By Danielle Davey
Being a teenager is fraught with communication difficulties – missed cues and distorted messages – but for students who are deaf or hard of hearing, the challenges are compounded. Improving their opportunities for social and academic advancement, Frankston’s Mount Erin College is successfully integrating students with hearing loss into mainstream classrooms thanks to tailored staff training and technology.
Staff and students at an Auslan-interpreted performance of Beauty and the Beast at Her Majesty’s Theatre.
Remarkably, the school has the distinction of being the only government secondary setting in the southeast Victoria region with a specialised deaf education centre, or DEC. It’s a program supported by a qualified teacher of the deaf and staff with diplomas of Auslan. Working in conjunction with the college’s careers department, the team enables students to access exciting tertiary pathways ranging from university to TAFE, VET and apprenticeships.
Centre coordinator Alex Robinson said: “There is no mainstream government secondary school with the same level of support technology or expertise this side of the Yarra.”
Parents of deaf and hard of hearing teens recognise the advantages of their inclusion alongside hearing peers. As a testament to the high regard they hold for the initiative, some families have even moved to the area to enable their child to attend the campus.
Prioritising individual empowerment, the school is committed to teaching the students practical life skills. Offsite activities – including travelling on the train and attending theatre performances – foster independence. Many students hadn’t visited the city without a parent before these excursions. Readying them for life after school and their immersion into society as an adult, they are guided to become their own best advocates, fostering the confidence to say “Can you repeat that?” or “I didn’t hear that”.
With recent funding from the Education Department, the school is increasing the number of specialised learning spaces; the addition of 16 new classrooms will bring the total to 25. Each is equipped with Roger Touchscreen Microphone systems. The device, which can be placed on a table for group conversations or worn by the teacher, has been shown to improve student speech recognition by up to 30 per cent in noisy environments. By allowing teachers to speak at a natural volume, the technology cuts through classroom reverberation, reducing vocal strain and minimising the likelihood of a raised voice being misinterpreted as frustration. Speech is distributed evenly throughout the room, emitted from wall speakers for students with typical hearing and transmitted directly to linked hearing aids and cochlear implants. The microphone’s 10-hour battery life and wireless design also make it perfect for excursions.
Compulsory Auslan for all students in year 7, and as an elective in years 8 and 9, further contributes to bridging communication gaps. This inclusive spirit shines in school productions, too; three hard of hearing students will appear in this year’s performance of Footloose the Musical from July 30-August 1.
Encouraging them to put their best foot forward at school and beyond, Mount Erin College is transforming the lives of deaf and hard of hearing students. For more information or enrolment enquiries, visit mounterin.vic.edu.au
