Deaf Education Beyond the Western World ― Context, Challenges, and Prospects

If teachers want to educate deaf learners effectively, they have to apply evidence-informed methods and didactics with the needs of individual deaf students in mind. Education in general -- and education for deaf learners in particular -- is situated in broader societal contexts, where what works within the Western world may be quite different from what works beyond the Western world.

By exploring practice-based and research-based evidence about deaf education in countries that largely have been left out of the international discussion thus far, this volume encourages more researchers in more countries to continue investigating the learning environment of deaf learners, based on the premise of leaving no one behind. Featuring chapters centering on 19 countries, from Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Central and Eastern Europe, the volume offers a picture of deaf education from the perspectives of local scholars and teachers who demonstrate best practices and challenges within their respective regional contexts. This volume addresses the notion of learning through the exchange of knowledge; outlines the commonalities and differences between practices and policies in educating deaf and hard-of-hearing learners; and looks ahead to the prospects for the future development of deaf education research in the context of recently adopted international legal frameworks. Stimulating academic exchange regionally and globally among scholars and teachers who are fascinated by and invested in deaf education, this volume strengthens the foundation for further improvement of education for deaf children all around the world.

Harry Knoors, Ph.D., is Professor at the Behavioral Science Institute of the Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands, and Academic Director at Royal Dutch Kentalis. Knoors is trained as a psycholinguist, specializing in language and literacy of deaf children. He is involved in research on childhood deafness (mainly language, literacy, and psychosocial development) and research on the effectiveness of special education.

Maria Brons, Ph.D., is Manager of Kentalis International Foundation at Royal Dutch Kentalis, responsible for design, fundraising, and implementation of international knowledge exchange programs for professionals working in the field of education, care and diagnostics for children with hearing loss, deafblindness, multiple disability, and autism. She is a political scientist and international development economist, and has previously published on critical security studies and state-society relations as well as lately on inclusive education as a win-win concept.

Marc Marschark, Ph.D., is Professor at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, a college of Rochester Institute of Technology, where he directs the Center for Education Research Partnerships. His primary interest is in relations among language, learning, and cognition; current research focuses on such relations among deaf children and adults in formal and informal educational settings.