National Association of Australian Teachers of the Deaf (NAATD)

_____________________________________________________________________________________

About NAATD

The National Association of Australian Teachers of the Deaf, known as NAATD, has been a professional body for Teachers of the Deaf since 1935. We currently represent over 300 Teachers of the Deaf throughout Australia and potentially we could include all Teachers of the Deaf within Australia.

The role of the Teacher of the Deaf varies throughout Australia and internationally - however the focus of their work is to work with and support the education of deaf and hearing impaired children and their families.

As Teachers of the Deaf we work in a variety of educational settings such as Schools for the Deaf, Unit classrooms, early intervention programs, and Itinerant Teacher of the Deaf roles visiting deaf and hearing impaired children in their local schools.

What is the purpose of NAATD?

• to promote unity, diversity and understanding between Teachers of the Deaf and other teachers and professionals involved in the education of deaf and hearing impaired students.

• to use the Association to provide members at a national and state level with the opportunity to communicate and share educational philosophies and practices relevant to deaf and hearing impaired children.

• to provide professional development that meets the wide ranging needs of members. Recently NAATD implemented a new professional development program known as the "NAATD Annual Visiting Fellow" whereby an internationally recognised expert in Deaf Education is funded to travel and present in all six states (where there are NAATD State Branches).

• to organise national and state conferences, seminars and other state meetings according to the aims of NAATD. For example, every two to three years NAATD holds a conference with our New Zealand colleagues which is known as the Australia and New Zealand Conference for Educators of the Deaf (ANZCED). The last ANZCED conference was held in Hobart during July 2007 and the next one is being planned for Sydney in July 2009.

• to promote research into the theory and practice of the teaching of deaf and hearing impaired children. One of the ways NAATD achieves this is through the joint publishing with the British Association of Teachers of the Deaf (BATOD) of the Journal "Deafness & Education International” of the Deaf". This demonstrates NAATD's willingness to develop international links.

• to determine and promote minimum competencies for the training of persons involved in the provision of education to children and students who are deaf and hearing impaired. NAATD has been working on the development of the Standards since 1999 and the document was launched nationally in 2005. The Association is now planning to review the Competencies document in 2008.

• to develop as a body that is able to speak on behalf of the education of deaf and hearing impaired children to the media. The Association is currently working on how it can become an informed and responsible voice on the education of children and students who are deaf and hearing impaired. Hence the current development of NAATD’s Policy Statements.

• to encourage Governments to improve services and allocate appropriate resources to the education of children and students who are deaf or hearing impaired. NAATD has actively pursued this through contributions made to various federal and state government working parties, provision of feedback to government initiatives and membership of various committees.

• NAATD strongly supports and welcomes the involvement of parents in the education of children and students who are deaf or hearing impaired.

Site updated: 7^th August 2008