Deaf People Around the World: Educational and Social Perspectives

Educating Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students in New Zealand

Educating Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students in New Zealand Connie Mayer, Christine Miller, and Ian Cocks NEW ZEALAND, also known as Aotearoa, Land of the Long White Cloud, is a country of 4 million people, with a deaf and hard of hearing population of approximately 6,000.1 The predominant cultural groups are New Zealand European, or Pakeha (68%); Maori, the indigenous peoples of New Zealand (14.6%); Asian (9.2%); and Pasifika (6.9%)2 (Statistics New Zealand, 2006). The population is concentrated in the North Island with more than a quarter of the total population living in the metropolitan Auckland area. Therefore, even though it is geographically small in size, there are areas of the country that are remote and sparsely populated, creating challenges in providing equal access to education services for all deaf and hard of hearing learners. The official languages of the country are English, Maori, and New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL). NZSL was added to this list when it was recognized as an official language under the New Zealand Sign Language Act of 2006. There is no distinct Maori sign language, although there are many Maori signs, and as Maori Deaf people have become more aware of their distinct identity (Smiler & McKee, 2007), signs and translations have been developed to express Maori cultural concepts.3 Education is a national responsibility, and the Ministry of Education (Te Tähuhu o te Mätauranga) provides leadership and direction to all national sectors in this regard. The ministry is a core government agency that supplies policy advice to the government for all aspects of education from early childhood through postsecondary, including employment-related education and training. It is also responsible for the delivery of education advisory services and early childhood development through contractual arrangements with other agencies as well as for the providing of direct specialist services to children and young people with special education needs, including those with hearing loss. As is true in many other countries, the education of deaf and hard of hearing children in New Zealand has undergone many changes and shifts in pedagogy and philosophy over time, particularly with respect to language and communication approaches. And as is also typical, there has been a general move from exclusively oral approaches to educating deaf and hard of hearing children to approaches that incorporate the use of signed language, including both signed forms of English and NZSL. 1. In New Zealand, the terms hard of hearing and hearing impaired have typically been used interchangeably. 2. Pasifika refers to the peoples of the Pacific Islands. 3. For further information on this point, see www.nzsign.co.nz. 53 HISTORY OF DEAF EDUCATION IN NEW ZEALAND The first teacher of the deaf in New Zealand was Miss Dorcas Mitchell, a teacher who had arrived from a deaf school in England. Beginning in 1870, in Charteris Bay near Christchurch, she taught the four deaf children of Reverend R. R. Bradley, in addition to tutoring a number of private pupils (Townshend, 1993). It was noted that Miss Mitchell was “well versed in the manual method” (ABHR, 1879, quoted in Townshend, 1993, p. 40), with Reverend Bradley being fulsome in his praise of her abilities. It is thought that at about this time, pressure to establish the first school for the deaf in New Zealand came from Bradley, who gained the support of William Rolleston of the Canterbury Provincial Council. By 1878, the New Zealand Government had approved the idea. Given the respect that Bradley had for Miss Mitchell, he offered land for the establishment of a school for the deaf in 1879 and recommended that Miss Mitchell be its first principal. The offer was declined in favor of a site closer to Christchurch in Sumner. Miss Mitchell was not offered the position as principal and disappeared from the scene rather quickly (Stewart, 1982; Townshend, 1993). Instead, Sir Julius Vogel, a former prime minister of New Zealand who at that time was the agent general for New Zealand in London, was asked to find a suitable principal for the school. He set up a committee made up of himself and three other English educators to consider applications. Rollerston, after meeting a deaf tourist who had been taught under the German or oral system, became very keen on that system and is thought to have influenced the final decision about who Vogel appointed. The principal appointed by Vogel was Gerrit van Asch whose strong advocacy of the oral method of teaching...