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What is the British Association of Educational Audiologists (BAEA)
BAEA the only association of educational audiologists (EA) was founded on 11th June 1997 with Simon Blake as the first Chair.
One of the main aims of the BAEA was then (and still is) to act as a platform for communication amongst members and a wider audience of Qualified Teachers of Deaf Children and Young People, Heads of Service and those working alongside EAs in the health services across the UK.
Early on in its existence the BAEA put together their ‘Role and competences’ document with the first edition appearing in 2001 in order to
(a) create a clear perception of the role of the EA in the UK and
(b) impress LEAs that EAs were very much needed within schools and services for deaf children.
Running parallel to the formation and growth of BAEA was (and is) the post graduate course in Educational Audiology, currently under Hertfordshire University, being run at Mary Hare School, Newbury. This is the only course in Educational Audiology in the UK and possibly Europe at the time of writing. Within five years of completing their course, EAs in the UK have an opportunity to undertake a Masters in Educational Audiology. The dissertations are available to read via the Mary Hare School website. Dr Joy Rosenberg has led the course for many years and has also had a long-standing role on the BAEA’s National Executive Council (NEC) as Training Officer.
Probably the BAEA’s most epic achievement in 2018 has been the Professional Registration for EAs. Of necessity this included accreditation of the course by the British Academy of Audiology (BAA) on behalf of the UK’s then Registration Council for Clinical Physiologists (RCCP), now the Academy for Health Care Science – AHCS. It is very pleasing to also note that modules are now available as part of BAA’s Higher Training Scheme for Paediatric Habilitation along with many stand-alone modules.
Under our current Chair Teresa Quail, a new group (WINSEAG) has been formed very recently which covers an area where EAs are few in number: Wales, Ireland North and South, and Scotland. More about the role of EA in the UK can be accessed via the MESHGuide (Deaf education) Educational Audiology
The BAEA journey has been possible due to the commitments of Chairs (listed below) and the NEC.
- Simon Blake 1997-2001
- Brian Barney 2001 – 2005
- John Ellwood 2005 – 2007
- Peter Keen 2007 – 2011
- Gary Webster 2011 – 2015
- Helen Maiden 2015 -2019
- Jane North 2019 – 2021
- Teresa Quail 2021 – present.
This year BAEA will be busy planning their first face-to-face conference, since pre-pandemic, in partnership with BATOD, in March 2025 at the Deaf Academy Exmouth, England). With ‘Technology’ theme, the call for contributions will launch in September 2024.