Accessibility and the Law

Jessica Wall

26th October 2021

This reflection was contributed as a submission for a 2 Star Badge in Accessibility (Leading)

Give a brief description of your work context and responsibilities, e.g. your teaching background, experience, type of organisation (e.g. FE college, ACL), subject/curriculum you teach/lead, your learners (skills level, any particular inclusion needs, age range of group, size of group)

I am an Advanced practitioner working 1:1 with ½ the teaching teams as a support function, helping the tutors to self-direct their T&L. I facilitate and co-facilitate Team CPD.
I strength is my ability to effectively communicate and my specialism is wellbeing courses
I have taught in community learning for 13 years and also in private sector schools

How did you use the learning from this/these module(s) (briefly describe the learning context, with a focus on Accessibility)

I used the learning in two course settings. One course was a mindfulness course which was already in existence. The other course is a reading course for ESOL learners together with those who are native speakers but struggle with reading due to either dyslexia or other processing abilities. This course is being developed in line with request from the community and is inherently focussed on... more

How did you adapt/modify activities and/or resources for your context providing alternative approaches with specific reference to Accessibility practices?

I am using the learning to ensure that all of my content is accessible to all: I have updated my power points using descriptions of images, using headings for easy of navigation. I have also made enquiries within my organisation as to who is responsible for our accessibility policy and where it is. As we work under the County Council, we have theirs in place as well. I am in the process of... more

Provide any examples of any new approaches tested out.

A PPT that I have now displays an inbuilt YouTube video (the embedding helps accessibility too for the less tech savvy students). The YouTube video has a caption option, the slides all have headings and I have used the accessibility checker and correct the elements which were non compliant: images with no descriptors, lack of headings, missing alternative text.

What worked well, or did not work so well? How would you approach the activity/use the resource differently next time?

The actual use of the accessibility tool was so much easier than the thought of doing it. I was pleasantly surprised and pleased. I know feel more confident to a) know what is required b) implement it and c) teach my peers and encourage them. In the long run that will speed tasks up for them as learners will have complete accessibility and so this will impact the wellbeing focus of my project.

How did the learning from the module(s) impact on the quality of the learning experience?

The modules were very informative and piqued my interest. From here I attended a webinar and did my own research. The module was very clear about the necessity to ensure accessibility - the extra learning I did independently and practice has made the biggest impact.

How have you initiated strategic change/quality improvement in relation to Accessibility, eg at a peer, department, organisational, regional, national level)?

I have asked for clarification from my management about who the incumbent for accessibility is and asked for their processes and their CPD requirements. I have also liaised with my peer group already to discuss how we will share the information and who is best placed to do this. We have already thought about the viability of asking an external advisor to lead us in this or, alternatively, we... more

What will be your next step in bringing about further change?

The above points are now being actioned and I will be building the learning into any new course materials.
Training will be held for both teaching team and Admin updates at our next Team Day.
Also, in my 1:1 meetings with my peers, I will be asking them what they do and how they could improve their own practice. This is in line with the coaching work I do which has a focus on... more

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