Council of Principals of Schools for the Deaf Archive

Minute books of the Council from establishment in 1901 to its dissolution in 1954. The minutes are signed, and usually include agenda and statements of accounts.

Subjects covered in meetings include financing of schools, teachers' qualifications, salaries and conditions, relations with government departments, especially the Board of Education, and local education authorities, curricula and methods of teaching at the schools, medical issues relating to deaf schools, post-school employment and training of the deaf.

In 1901 the Council of Headmasters of Institutions of the Deaf was established following a meeting at North Stafford Blind and Deaf school . the original purpose of the group was to act as a lobby and forum for the heads of residential deaf schools, of which a number had been set up by the end of the nineteenth century.

Many of the initial concerns of the Council related to the financing of their schools, in particular through funds available from central government and the local School Boards (later local education authorities). They campaigned for changes to Elementary Education (Blind and Deaf Children) Act 1893, which had required that deaf schools raise at least a third of their funding from private sources. The Council also campaigned for exemption from local rates, as was enjoyed by other types of elementary school.

The Council was also consented with teacher's qualifications and salaries, and more general questions relating to the education of deaf children, particularly the age at which they entered the schools (the Council favoured early entry). In these areas, they worked with the main professional groups in the area of deaf education,the National Association of Teachers of the Deaf (NATD) and the College of Teachers of the Deaf and Dumb (CTDD). The College was actively involved in improving the status and qualifications of teachers of the deaf (it awarded a special diploma). The NATD and CTDD merged in 1918 to form the National College of Teachers of the Deaf (later known as the British Association of Teachers of the Deaf (BATOD). In 1910, the Council agreed to allow membership of the day schools for deaf children, and it was henceforth known as the Council of Principals of Schools for the Deaf.

In the inter-war period The Council was a participant in discussions of the major report on deaf education, Dr A Eichholz, "A study of the Deaf in England and Wales, 1930-1932..."(1934). It was also had links with the University of Manchester's Department of Education of the Deaf, set up in 1919, the first university department to specialise in deaf teaching. Although the Council continued to enjoy good levels of membership, there was a dropping off of its work in the post-1945 period, and in 1954, it was agreed to temporarily wind up the Council. Its last meeting was held on 12 March 1954.

The collection is open to any accredited reader.

The collection may include material which is subject to the Data Protection Act 2018. Under the Act 2018 (DPA), The University of Manchester Library (UML) holds the right to process personal data for archiving and research purposes. In accordance with the DPA, UML has made every attempt to ensure that all personal and sensitive personal data has been processed fairly, lawfully and accurately. Users of the archive are expected to comply with the Data Protection Act 2018, and will be required to sign a form acknowledging that they will abide by the requirements of the Act in any further processing of the material by themselves.

Open parts of this collection, and the catalogue descriptions, may contain personal data about living individuals. Some items in this collection may be closed to public inspection in line with the requirements of the DPA. Restrictions/closures of specific items will be indicated in the catalogue.

Photographic copies of material in the archive can be supplied for private study purposes only, depending on the condition of the documents.

A number of items within the archive remain within copyright under the terms of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988; it is the responsibility of users to obtain the copyright holder's permission for reproduction of copyright material for purposes other than research or private study.

Following the winding-up of the Council in c.1954-1955, the minute books were transferred on 17 April 1956 from the Council's hon. secretary/treasurer Louis Baylis to A W Kettlewell, Royal School of the Deaf, Exeter. At some point after that date it appears they were transferred to the University of Manchester, possibly initially to the Department of the Education of the Deaf and then to the Library..

The archives of the British Disassociation of Teachers of the Deaf and its predecessor bodies are held at the University of Birmingham, GB 150 BATOD. BATOD was the main professional group for teachers of the deaf and in its earlier manifestations had connections with the CPSD.