DEAFVOC 2

Deaf people belong to a European minority which has to fight over the right to their own language, cultural heritage and identity. Often they face the danger of falling out of education and working life because of poor language skills as well as poor literacy levels.

In DEAFVOC 1 (www.deafvoc.fi) a model curricula “Sign Language as a Mother Tongue” and “Written Language as a Second Language for the Deaf” was developed to be used in language teaching in vocational schools. During the project it became obvious that in addition to the curricula, teaching materials were very much needed.

In DEAFVOC 2, Ireland and Slovenia are added to the consortium to adapt the model curricula from Deafvoc 1 as it applies to the Irish and Slovenian context. These will be tested and piloted in each country and the feedback will be analysed.

In addition, innovative teaching materials for vocational education are also produced targeted at the Rules and Regulations in Working Life. When students leave education, in particular deaf students, many do not know about employment relations, their rights and work protocols that exist. One of the reasons for this is that most materials are published in the national spoken language and not available in the national sign language, thereby creating a knowledge gap amongst deaf employees and their hearing counterparts.

Partners

• The Finnish Association of the Deaf (Finland)
• Klagenfurt University (Austria)
• Maribor University (Slovenia) with Lubljana School for the Deaf
• The Finnish National Board of Education (Finland)

Outputs

• Curriculum Development for the Finnish Board of education
• Teaching materials
• Piloting of teaching materials
• Presentations and workshops.

Website

www.deafvoc2.eu