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Professor Ruth Swanwick

Professor Ruth Swanwick

  • Position: Professor of Deaf Education
  • Areas of expertise: Early support and education of children who are deaf, and their families; deaf children's language and communication in multilingual contexts; sign bilingual pedagogies and teacher development
  • Email: R.A.Swanwick@education.leeds.ac.uk
  • Phone: +44(0)113 343 4582
  • Location: 1.05 Hillary Place
  • Website: Reframing multilingualism

Profile

I am a Professor in deaf education at Leeds University School of Education where I lead the deaf education research and contribute to the MA in Deaf Education/Teacher of the Deaf Programme.

My background is in education; initially in modern foreign language teaching and then in deaf education where I worked with children and young people who are deaf in inclusive sign bilingual settings. In this context I developed curricula and approaches to teaching English as a second language for deaf learners.

I came to Leeds University to lead the MA in Deaf Education/Teacher of the Deaf programme which was the first deaf education programme in the UK to recognise the role of sign language and deaf adults in deaf children's education. Because of its unique inclusive and bilingual philosophy this programme drew applications from across the UK and so was developed, and continues to be offered, as a distance and blended provision.

Research interests

My research activities encompass childhood deafness, language and learning, inclusive and bilingual education and teacher development. My particular area of specialism is deaf children’s multilingual and multimodal communication and language learning and the development of pedagogies and practitioner understanding. I am interested in how we research and understand deaf children’s multilingual lives and language experience and how we can use this knowledge to develop contextually sensitive ways of supporting early development, care and education.
I have published and led funded research projects on deaf children’s multilingualism (British Academy Fellowship); deaf children’s literacy development (ESRC); the role of sign language for deaf children with cochlear implants (Nuffield); and approaches to critical thinking and reflective practice in deaf education (British Academy) and worked as Co-I with the University of York and the Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust on a systematic review of early interventions for parents of deaf babies (National Institute for Health Research: Research for Patient Benefit).
Most recently I was the UK PI for a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network that examined communication for children with hearing impairment to optimise language development (EU Horizon 2020) comm4child.ulb.be. As part of this research network we have been able to support the innovative project work of two Leeds-based Early Scientific Researchers (ESRs) Elettra Casellato and Nathalie Czeke both of whom are in the last stages of completing thier doctoral studies.
I am currently leading a new Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) research project in partnership with the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG). This project brings a team of experts together from the UK and Germany to examine the multilingual experiences and repertoires of deaf children growing up in migrant contexts. I will be working with Dr Kate Rowley (UK Co-I) from University College London and Prof. Nicole Marx (PI) University and Prof. Wolfgang Mann (Co-I) from the University of Cologne. Project information
A further strandof my work is to develop the impact activities that are the outcome of collaborative UK-Ghana project that investigated the early education for young deaf children and their caregivers in Ghana. I am working with Dr Daniel Fobi from the University of Education, Winneba, Ghana to develop deaf leadership, training, academic capacity and establish a bilingual curriculum for deaf children in Ghana. This research was funded by the British Academy’s Early Childhood Education Programme, supported under the Global Challenges Research Fund. https://medium.com/university-of-leeds/the-power-of-visual-communication-119edc88fd9e
<h4>Research projects</h4> <p>Some research projects I'm currently working on, or have worked on, will be listed below. Our list of all <a href="https://essl.leeds.ac.uk/dir/research-projects">research projects</a> allows you to view and search the full list of projects in the faculty.</p>

Qualifications

  • PhD
  • Masters in Education
  • PGCE (Modern Foreign Languages)
  • BA Hons
  • Teacher of the Deaf Diploma

Professional memberships

  • British Association of Teachers of the Deaf
  • National Sensory Impairment Partnerships
  • British Education Research Association
  • Sign Bilingual Consortium
  • The British Sign Language Coalition

Student education

I teach on the PGDip/MA Deaf Education (Teacher of the Deaf) Programme. This online blended distance education programme is approved by the DfE  to offer the mandatory Teacher of the Deaf (QToD) award. The programme recruits nationally and prepares suitably qualified deaf and hearing practitioners to work with deaf students across a range of educational settings. I contribute to 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.

Current postgraduate researchers

<h4>Postgraduate research opportunities</h4> <p>The school welcomes enquiries from motivated and qualified applicants from all around the world who are interested in PhD study. Our <a href="https://phd.leeds.ac.uk">research opportunities</a> allow you to search for projects and scholarships.</p>