New Health & Safety Act
4th April 2016 is the date that the new Health & Safety Act 2015 takes effect. This will have a significant impact on schools, early childhood centres and voluntary groups as the responsibility on the trustees and management increases. Is your school or voluntary organisation ready? Have you taken “all practicable steps to provide and maintain a safe working environment and to provide facilities for staff?”
Voice Reinforcement for the Workplace
Many health issues for teaching staff, trainers and presenters relate to voice fatigue. Particularly in schools with the shift to Innovative Learning Environments. The noise levels in these collaborative environments are rising and even in the acoustically well-designed learning space some teachers and students will need support to project their voices without strain:
• When outside noise is too loud
• Where the teacher’s voice is not strong enough
• Where the class has students with hearing impairments
• Where the class has ESOL students
• Where the class has students with learning difficulties
Excerpt from Designing Quality Learning Spaces: Acoustics pg 38-9, Ministry of Education
Boards of Trustees can plan ahead and support their staff by offering Voice Reinforcement Systems. These systems, also known as classroom soundfield systems, raise the volume of the natural speaking voice so that anyone in the room can hear clearly what is being said, without the teacher or student having to raise their voice or shout.
Funding for Schools for Classroom Soundfield Systems
Where funding for schools is concerned, if the school is upgrading their classrooms to Flexible Learning Spaces this is classed as "Priority 3" and the required voice reinforcement systems can be included in the 10 Year Property Plan. Where a student is hearing impaired or has learning difficulties, the student should be assessed to ascertain need and funding may be allocated.
