In this post, Victoria Buchanan discusses how The University of Edinburgh’s Accessible and Inclusive Learning Policy aligns with the University’s Assessment and Feedback Principles. Victoria is the Director of the Disability and Learning Support Service. This post is part of the Mar-June Learning & Teaching Enhancement theme: Assessment and feedback revisited↗️.
The principle of an accessible and inclusive learning environment is crucial in an HE context because it meets student needs by promoting equal opportunities and supporting diverse student groups whilst also ensuring legal and ethical compliance, improving student retention, and enhancing graduation rates. The University of Edinburgh’s Accessible and Inclusive Learning Policy (AILP) was originally passed in 2013, at which point it was ground-breaking in the HE sector. After remaining untouched for some time, the policy had an overdue update last year resulting in a refreshed and once again ambitious, sector-leading policy.
It is worth noting here that reference to “inclusive teaching practices” encompasses the diversity of the whole range of protected characteristics (and their intersectionalities) under the Equality Act 2010, not just disability (for example, race, gender, religious belief). Although arguably more actions are needed to meet the statutory duty for disabled students in a learning and teaching context than for the other protected characteristics, happily it is also true that the adjustments needed for disabled students often benefit all students.
Under the Equality Act, the duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled students is anticipatory. This means we must proactively design our learning, teaching, and assessment to ensure disabled students can fully participate and achieve, and not just wait for a student with a particular disability to turn up and then make retrospective adjustments for them. Currently at The University of Edinburgh, 21% of the student population declare a disability, so this is not a small group of students by any measure, and they are (rightly) an increasingly vocal group to whom we must listen to and respond.
The seven principles of the new 2023 AILP are as follows:
A. Apply the principles of universal design for learning.
B. Offer opportunities for students with protected characteristics to contribute (to course design and review).
C. Equality Impact Assess new or updated courses/programmes.
D. Reasonable adjustments will be made where design cannot eliminate a barrier to student participation.
E. Consider if reasonable adjustments can be mainstreamed for the benefit of all students.
F. The University shall make training and guidance available for all staff (regarding) accessibility.
G. Schools shall monitor the accessibility and inclusion of their teaching, learning and assessment.
It’s not by chance that applying the principles of universal design for learning (UDL) is Principle A in the updated AILP. In many ways, if you get UDL right, the benefits to all students in their general learning experience can be extremely conducive to a happy student cohort and productive learners.
Universal Design is not a new concept, but let’s not assume that everyone is familiar with it. The simplest descriptor is: ‘design that’s usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialised design.’ If we think about this related to course and curriculum design, a great starting point is to apply the below three key themes as a basic UDL test:
1. Ensure multiple means of representation, e.g., present teaching material in different formats.
2. Ensure multiple means of expression / demonstrating learning, e.g., choice of modes of assessment, essay, presentation, poster etc.
3. Use multiple means of engagement / blended learning, e.g., online sessions, experiential learning, auditory learning.
Assessment & Feedback Principles and Priorities
The University’s Assessment & Feedback Principles and Priorities (AFPP) align well with the AILP and overall objective to embed UDL and proactively design out the need for learning adjustments. If we focus specifically on Principle and Priorities 3 and 5, this should become very clear.
Within the framework of AFPP 3.0, it is emphasised that assessment and feedback should embody principles of inclusivity, equity, and fairness, prioritising methods that minimise the need for individual learning adjustments. Offering a diverse array of assessment methods is advocated, providing students with options and adaptability throughout the course and within specific assessment tasks, all of which is inherently inclusive. Courses that proactively integrate both the AILP and the AFPP guidelines in their design process can be commended for embedding both UDL and EDI, and such demonstrable fostering of an inclusive learning environment should be the gold standard that we are aiming for.
Under 5.0 of the AFPP, we are asked to consider proportionate assessment, with priorities indicated to minimise over-assessment, spread assessment across the academic year, and reduce the need for repeated or over-assessment. The application of this would be beneficial to a whole host of student demographics, as well as streamlining staff workload by reducing over-assessment and all the administration that comes with that. If colleagues approach course design using the AILP Principle C – Equality Impact Assessment (EQIA) – interrogating the framework of assessment to ensure proportionality and distribution of assessments can meet the needs of several groups of students, such as carers, those struggling financially and working part-time, and of course disabled students.
An EQIA may feel like a daunting and bureaucratic process if you have not done many before, but if it can be better framed as a highly useful tool to get underneath the design of our courses by which huge strides forward in terms of EDI can be made. Although my focus is on disabled students, I’ll say again that applying these inclusive principles will support the entire cohort of students – not just those with protected characteristics. Such principles underpin EDI but result in improved student satisfaction across the board. Something that surely, we all want to achieve.
Further Reading / References
- Accessible and Inclusive Learning Policy: https://www.ed.ac.uk/files/atoms/files/accessible_and_inclusive_learning_policy.pdf
- Assessment and Feedback Principles and Priorities: https://www.ed.ac.uk/sites/default/files/atoms/files/assessmentfeedbackprinciplespriorities.pdf
- Equality Impact Assessment Guidance and Template: https://equality-diversity.ed.ac.uk/about/reports/impact-assessment/guidance
- Seymour, M. Enhancing the online student experience through the application of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) to research methods learning and teaching. Educ Inf Technol 29, 2767–2785 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-023-11948-6
- Garrad, T.-A., & Nolan, H. (2023). Rethinking higher education unit design: Embedding universal design for learning in online studies. Student Success, 14(1), 1–8. https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.978653881365095
- CAST, Universal Design in Higher Education: http://udloncampus.cast.org/home
- Inclusive Education Framework: https://www.inclusiveeducationframework.info/
Victoria Buchanan
Victoria Buchanan is the Director of the Disability and Learning Support Service. She holds a Masters degree in Education Inclusive Practice and has 19 years’ experience in student support, 11 of which have been in middle to senior management roles. Victoria sits on the University EDI Committee and co-chairs the EDI Disability Sub-Committee. Victoria is Policy Officer for the AILP, alongside Professor Tina Harrison.
