About BATOD Northern Ireland (NI)

BATOD is the sole professional Association for Teachers of the Deaf and those in training in the UK. The Association represents the interests of Teachers of the Deaf and the children and young people they teach in all four nations and on a regional level with a range of Government and other agencies. Each session will be hosted by a different BATOD Region or Nation. Members are all practitioners in the field of deaf education and share good practice, advice, and strategies with one another to promote attainment and inclusion of deaf learners in a variety of settings.

BATOD NI membership is unique due to the inclusion of membership from Republic of Ireland Teachers of the Deaf (ToD). Northern Ireland has one education authority – EANI. Until a few years ago the service operated under five education library boards. The QToDs in the EANI have close working relationships with the resource bases and Jordanstown School for the Deaf and Visually Impaired. https://www.eani.org.uk/deafhi.

BATOD members from the Republic of Ireland include Teachers of the Deaf from the Schools for the Deaf in Dublin and Limerick and the teachers from special classes for deaf children in the Republic of Ireland. In addition, the Visiting Teachers Deaf/HH are managed nationally by the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) https://ncse.ie/visiting-teacher-support