UK Deaf Awareness Training and Courses For Businesses

‘British Sign Language (BSL) is the preferred language of over 87,000 Deaf people in the UK for whom English may be a second or third language (A total of 151,000 individuals in the UK who can use BSL - this figure does not include professional BSL users, Interpreters, Translators, etc unless they use BSL at home).’ For More information click here

Who is Signature?

Signature is a national charity and are also the leading awarding body for deaf communication qualifications in the UK.  They have been awarding British Sign Language (BSL) qualifications for the last 40 years and have supported more than 450,000 people to learn BSL.

What is a Signature accredited course?

A Signature accredited course is a course that is certified and authentic in entity.  Signature’s qualifications are nationally recognised and regulated by Ofqual (the office of the qualifications and Examination’s regulator). This means that these qualifications reliably indicate the knowledge, skills and understanding needed by learners and that they have demonstrated through the assessment process what has been achieved.  This gives potential learners the confidence in the qualifications undertaken. 

How does becoming a Signature approved centre work? 

To become a Signature approved centre and to deliver Signature qualifications, potential centres must undergo a strict, formal approval process.  Each potential centre teacher that applies, must be able to demonstrate to Signature that they hold relevant teaching qualifications, professional experience in the subject they wish to teach and the relevant BSL qualifications to a higher level than that which they wish to deliver. Other specialist higher level qualifications in teaching practice are also highly recommended and desirable.

Signature regulate their qualifications and this formal approval process maintains this ethos.

Approved Centre’s processes during assessments are regularly checked for Quality Assurance purposes, to ensure that centres are adhering to all Signature Assessment guidelines, and that no learners are treated less favourably than others during the process. This ultimately means that every learner’s experience is of the highest quality.

Who would benefit from Signature approved courses?

The learner is at the heart of all we do here at Study Sharpe.

All learners undertaking a Signature qualification with us will be guaranteeing they will not only receive teaching expertise that is endorsed by Signature, but they will also gain a qualification that will be recognised by employers and industries alike.

Last but by no means least and perhaps the most important reason for undertaking Signature qualifications with us, is that you will be able to join the growing number of people in the UK who can communicate with a deaf BSL user.   Through our courses, you will become more Deaf Aware in the process, understand more about the Deaf Community and their rich heritage and Culture, thereby raising awareness to other people and sharing the benefits to all of learning BSL. 

So why not start your exciting BSL journey with us today?

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The solutions that Deaf Awareness training offers are:

• Create an inclusive and accessible business which will protect your reputation and increase its value
• Ensure that the business culture is one of diversity and inclusion
• Protection against legal action and tribunals
• Open opportunities to employee workers from a larger pool of talent
• Protect your business reputation against negative reviews or comments in local/national press, online forums and on social media.

By Engaging in the Access to Work scheme for deaf employees you can reduce the costs of enabling an inclusive and accessible workplace.

Why should we worry about Deaf Awareness Training?

• Are you a business without any Deaf Awareness?
• Are you making false claims about the your compliance with regards Deaf Awareness Understanding and Training?
• Are you at risk of complaints/legal action from Deaf People who are accessing your services but not feeling included or having difficulty using your business?

In the current marketplace social media plays a large part in how our businesses are perceived both, internally and externally, and offers instant feedback to our services or products.

You could be at risk of:

• Failing to provide an accessible workplace to potential Deaf employees.
• Hefty compensation costs
• Employee tribunals
• Negative reviews on Local/National news sites, public forums and through social media
• Negative reputation

This will depend on the amount of content, the length of the course and your specific requirements. 

Call Today to discuss the course to suit your business.

Our courses cover the following topics (this list is not exhaustive and may vary according to service need):

Deaf Awareness strategies including:

• Deaf Attention gain (Appropriate ways of gaining the attention of a Deaf Person)
• Experiences of Lipreader's (Experiences of people who use lipreading to understand and communicate effectively when mouths are obscured)
• How to conduct accessible online meetings
• Working appropriately with interpreters
• Assistive technology & equipment
• Access to work scheme for deaf employees

BSL signs & phrases:

• BSL Alphabet and role of fingerspelling
• How to introduce yourself and welcome customers
• How to repair a breakdown in communication
• How to end a conversation appropriately
• Discussing travel/transport
• Directing people inside a building and out and about
• Discussing the weather
• Discussing family
• Numbers (expressing the difference between money, age & calendar)

Deaf Culture:

We will delve into the interesting and engaging world of Deaf Culture and Deaf Arts.

Delivering face to face courses/workshops will depend on the delivery space/capacity you have available. If we are teaching more than the British Sign Language (BSL) phrases, then a smaller group will mean attendees will have a more personalised experience with the trainer and the content.

An ideal number for a workshop/taster would be 16 – 20 participants.

For our longer courses, the ideal maximum number would be 10 – 14.

For remote learning, if it is a presentation/taster/seminar, then there is no limit to the numbers who will attend.

If we are delivering a 2-hour online taster then we would ask for no more than 10 – 12 participants per session. 

You will learn a variety of topics; both theoretical and practical. We cover Deaf Awareness strategies, Deaf etiquette, British Sign Language basics as well as the main differences between hearing culture and Deaf culture.

Our courses are for everyone; whether it be individuals, families, SME’s or larger corporate businesses - we can cater for you.

It depends on your individual needs/staff availability and the aim of the training.

Our courses can be short tasters, half day or full day workshops or 5-week intensive courses or full length 10-week courses that can be arranged on a rolling programme basis.

Our courses can also be bespoke in nature and tailored to your requirements.