Dr Jackie Salter

Profile

I am Associate Professor in Inclusive Education (SEND) with expertise in Deaf Education at the University of Leeds where I lead the MA Deaf Education (ToD) Programme and teach on the MA SEN Programme. In my role of Teaching Excellence Framwork (TEF) Lead and Digital Education Academic Lead (DEAL) for the Faculty of Social Sciences inclusive practices and the students’ experience are central.

My background is in education, first as a primary school teacher, then working across the full age range as a specialist teacher of the deaf. I began training teachers in 2008 as Education Coordinator at The Ear Foundation, an international charity based in Nottingham, and as a Regional Tutor here at Leeds. In my role at the Ear Foundation I worked with a wide range of professionals who were engaged with deaf children and their families both in the UK and across Europe. This included teachers, social workers, medics, audiologists and teaching assistants. I particuarly valued my time spent with the deaf children and their families, and young deaf adults as they embarked on adult life.

I was awarded a Leeds Doctoral Scholarship in 2011, allowing me to undertake and complete my PhD whilst increasing my contribution to the Deaf Education Programme and the School of Education. I took over the role of Programme Leader for the MA Deaf Education in January 2015.

Responsibilities

• Programme Leader MA Deaf Education (Teacher of the Deaf)
• Teaching Excellence Framework Lead
• Digital Education Academic Lead for Faculty of Social Sciences

Research interests

My research interests focus on understanding the manner in which deafness shapes individuals’ perceptions of their experiences and understanding of their world and how this impacts on their learning experiences in classrooms. Through adopting a holistic approach deafness is identified as a formative experience at any age and particularly in childhood, where it influences language, cognitive, social and emotional development. My PhD research investigated the learning experience of deaf students in mainstream secondary schools from teaching assistants’ perspectives and has provided new insight into the nature of the challenges deaf students encounter. In addition it has highlighted that the presence of both a teaching assistant and a deaf student in a mainstream classroom influences the nature of the relationships that aim to facilitate learning.

I am currently involved a national project, led by Professor Ruth Swanwick, that focuses on the linguistic and cultural experiences of deaf  children of Roma families in the UK, (https://deafed.leeds.ac.uk/roma-children/).

I recently contributed to the “Hearing Aids for Music” research project as Post Doctoral Research Fellow exploring the music listening behaviour of people with hearing impairments with Dr Alinka Greasley (https://musicandhearingaids.org/about-the-project/).

I am also involved with Professor Ruth Swanwick developing a new understanding of deafness and language which recognises deaf children’s rich and diverse use of signed and spoken languages. This has included the development of a language planning profile which aims to capture the full repertoire of deaf children’s language skills (https://deafed.leeds.ac.uk/language-planning/).

I currently leading the working groups for both the British Association of Teachers of the Deaf (BATOD) and the National Sensory Impairment Partner ship (NatSIP) in raising the profile of CPD for Specialist Teachers in the field of sensory impairment. This includes an on line tool for recording specialist CPD against the mandatory competences, and supporting specialist teachers to ensure they secure the oppotunities to remain current in their knowledge and skills. This is part of the NASEN "Whole School SEND" DfE funded project.

• Improving educational and social outcomes for deaf children of Roma families in the UK

Qualifications

• PhD
• MA Deaf Education (Teacher of the Deaf)
• PGCE (Primary)
• BSc

Professional memberships

• British Association of Teachers of the Deaf (NEC)
• National Sensory Impairment Partnership (Working Group Lead)
• British Educational Reseach Consortiun
• National Association for Special Educational Needs
• British Cochlear Implant Group
• Sign Bilingual Consortium

Student education

I am Programme Leader on the MA in Deaf Education (ToD). This online blended distance education programme has recently been re-approved by the DfE to offer the mandatory Teacher of the Deaf (ToD) award. I am involved with the teaching, assessment and evaluation of all aspects of this programme and work with stakeholders and regional tutors to train and support the professional development of teachers of the deaf across the national context.

In addition, I am teach on the MA Special Educational Needs programme. This degree is a taught programme and attracts students from the UK and across the world. Consequently we have many different countries represented within the programme leading to vibrant and challenging discussions.

I supervise undergraduate and masters level dissertation relating to all aspects of classroom practice and formal education, special educational needs, deafness, and the wider infrastructure in which children and young adults are educated in the UK.

I currently supervise a PhD student who is investigating the role of sign language interpreters in University based learning and teaching in institutions in Ghana.

Research groups and institutes

• ICY: Inclusion, Childhood & Youth Research Centre

Current postgraduate researchers

• Kubra Alhawamdeh
• Alexander McMullan-Bell