Education and Inclusion for Deaf people in Solomon Islands – the Iumi Tugeda Helpem Solomon Aelans Def Komuniti Project

Abstract

This paper reports on an educational program that aimed to address participation issues for deaf people in Solomon Islands (SI). Deafness is one of the most common disabilities in SI, with causes linked to high levels of poverty-related and often preventable diseases such as meningitis, rubella, and otitis media. Community attitudes, and children and parents’ fears of discrimination impact access to education and other aspects of inclusion in society. The country’s Ministry of Education indicates that catering for students with any form of disability is a serious issue for schools due to a lack of resources, infrastructure, and professional learning on how to address inclusivity in the classroom. This project, co-designed by an Australian academic and SI educators attempted to respond to a number of these concerns by providing sign language and Deaf culture training in SI schools and communities. The World Health Organisation’s Theory of Change for Health, which recognises the importance of interactions between health conditions and contextual factors stemming from the broader sociocultural environment, was used as the theoretical model informing the project design. Three project phases involving 1) training of deaf and hearing sign language trainers; 2) delivery of basic sign language training in rural communities, and 3) a Certificate of Learning and Teaching were implemented in 2022–2023. A total of 902 participants were involved across the three phases. Pre- and post-questionnaires and focus group interviews were used for data collection. Findings demonstrated the power of education for enhancing social determinants by dispelling pejorative attitudes towards the deaf, enhancing deaf participation in daily life, and improving communication between deaf and hearing people. Findings also indicated that training needs to be more advanced, more widespread, and needs to target education, health, and police/correctional services.