Deaf children’s charity responds to Sir Keir Starmer’s call for education reform

Responding to Sir Keir Starmer’s speech today on the need for education reform, Mike Hobday, director of policy and campaigns at the National Deaf Children’s Society, said:

“We welcome Labour’s goal of half a million more children reaching their early learning targets by 2030.

“A stronger focus on the quality of early years support is critical to support children’s development. We want to see more support for families and for early years settings to talk to and read with deaf children and to play with them.

“Currently families of deaf children are at greater risk of not being able to access a quality setting, not just because of complicated funding arrangements, but because the sector as a whole is under resourced and under qualified.

“The home learning environment is the biggest predictor of a child’s future success, so active support for families is needed.”