Delay in start of sign language GCSE is a ‘disgrace’
The long-anticipated British Sign Language (BSL) GCSE will not be ready by the September 2025 deadline, Sky News understands.
It is understood the course could take several more years to finalise.
The government announced in 2023 that the qualification will be available to study at secondary schools from the start of the 2025 academic year.
Plans for the same subject have been scrapped in Wales due to practical challenges.
The two-year course will allow students to learn how to effectively use BSL – which is considered the fourth most widely used language in the UK – and those who pass the exams will obtain a level two qualification.
‘Left in limbo’
The delays in England have left many in the deaf community frustrated, particularly charities like the National Deaf Children’s Society (NDCS) which has been campaigning for the GCSE for over a decade.
Susan Daniels, chief executive of the NDCS, said: “There’s no reason why this GCSE shouldn’t be available now.
“Deaf young people have been campaigning for so many years to get this GCSE in place, but they’ve just been left in limbo and it’s a disgrace.”
She added: “We’ve been asking the Department [for Education] for constant updates but haven’t received the information.
“We want the government to work with us to make sure that the GCSE is available to deaf children, young people and their hearing peers as soon as possible.”
GCSEs are available to anyone of any age, meaning a BSL qualification can even help some hearing parents to communicate with their deaf children.
Ruth Taunt
‘Life-changing for the whole family’
Ruth Taunt and her husband have taken it upon themselves to learn BSL because it is their four-year-old daughter Olive’s first language.
The training has cost nearly £8,000 between them, which she recognises “isn’t accessible to many people”.
Mrs Taunt said: “I think parents should have the right to be able to communicate with their child, so I think a GCSE in BSL will be a game-changer all around.
“From my own personal perspective, if my eldest daughter, she’s hearing, learnt BSL alongside her hearing friends and they came to visit us and Olive and could communicate with her fully, that would just be life-changing for the whole family and especially for Olive.”
Four-year-old Olive is ‘thriving’ at Heathlands, a specialist deaf school in St Albans
She added: “You’re more likely to bump into a deaf person than needing to speak French or Spanish in England.”
According to the British Deaf Association, there are around 151,000 BSL users in the UK, and about 87,000 of them are deaf.
Rosejyn Mbae is among the parents interested in taking the GCSE once it becomes available so that she can better communicate with her daughter Claire.
Rosejyn Mbae (left) and her daughter Claire
Ms Mbae said: “It will be very important because we have so many deaf children who don’t have people to communicate with.
“Claire wants her independence, would like to go take the bus on her own, go for shopping on her own, but if the community doesn’t understand BSL, it will be very difficult for her.”
A spokesperson for the Department for Education told Sky News: “Our Curriculum and Assessment review brings together leading education experts, leaders and staff to consider how to ensure young people have access to a broad and balanced curriculum that reflects the issues and diversities of our society, as well as the crucial work and life skills necessary to succeed in both the workplace and throughout their lives.
“We continue to work closely with Ofqual to deliver the BSL GCSE as quickly as possible, while ensuring the new GCSE is high quality and rigorous.
“Ofqual is finalising their proposed assessment arrangements for public consultation and their technical consultation will be launched in due course.”
The GCSE will allow deaf students to obtain an additional qualification in their first language
A spokesperson for Ofqual added: “We must ensure this entirely new GCSE is well designed, takes in the views of the deaf community, and meets the needs of students learning BSL – and this work takes time.
“We are obliged to secure rigorous standards when introducing new qualifications, to ensure they are robust and respected.”
With a significant amount of work left to do, both the Department for Education and Ofqual were unable to confirm a new date for the GCSE.
UK
Teenager living in ‘continuous pain’ after surgeon Dr Yaser Jabbar carried out ‘inappropriate’ operations
A 15-year-old boy who was operated on twice by a now unlicensed Great Ormond Street surgeon is living with “continuous” pain.
Finias Sandu has been told by an independent review the procedures he underwent on both his legs were “unacceptable” and “inappropriate” for his age.
The teenager from Essex was born with a condition that causes curved bones in his legs.
Aged seven, a reconstructive procedure was carried out on Finias’s left leg, lengthening the limb by 3.5cm.
A few years later, the same operation was carried out on his right leg which involved wearing an invasive and heavy metal frame for months.
He has now been told by independent experts these procedures should not have taken place and concerns have been raised over a lack of imaging being taken prior to the operations.
Yaser Jabbar rescinded his UK medical licence last year. Pic: LinkedIn
His doctor at London’s prestigious Great Ormond Street Hospital was former consultant orthopaedic surgeon Yaser Jabbar. Sky News has spoken to others he treated.
Mr Jabbar also did not arrange for updated scans or for relevant X-rays to be conducted ahead of the procedures.
The surgeries have been found to have caused Finias “harm” and left him in constant pain.
“The pain is there every day, every day I’m continuously in pain,” he told Sky News.
“It’s not something really sharp, although it does get to a certain point where it hurts quite a lot, but it’s always there. It just doesn’t leave, it’s a companion to me, just always there.”
Read more:
Girl who had leg amputated suffered harm during surgeon’s care
Child, 11, in wheelchair after surgeon’s operations
Hospital accused of ‘covering up’ concerns about suspended surgeon
Finias’s surgery pictures
Care of over 700 patients being assessed
Mr Jabbar rescinded his UK medical licence in January last year after working at Great Ormond Street between 2017 and 2022.
The care of his 700-plus patients is being assessed, with some facing corrective surgery, among them Finias.
“Trusting somebody is hard to do, knowing what they have done to me physically and emotionally, you know, it’s just too much to comprehend for me,” he said.
“It wasn’t something just physically, like my leg pain and everything else. It was emotionally, because I put my trust in that specific doctor. My parents and I don’t really understand the more scientific terms, we just went by what he said.”
Doctors refused to treat Finias because of his surgeries
Finias and his family relocated to their native Romania soon after the reconstructive frame was removed from his right leg in the summer of 2021.
The pain worsened and they sought advice from doctors in Romania, who refused to treat Finias because of the impact of his surgeries.
Dozens of families seeking legal claims
His mother Cornelia Sandu is “furious” and feels her trust in the hospital has been shattered. They are now among dozens of families seeking legal claims.
Cyrus Plaza from Hudgell Solicitors is representing the family. He said: “In cases where it has been identified that harm was caused, we want to see Great Ormond Street Hospital agreeing to pay interim payments of compensation for the children, so that if they need therapy or treatment now, they can access it.”
Finias is accessing therapy and mental health support as he prepares for corrective surgery later in the year.
A spokesperson for Great Ormond Street Hospital told Sky News: “We are deeply sorry to Finias and his family, and all the patients and families who have been impacted.
“We want every patient and family who comes to our hospital to feel safe and cared for. We will always discuss concerns families may have and, where they submit claims, we will work to ensure the legal process can be resolved as quickly as possible.”
Finias with his mother and sister
Service not ‘safe for patients’
Sky News has attempted to contact Mr Jabbar.
An external review into the wider orthopaedic department at the hospital began in September 2022.
It was commissioned after the Royal College of Surgeons warned the hospital’s lower limb reconstruction service was not “safe for patients or adequate to meet demand”.
The investigation is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
Sir Keir Starmer has said closer ties with the EU will be good for the UK’s jobs, bills and borders ahead of a summit where he could announce a deal with the bloc.
The government is set to host EU leaders in London on Monday as part of its efforts to “reset” relations post-Brexit.
A deal granting the UK access to a major EU defence fund could be on the table, according to reports – but disagreements over a youth mobility scheme and fishing rights could prove to be a stumbling block.
The prime minister has appeared to signal a youth mobility deal could be possible, telling The Times that while freedom of movement is a “red line”, youth mobility does not come under this.
His comment comes after Kaja Kallas, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs, said on Friday work on a defence deal was progressing but “we’re not there yet”.
Sir Keir met European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen later that day while at a summit in Albania.
Ursula von der Leyen and Sir Keir had a brief meeting earlier this week. Pic: PA
If agreed, the deal will be the third in two weeks, following trade agreements with India and the US.
Sir Keir said: “First India, then the United States – in the last two weeks alone that’s jobs saved, faster growth and wages rising.
“More money in the pockets of British working people, achieved through striking deals not striking poses.
“Tomorrow, we take another step forward, with yet more benefits for the United Kingdom as the result of a strengthened partnership with the European Union.”
Read more:
Humza Yousaf hits out at Starmer’s ‘dog whistle’ stance on immigration
MPs criticise terminally ill Esther Rantzen’s assisted dying intervention
👉 Click here to follow Electoral Dysfunction wherever you get your podcasts 👈
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has said she is “worried” about what the PM might have negotiated.
Ms Badenoch – who has promised to rip up the deal with the EU if it breaches her red lines on Brexit – said: “Labour should have used this review of our EU trade deal to secure new wins for Britain, such as an EU-wide agreement on Brits using e-gates on the continent.
“Instead, it sounds like we’re giving away our fishing quotas, becoming a rule-taker from Brussels once again and getting free movement by the back door. This isn’t a reset, it’s a surrender.”
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business3 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway