Who decides? Language education policies for Deaf children - Selected findings from a comparative analysis of Finnish and Irish policies on signed languages.

Abstract

This chapter offers a comparative analysis of language education policies (LEP) for Deaf children in Finland and Ireland. In order to discuss the topic we touch on six main components. These six components are selected on the basis of literature review and are regarded as common issues when discussing educational provision for Deaf children. These are: philosophical perspectives, early intervention, educational placement, nature of teacher training courses, fluency of teachers in signed languages and the scope of Deaf communities' involvement in the educational process. We may note that these are not ranked in order of importance here. For this chapter we focus only on the analysis of philosophical perspectives and early intervention.