Annual report 2002 - batod

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Planning is now in process for the next twilight meeting and the 2002 conference. It is hoped thatBirmingham will provide the venue. In response to requests from BATOD members, it is likely that thetwilight meeting will once again have a pre-school focus. In October the theme will be Deafness andadditional needs.The previous Chair of the South West Committee, Linda Lang, stepped down in November 2000having extended her period of office.The year started therefore with John Shaw as Chair, Sue Barnsley as Vice Chair, Fiona Elsworth asSecretary and Harriet Nott as Treasurer.The Committee is well represented by teachers from across the region with the exception of the old Avonarea and the Elmfield School for the Deaf.Exeter and the Royal West of England School for the Deaf, remains the usual meeting point although,given the geographical nature of the area and distances people have to travel, there has been a move touse conference call facilities on a couple of occasions throughout the year.The main event of the year was a conference focused on ‘Dyspraxia in Deaf Children’. The event was wellattended and all participants valued the presentations given by Lynne Roberts, Specialist Speech andLanguage Therapist for Deafness, and Sarah Bowcott, Speech and Language Therapist. There was also,at the end of the day, an opportunity for teachers to share ideas on the teaching of literacy and numeracy.There were plans to hold a second conference looking at Cochlear Implants and recent developments butthis will now not take place until early 2002. Concern about numbers attending events remains, although intalking to other Committees in similar rural areas the South West enjoys reasonable attendance.Financially the Committee has managed its budget well. Consequently, no bid for financial assistance wasnecessary from the Association’s Treasurer.The Northern Ireland AGM was held as usual in the Postgraduate Centre at Craigavon. OwenLang from BioAcoustics gave an address on the use of Sound Field Systems. A large turnout ofmembers appreciated this presentation. Some members are encouraging Boards to financethese systems in schools throughout the province.Due to the foot and mouth crisis the Spring meeting had to be postponed. The Summer meeting was heldat the Queen’s University in Belfast. It was addressed by Colin Miller, Special Needs Advisor from theSouth Eastern Education and Library Board. The theme was Children with Additional Needs.After this a social function took place in which a retirement presentation was made to Mr Harry Kernohan.Harry has had a distinguished career in both Ireland and England and has been actively involved inBATOD on both sides of the Irish Sea. During his time on the committee his commitment to BATOD was anexample to all members. His sharp wit and keen sense of humour will be greatly missed.Olive McManus the Northern Ireland Chair for the past two years represented BATOD N Ireland at the 25 thanniversary celebrations in Cardiff in March.BATOD NI was delighted that the post of part-time secretary had been created nationally.Committee time this year has been used to discuss the production of a Regional newsletter, obtainingfunding from the regional Training unit to run a full-day course for Teachers of the Deaf and cross-Boardtraining days (there are five Boards). It was felt that if training money was combined some worthwhileactivities specific to our particular needs could be arranged.An audit of courses was undertaken to see which areas might need attention in future meetings.The cochlear implant special interest group is now up and running and it was felt that it might beadvantageous now to consider setting up another group - whether for under 2s and pre-schoolers or agroup for teachers working with 11-16 year olds.Much thought has been given this year to taking meetings around the province but this was not felt to befeasible as the majority of Teachers of the Deaf are in the greater Belfast area. The one meeting held outof Belfast last year resulted in most Teachers of the Deaf from Belfast decamping to Craigavon withoutencouraging any more teachers from outlying areas to attend.email: secretary@BATOD.org.uk BATOD Annual report 2001 BATODWebsite: www.BATOD.org.uk 21 The Haystacks, High WycombeAnswerphone / fax 01494 464190 page 11 Bucks HP13 6PY
This year has seen many changes to the North Region Committee. The year began with thesame small group of long standing committee members, working away to keep the region aliveand to provide stimulating regional conferences to enhance the continuing professionaldevelopment of North Region Members.A well-supported conference was held at St.John’s School, Boston Spa in West Yorkshire. The theme ofthe conference, Universal Neonatal Hearing Screening (also known as the Newborn Hearing ScreeningProgramme) attracted around 80 delegates. The conference was well received based on the evidence ofdelegates’ comments and post-conference questionnaires. It gave all those who attended an insight intothe challenges of change that are ahead as UNHS spreads out from the pilot sites and becomes a nationalissue to which services will need to respond.A report of the contributions from the four speakers of the day, Dr Peter Watkin (Consultant Audiologist,Whipps Cross Hospital, London), Jan Nanor (Co-ordinator of the Hawkswood Service for Deaf Children,East London), Joanne Bradley (East Lancashire Paediatric Audiology Service) and Gwen Carr (Head of theEducational Support for Sensory Impaired, Stockport LEA) was produced and published in theNovember/December magazine.A letter highlighting the lack of representation on North Region Committee, written by the Acting Chair atthe time, was included in the mail shot advertising the conference and went to all North Region members.At the Annual General Meeting, following the conference, it was encouraging to see members comeforward and volunteer their help.North Region Committee was able to warmly welcome three new committee members and a further twonew co-opted members at the committee meeting held in Leeds on 14 July.Throughout, North Region’s presence on the BATOD National Executive Council has remained high - fourof the North Region Committee members are also members of NEC. The committee is also pleased to beable to announce that one of the new committee members has just recently been elected on to theProfessional Development Committee of NEC taking the total to five.The North Regional representative continues to take concerns forward from members in the region todiscussion at NEC. The main focus of the points raised this year highlights the feeling of isolation of manyTeachers of the Deaf in North Region. The particular difficulties faced by colleagues in mainstream schoolswith delegated funds, concerning their lack of Service support structure and the difficulties of access to coordinatedspecific training in times of threshold applications and the spread of Performance Managementwere raised.At NEC, a decision was taken for the Steering Group to take these concerns forward to meetings with HMIand the Unions.The new, strengthened, committee continues to work on behalf of members in North Region. Suggestionsfrom members during 2001 have helped shape the next conference. However, the committee is alwaysopen to suggestions for other topics, and is particularly interested in hearing of any suitable venues forfuture conferences.BATOD Scotland continues with the battle for recognition of the need for a qualification for allTeachers of the Deaf, known as code 56. Margaret Highet, the Secretary, continues to lobby theappropriate members of the Scottish Parliament, on BATOD’s behalf. The Scottish Parliament isin the process of revising code 56 and we understand that all the recommendations are now withthe Minister for Education.In January, Margaret Highet, wrote an interesting article for the magazine on the occasion of the silveranniversary. Margaret attended the anniversary celebrations in recognition for her work for BATODScotland.In May, BATOD Scotland made a submission to SQA (Scottish Qualifications Authority) regarding theirproposals for optional units for the Professional Development Award (PDA) ‘Support for LearningAssistants’ in relation to deafness. We requested that assistants work under the auspices of Teachers ofthe Deaf.Also in May, a successful morning meeting to launch the ‘Self-Evaluation by Peripatetic Sensory Services’document was held. This has proved to be a very useful document for services throughout Scotland andeven to some services south of the border too.email: secretary@BATOD.org.uk BATOD Annual report 2001 BATODWebsite: www.BATOD.org.uk 21 The Haystacks, High WycombeAnswerphone / fax 01494 464190 page 12 Bucks HP13 6PY
Page 1 and 2: The British Association of Teachers
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Page 16 and 17: Elections to the National Executive
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Annual report 2002 - batod

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