSE. Whilst the GCSE’s content has already passed through a 2023 consultation led by the Department for Education (DfE), this week’s initiative focuses on examination and assessment procedures.
“Only last month in Parliament, during Sign Language Week (17-23 March), MPs from the new All-Party Parliamentary Group on BSL quizzed the Minister for Disabled People, Sir Stephen Timms MP, on the ongoing delay with the GCSE,” points out Mansell. “Sir Stephen spoke of the government’s ‘continuing commitment’ and of being ‘generally reassured about the progress that’s been made and the commitment to deliver’.”
The BDA remains concerned about the long delays in the development of the new BSL GCSE. The previous government target for “first teaching” was September 2025, and the BDA believes that this target will be missed by two years.
The reasons for this delay are unclear. Whilst the BDA has been expressing the BSL community’s concerns about the GCSE project for many years, it took Ofqual until this month to directly ask to meet the BDA – which is recognised up to United Nations level as the UK’s representative organisation for the signing Deaf community – for one-to-one talks.
“Almost everything has happened behind closed doors,” Mansell notes pointedly. “And here we are, with even Ofqual acknowledging that an award promised in 2018 will not actually result in anyone receiving a certificate until 2029 at the earliest!”
“BSL is a rich and complex language, different in many respects to the spoken languages already studied at GCSE level. We appreciate DfE’s and Ofqual’s diligent work to get the GCSE right. It’s a challenge to schools and examination boards. But it’s really not rocket science.”
The BDA has repeatedly highlighted the significant potential for Deaf teachers to be afforded a leading role in the delivery of BSL GCSEs, in keeping with the spirit of the 2022 BSL Act which received all-party support in Parliament. It notes that Deaf people have been firmly at the forefront of BSL teaching in adult education since BDA itself trained a generation of BSL teachers at Durham University in the 1980s – a programme taught by Deaf people to Deaf people entirely in BSL. In this light, four decades have passed in which Deaf linguistic and cultural expertise in the teaching profession has been acknowledged and promoted.
“Now,” says Mansell, “we face an unclear roll-out of the GCSE – if indeed we ever get there – with every school at liberty to offer BSL courses but no programme in place to build a sustainable Deaf-led workforce. Who will teach our language to the highest quality if not Deaf people who are fluent in it?”
The BDA stresses its willingness to support the relevant authorities clear throughout, and that it will continue to press for a timely, high-quality GCSE that protects and promotes BSL as a vibrant language, respects the long-term prospects of the Deaf community, and secures the contributions of Deaf professionals.
