Deaf Learners’ Experiences in Malaysian Schools: Access, Equality and Communication
The Government of Malaysia has embraced international policy guidelines relating to disability equality, including the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Its aim is to ensure that 75% of children with disabilities are included in mainstream classrooms by 2025 as pa...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Cogitatio
2018-05-01
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| Series: | Social Inclusion |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.cogitatiopress.com/socialinclusion/article/view/1345 |
| _version_ | 1818506283850924032 |
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| author | Khairul Farhah Khairuddin Susie Miles Wendy McCracken |
| author_facet | Khairul Farhah Khairuddin Susie Miles Wendy McCracken |
| author_sort | Khairul Farhah Khairuddin |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The Government of Malaysia has embraced international policy guidelines relating to disability equality, including the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Its aim is to ensure that 75% of children with disabilities are included in mainstream classrooms by 2025 as part of a wider agenda to eliminate discrimination against people with disabilities. Including deaf children on an equal basis in the linguistically diverse, exam-oriented Malaysian school system is an ambitious and complex task given the difficulties they face in developing effective language and communication skills. The data presented here are taken from a larger study which explored teachers’, head teachers’, parents’, and children’s experiences of inclusion through in-depth interviews in three Malaysian schools. The study design was informed by a framework developed in the UK to guide best practice of educating deaf children in mainstream schools and focused specifically on the learning environment. This article presents contrasting educational experiences of two deaf adults, and then considers the experiences of four deaf children in their government-funded primary schools. A series of inter-related dimensions of inclusion were identified—these include curricular, organisational, social, acoustic and linguistic dimensions, which impact upon children’s ability to communicate and learn on an equal basis. Poor maintenance of assistive technology, insufficient teacher training and awareness, inflexibility of the education system, and limited home-school communication are some of the factors constraining efforts to promote equal participation in learning. There are promising signs, however, of teacher collaboration and the creation of more equitable and child-centred educational opportunities for deaf children. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-10T22:02:29Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-aeecd23f42c940a5be3a3545c094ad42 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2183-2803 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-10T22:02:29Z |
| publishDate | 2018-05-01 |
| publisher | Cogitatio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Social Inclusion |
| spelling | doaj.art-aeecd23f42c940a5be3a3545c094ad422022-12-22T01:31:52ZengCogitatioSocial Inclusion2183-28032018-05-0162465510.17645/si.v6i2.1345715Deaf Learners’ Experiences in Malaysian Schools: Access, Equality and CommunicationKhairul Farhah Khairuddin0Susie Miles1Wendy McCracken2School of Environment, Education and Development, University of Manchester, UK / Faculty of Education, National University of Malaysia, MalaysiaSchool of Environment, Education and Development, University of Manchester, UKSchool of Environment, Education and Development, University of Manchester, UKThe Government of Malaysia has embraced international policy guidelines relating to disability equality, including the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Its aim is to ensure that 75% of children with disabilities are included in mainstream classrooms by 2025 as part of a wider agenda to eliminate discrimination against people with disabilities. Including deaf children on an equal basis in the linguistically diverse, exam-oriented Malaysian school system is an ambitious and complex task given the difficulties they face in developing effective language and communication skills. The data presented here are taken from a larger study which explored teachers’, head teachers’, parents’, and children’s experiences of inclusion through in-depth interviews in three Malaysian schools. The study design was informed by a framework developed in the UK to guide best practice of educating deaf children in mainstream schools and focused specifically on the learning environment. This article presents contrasting educational experiences of two deaf adults, and then considers the experiences of four deaf children in their government-funded primary schools. A series of inter-related dimensions of inclusion were identified—these include curricular, organisational, social, acoustic and linguistic dimensions, which impact upon children’s ability to communicate and learn on an equal basis. Poor maintenance of assistive technology, insufficient teacher training and awareness, inflexibility of the education system, and limited home-school communication are some of the factors constraining efforts to promote equal participation in learning. There are promising signs, however, of teacher collaboration and the creation of more equitable and child-centred educational opportunities for deaf children.https://www.cogitatiopress.com/socialinclusion/article/view/1345cochlear implantscommunicationdeaf equalitydeaf learnersdeafnesshearing aidsinclusionMalaysiaschoolssign language |
| spellingShingle | Khairul Farhah Khairuddin Susie Miles Wendy McCracken Deaf Learners’ Experiences in Malaysian Schools: Access, Equality and Communication Social Inclusion cochlear implants communication deaf equality deaf learners deafness hearing aids inclusion Malaysia schools sign language |
| title | Deaf Learners’ Experiences in Malaysian Schools: Access, Equality and Communication |
| title_full | Deaf Learners’ Experiences in Malaysian Schools: Access, Equality and Communication |
| title_fullStr | Deaf Learners’ Experiences in Malaysian Schools: Access, Equality and Communication |
| title_full_unstemmed | Deaf Learners’ Experiences in Malaysian Schools: Access, Equality and Communication |
| title_short | Deaf Learners’ Experiences in Malaysian Schools: Access, Equality and Communication |
| title_sort | deaf learners experiences in malaysian schools access equality and communication |
| topic | cochlear implants communication deaf equality deaf learners deafness hearing aids inclusion Malaysia schools sign language |
| url | https://www.cogitatiopress.com/socialinclusion/article/view/1345 |
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