Rachel O'Neill (British Deaf Association Certificate of Merit, 2024)
Deaf education pathway co-ordinator
- Moray House School of Education and Sport
- University of Edinburgh
Contact details
- Email: rachel.oneill@ed.ac.uk
Address
- Street
-
Moray House School of Education and Sport, Charteris Land 4.11
- City
- University of Edinburgh (Holyrood Campus)
- Post code
- EH8 8AQ
Availability
Charteris Land 4.11 Students - please use email and we can set up a Teams or Zoom meeting.
For deaf BSL signers, I can organise a Zoom or FaceTime meeting.
Background
The first period of my working life was as a teacher of deaf children and young people in Greater Manchester where I worked in schools and colleges. I also trained and worked as an EAL tutor in community education settings. At Edinburgh I organise and teach on the deaf education pathway of the diploma which teachers of deaf children need to qualify to work in this area. My research areas relate to deaf education topics, including access in the classroom, professionalism, relationships between parents of deaf children, health service staff and education, and the impact of language policies on early support and provision for deaf children and young people.
I am an active member of the MSc Inclusive Education team and I support the work of the Scottish Sensory Centre, based in the School of Education and Sport. This involves liaison with a wide range of teachers, professionals, parents and deaf people on policy issues and continuing education about teaching deaf children and young people and working with their families. I have held the roles of programme director of the MSc IE, deputy head of Education, Teaching and Leadership institute and disability contact in the school. I was co-editor of Deafness & Education International from 2017-23.
Responsibilities & affiliations
Membership British Association Applied Linguistics (BAAL)
Events organiser for BAAL SIG in Language Policy (2017-20)
British Association for Teachers of Deaf children and young people (BATOD)
Scottish Education Research Association
British Education Research Association
Undergraduate teaching
Postgraduate teaching
- Teaching courses on the Postgraduate Diploma Inclusive Education (deaf learners pathway).
- Internal placement and External placement course organiser for teachers of deaf children
- Promoting Achievement and Curriculum Access course organiser
- Language and Communication course organiser
- Supervising MSc dissertations in MSc Inclusive Education, TESOL and Language Education
- Study Skills in Education course organiser
Open to PhD supervision enquiries?
Yes
Areas of interest for supervision
I am interested in supervising students about the education of deaf children and young people, including multilingual approaches, the effects of language policies, professionalism and the teacher of deaf children and working with parents.
Current PhD students supervised
Maggie Chan - Disability representations in biographical and fictional picture books.
Eileen Burns - Assessment practices and principles for deaf candidates who use BSL in Scottish schools.
Hatice Yarar - Multilingual families with late diagnosed deaf children.
Research summary
- Deaf young people's transitions to college, work and higher education
- Language policy and British Sign Language in education
- Literacy and deaf learners, including online literacies
- Families living on a low income bringing up deaf children
- Teachers of deaf children and young people and professionalism
Current research interests
Language policy in deaf education: comparing the impact of BSL legislation on deaf education in Scotland and Wales. With Dr Rob Wilks, University of West of England. AI summaries of lessons and how they can support ToDs and deaf pupils, with Prof. Peter Bell, School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh.Past research interests
Views of parents living on a low income with deaf children about their experiences of services and knowledge about language acquisition. Successful deaf readers reading and searching online (with Wolfgang Mann, University of Cologne and Robin Thompson, University of Birmingham). Comparing views of teachers of deaf children working bilingually with signed languages in Scotland and South Africa. With Dr Claudine Storbeck, Witwatersrand University Transition of deaf students from school to college, university and work (with Alys Young and SORD, University of Manchester). The Achievement and Opportunities for Deaf Students in the United Kingdom: from Research to Practice History of deaf educationKnowledge exchange
Committee member of Edsign lectures, jointly organised with the universities of Queen Margaret, Napier and Heriot Watt universities (ongoing)
Member of the cross-parliamentary group on deafness (2006 - 2023)
Member of the Scottish Funding Council group on British Sign Language plans for colleges and universities (2017 - 19)
Member of Edinburgh BSL Working group (2018- ongoing)
Affiliated research centres
Project activity
- Blog: Child Audiology in Scotland. A blog about the NHS Lothian scandal
- Blog: Deaf Education in Scotland and Wales Collaboration with Dr Rob Wilks from University of West of England.
- Bilingual education for deaf children: Scotland and South Africa Collaboration with Dr Claudine Storbeck from Wits University, South Africa.
- Writing in plain English for teachers of deaf children: including exam language modification. I wrote the Tier 1 and Tier 2 courses for BATOD and jointly assess the tier 2 course. This qualifies BATOD members to modify English for exam boards.
- READY study, funded by National Deaf Children's Society, with the University of Manchester: a 6-year longitudinal study of over 500 young deaf people from across the UK.
- Telling it like it is: Families living on a low income with deaf children, funded by National Deaf Children's Society
- Online Reading Project (with Roehampton and Birmingham University), funded by the British Academy
- Achievement and Opportunities for Deaf Students in the United Kingdom: From Research to Practice, funded by the Nuffield Foundation with Professor Marc Marschark and Julie Arendt (2014)
- Assessing the feasibility of using digitised British Sign Language examination papers for deaf candidates in Scotland, Cameron, A., Quinn, G. & O'Neill, R. (2011)
- British Sign Language Glossary of Curriculum Terms, Scottish Sensory Centre
Past project grants
1998, Viscount Nuffield Auxiliary Fund, Investigating text support with deaf students
2005, RNID, Deaf students’ experience of transition from FE to HE
2007, Scottish Government Additional Support for Learning, Science Signs Glossary
2008, Learning Teaching Scotland, Evaluation Science Signs Glossary
2009, The Nuffield Foundation, Achievement and Opportunities for Deaf Students in the United Kingdom, with Prof. Marc Marschark from NTID, USA.
2010, Scottish Qualifications Authority, Feasibility Study Digital Exam papers in BSL, with Dr Audrey Cameron and Gary Quinn, Heriot-Watt University
2011, STEM Disability Committee, Royal Academy of Engineering, Physics and Engineering Sign Development in BSL, with Dr Audrey Cameron and Gary Quinn, Heriot-Watt University,
2012, NDCS Post-school transitions of young deaf people, with Prof. Sheila Riddell
2013, STEM Disability Committee, Royal Academy of Engineering, Physics and Engineering Sign Development in BSL, with Dr Audrey Cameron and Gary Quinn, Heriot-Watt University.
2013, University of Edinburgh Innovation Initiative Grant towards Science signs Glossary evaluation
2013, Birkdale Trust towards Science signs Glossary evaluation
2015, Development of Geography & Earth Sciences Signs in British Sign Language, (12 m to Dec 2015): OMV, Lognostics, NERC, Geological Society of London, DONG Energy, ESRI, with Dr Rhian Meara, Swansea University and Dr Audrey Cameron, Scottish Sensory Centre.
2017, Increasing the impact of British Sign Language Glossary research about stem cells in deaf communities. College of Humanities & Social Sciences Knowledge Exchange and Impact grant; for 12 months to Dec. 2017, with Dr Audrey Cameron, Dr Jan Barfoot and Prof. Vivian Rumjanek (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro).
2017, Cognitive strategies employed by hearing and deaf secondary students while reading online; for 18 months to June 2018. With Dr. Wolfgang Mann, Roehampton University & Dr Robin Thomson, University of Birmingham. Funded by British Academy / Leverhulme Trust.
2018, Longitudinal research study to investigate the factors influencing the employment and post-16 education outcomes of deaf young people. National Deaf Children's Society; with Alys Young, University of Manchester; including a PhD studentship based at University of Edinburgh. CI
2020, National Deaf Children's Society research grant, Assistive devices during the pandemic with Brian Shannan.
2022, Joint research with Dr Rob Wilks then of South Wales University about impact of British Sign Language policy and legislation on deaf education in Wales and Scotland.
2021, Joint research with Dr Claudine Storbeck of Witwatersrand University, SA, into views and attitudes of teachers working bilingually with deaf children in Scotland and South Africa. CI.
2024 - 5, Harmonised Impact Acceleration Account, Captions and Summaries Project with Prof. Peter Bell, School of Informatics.
2024-25, National Heritage Lottery Fund grant, SSC, Words in Hand. CI. www.ssc.education.ed.ac.uk/bslheritage/index.html
2024, Investigating professionalism in the teacher of deaf children and young people profession, National Deaf Children's Society.
Invited speaker
Success from the Start? Invited talk for teachers of deaf children, Dublin City University, online webinar 24.3.22
More like Colorado? British Deaf Association Conference Belfast 20.3.19 Invited speaker about Telling It Like It Is research.
Organiser
2022 Organised a Disability Arts and Inclusion Festival 25.5.22 at Moray House School of Education and Sport.
2017 – 2020 Language Policy SIG of BAAL. Events organiser. Organised SIG academic conferences and workshops at Sheffield Hallam and Edinburgh universities.
2017 Organised an international deaf education conference at the Scottish Sensory Centre with Kellie Mote from ADEPT.
Participant
International Congress of Deaf Education (ICED) Rome, July 2025.
Papers delivered
What does professionalism mean for teachers of deaf children? International Congress on the Education of Deaf Children. Rome. 9.7.25.
Invited Lecture: University of Cologne programme for teachers of deaf children. 17.6.25. How can teachers of deaf children spot language deprivation?
Invited to Human Rights Committee: impact of British Sign Language (Scotland) Act 10 years on. 3.6.25. Scottish Parliament.
Introduction to GIRFEC. Swedish senior leaders, MHSES Professional Learning with Price Waterhouse Cooper and Scottish Government visitors. 22.5.25 with Colin Brough.
Developing an AI summariser to support deaf students and teachers of deaf young people. Paper at British Association of Teachers of Deaf Children and Young People conference, Exmouth, 22.3.25. With Professor Peter Bell and Sarenne Wallbridge from School of Informatics, UoE.
Ten Years On from the British Sign Language (Scotland) Act. Poster at Bilingualism Matters Symposium, University of Edinburgh 24.3.25.
Deaf Teachers Scotland Workshop. 24.2.25. Literature review on Deaf Teachers teaching deaf children through signed languages. Moray House School of Education and Sport.
Exploring the history and current research of British Sign Language. 10.9.24. With Audrey Cameron. Lecture in Moray House School of Education and Sport 175th Anniversary Lecture series. Recording: https://edin.ac/4gCnSnN (49 plays, audience of 100 on the date).
FEAPDA Conference, Dublin 26-27th April 2024. European Federation of Associations of Teachers of Deaf Children. Paper 1: Guiding Principles and Codes of Practice (report on work in progress with project with Rob Wilks from UWE).
Deaf learners and cognition, 23.3.20 Invited lecturer at University of Manchester, MEd Educational Psychology course.(repeated 2021 and 2022)
Online Science in Sign: the development of the British Sign Language Science Glossary. Keynote speaker at Deafnet Conference, 28.9.16. Johannesburg, South Africa. Deaf Education – Empowering Deaf persons in Africa through Knowledge.
More video
In the press
Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee: impact of British Sign Language (Scotland) Act 10 years on. 3.6.25. Scottish Parliament.