Your day-to-day duties may include:

• assessing the needs of learners
• helping them communicate with others in class
• supporting them by lipspeaking and notetaking
• interpreting between spoken English and BSL
• being creative in adapting learning materials to match learners’ interests
• using a range of ways to help them understand what is required in class
• helping them produce written work
• supporting learners in talking about their learning needs with teachers
• building relationships with learners, their families, and other professionals
• thinking of ways for learners to become more independent
• providing deaf-awareness training for other staff and students
• supporting the school or college in improving the environment for hearing aids and lipreading

You could work at a school, at a special needs school, at a college or at a university.

With experience, you could move into a management position within sensory impairment or disability services. With further training, you could progress to become a sign language interpreter, a disability adviser or a teacher of the deaf.

There are some opportunities to use sign language skills in theatre, television, multimedia production and courts of law. Signers are sometimes booked to interpret in interviews.