An Interview with Nur Uddin

Nur’s Journey as an Educator

After graduating from university, Nur Uddin found a job in a Deaf resource provision for a mainstream school in Tower Hamlets. From there, his path drifted into mainstream teaching for a number of years, before he returned to the University of Birmingham to fully qualify as a teacher of the Deaf. He’s worked supporting Deaf students ever since.

Nur comes from a Bengali background, and his dedication to Deaf education is deeply rooted in his connection to his community. Historically, Nur says, “the feedback that I got from parents was that there wasn’t much representation of their kind of community [or] people supporting Deaf children.” He was able to connect with them in a way that many other teachers couldn’t.

20 out of 1600

Nur currently leads the resource provision for Deaf students at Lister School, a secondary school in Newham. About 20 of the 1600 students currently enrolled at Lister School attend the resource provision, and on a typical day at Lister School Nur is responsible for making sure they are set up for success. This may mean checking their hearing aids and other assistive equipment, or liaising with other professionals supporting the Deaf pupil.

Resource provisions allow Deaf students to access the same education as hearing students in a mainstream school. Nur says, “they access the same curriculum, they do the same work as any other child in the school, they are expected to be involved and take part in any activities that the school holds. It’s a very inclusive society and community that we have here.” Most students are auditory and oral at Lister School, but the small percentage of pupils that prefer to communicate with BSL are given all of the resources they need to excel.

Being a Deaf child at a hearing school can come with challenges. As Nur explains, “Deaf children report all the time that they’re being bullied because of their hearing aids or the fact that they wear a device on their head…” Resource provisions can sidestep this to some extent, by providing an environment where students and teachers are Deaf aware, as well as a space where Deaf students can connect with other members of their community.

“You get the best of both worlds”

An Uncertain Future

A resource provision, however, is not always the right choice for every Deaf child. Looking towards the future, it concerns Nur how limited any other options are becoming. “I think the expectation is now for children to attend mainstream schools with a resource provision,” Nur says. Though he acknowledges the benefits this model of education can have, he recognises that some Deaf children are looking for an environment where they can fully immerse in their community and learn from teachers that are Deaf like them. Unfortunately, specialist Deaf schools are becoming increasingly rare.

“There has been zero applications.”

In a recent round of hiring, Lister School pulled out all of the stops to attract new teachers of the Deaf. “We also even offered to train current teachers within the school to be able to train as a teacher of the Deaf, honouring all of the current pay and conditions and everything like that, offering to pay for their course, even giving them positions of responsibility within the resource provision,” Nur says, “however, there has been zero applications.”

The shortage isn’t unique to Newham – it extends across the country. “The teacher of the Deaf field is so unique and so niche. we’re always going to struggle,” Nur explains. Recent circumstances, however, make it more difficult than ever before. Whether new hires are discouraged by the long hours of teaching and years of education that qualifying as a teacher for the Deaf demands, it gets harder and harder to find new teachers in this area of education.

A Pillar of Support for Parents

If there’s one thing that’s clear about Nur, it’s that he cares not just about supporting his Deaf students, but their whole families.

Many Deaf children are born to hearing parents, and Nur recognises how challenging it is for some of them to adjust. New parents have many expectations for their children, and often an entire life that they’ve imagined their child would have. In some instances, he says, “they feel as though all of their dreams and everything have been shattered because of the fact that their child has been born Deaf.”

“They feel as though all of their dreams and everything have been shattered because of the fact that their child has been born Deaf.”

As an educator, it’s his job to help them navigate this transition. Part of this is making sure they have access to the information they need. This can mean connecting with professionals that can support them, or teachers of the Deaf, but it can also mean bringing them a greater sense of community. To Nur, it’s important that they have the chance to meet other families with Deaf children who have had the same experiences.

“In London, especially, think what we’re seeing nowadays, particularly in London, is the fact that there are a lot more ethnic minority families that have a Deaf child or are experiencing it,” Nur explains. This is an area where there’s still plenty of room for improvement in support. There are all sorts of challenges that parents from minority backgrounds face, whether it’s navigating the UK healthcare system, or language barriers that keep them from understanding how to best support their child.

“They just cannot accept the fact that their child is Deaf.”

Overcoming Cultural Stigma

It can be the cultural challenges that are the hardest to overcome. “There’s a lot of cultural stigma that can be attached to Deafness as well,” Nur says. Many Deaf students are of South Asian heritage, where some families harbour negative misconceptions about Deafness. Nur explains, “they tend to neglect their Deaf child. In certain cases, they even deny their child of being Deaf. They just cannot accept the fact that their child is Deaf.”

To him, this makes it all the more important to reach out and bring them into the community. By building a network of families with this shared experience, they can learn from each other and reframe their experiences.

For this reason, Nur sees a great need for more teachers for the Deaf from minority backgrounds as well. When these parents see Nur, he explains, they feel more comfortable around him, and are more open to asking him questions. But the current shortage of Deaf teachers is even more pronounced when looking just at those from minority backgrounds.

Nur is optimistic about the future of Deaf education, but it’s not something that will just happen without immense effort. It will take a lot of encouragement and positive action to bring more teachers of colour into Deaf education, and adaptability to make sure that Deaf students of the future are supported as technology advances and their needs change.