Disability and assessment: Understanding the perspectives of staff

Braddock, A.C., Challenger, S.A., Child K.G., Forman, D.W. George, S., Khanum, M., Maull P.G., Meehan, M.M., Morgans, C.E., Owen, G., Row, P.E., Rowlands, N.R. and Stratton, E.

Background and Context

• Legal duty to comply with the Equality Act 2010:

• To not treat a disabled person less favourably than a

nondisabled person for reasons related to their disability.

•  From 2016/17 entry, we will be directly responsible for

supporting the costs of reasonable adjustments for the

majority of registered disabled students from England. There

may also be similar changes implemented in Wales in the

future.

What does this mean?

• Making reasonable adjustments to ensure that a disabled

student is not placed at a substantial disadvantage when

compared with their peers.

• Anticipating the needs and potential adjustments for future

students as far as practicable.

• Providing tailor made solutions for students when necessary.

What happens if reasonable adjustments / alternative assessment are not possible ?

This may relate to specific programmes of study that have chartered

or accredited schemes

“If, having considered the issue thoroughly, there are genuinely no steps

that it would be reasonable for an education provider to take to make its

education, benefits, facilities or services accessible, the education

provider is unlikely to be in breach of the law if it makes no changes.

Such a situation is likely to be rare.”

(page 105 paragraph 7.60. (Equality and Human Rights Commission), L &

T 23 Sept 2014 P1415-231

The way forward

• Staff have a role to play in ensuring best practice but this must be led from the top

down as well as bottom up.

• We must maintain standards and integrity in assessment and need a defined

support system to help staff.

• It should be recognised that setting and marking alternative assessments is not

trivial and has acute work load implications.

• We need to be honest and frank about where we are with this topic; we are not

alone in this and we have the chance to be a leader in this field.

• We need to ensure we provide access to learning on an equal footing

What are the drivers and issues?

Key drivers:

1. Student experience

2. Academic standards

The issues: rigour, competency and understanding what a reasonable

adjustment actually is

Delving deeper: the need for honesty and openness

Perception versus reality

Working together

Our Approach…..

Listening sessions were arranged in the College of Science for:

• Academic staff

• Disability Link Tutors and Support staff

• Students

An additional session was held to hear the views of Student Support

Services and Wellbeing

Questions asked of the academics

1. How far do the learning outcomes for a module help or hinder

you in providing alternative assessments for students with

disabilities?

2. We need to be fair to all students and test them with the same

rigour irrespective of disability. To what extent should

alternative assessments be aligned with the assessment

already in place for students without a disability?

3. Do staff feel that they mark scripts / assessments with a

different set of criteria in mind? Could this be defended?

Questions asked

4. Do staff seek guidance and what is their experience / view of

the guidance provided?

5. What sort of support and guidance would you like to see to

help staff make reasonable adjustments for disabled

students in relation to assessment and marking?

Staff Perspectives: Disclosure

• More needs to be done to encourage full disclosure by students as

early as possible (trust)

• Students have to accept responsibility for disclosing a disability

and the consequences of not disclosing at all or in a timely fashion

• Staff who will be supporting the students need to know their

potential needs as soon as possible

Staff Perspectives: Data and Information

• There needs to be a common system for recording and sharing

data between the Disability Office, WellBeing and academic and

administrative staff in Colleges about the reasonable adjustments

which are needed and have been made, or where there are issues

still

• This would enable identification of students who are requesting

support but not engaging properly with the services offered

Staff Perspectives: Resources

•  There should be a University-wide resource of good practice for

alternative assessments based on a matrix approach though a

case by case approach will still be needed in some instances

• Case studies on particular disabilities could help staff understand

what is possible in terms of reasonable adjustments and help to

ensure consistency across the University

• College offices don’t have the space for confidential consultations

with students

Staff Perspectives: Workload

• There is no recognition of the workload implications of making reasonable

adjustments

• There is no workload recognition for the role of Disability Link Tutor

whether academic or administrative

• Peaks occur when coursework is due in / examination periods

• The number of complex cases is rising

• Reaching an acceptable position for all parties in terms of reasonable

adjustments can take a long time

 

Staff Perspectives: Learning outcomes

• At the HE level certain areas of knowledge and skill have to be

assumed and not made explicit e.g. specific subject knowledge,

laboratory skills, etc., otherwise the outcomes would be very

detailed and lengthy

• As a result, the implicit knowledge and skills have to be taken into

account for reasonable adjustments

• The potential need for alternative/inclusive assessment should be

embedded more clearly into module/programme

development/review

Staff Perspectives: Academic rigour

• This cannot be maintained in all cases which causes difficulties in

defending alternative assessments with external examiners

• At some point it has to be (and is) acceptable to say an alternative

assessment cannot be provided on academic grounds, which need

to be clearly stated

• There is a grey area and different practices over spelling,

grammar, and writing coherently and what supporting resources

students have access to

Staff Perspectives: Deadline extensions

• Departments treat extensions of deadlines in different ways –

sharing of practice would be useful to try to establish consistent

approaches where possible

• Problems are caused for feeding back to students within the 3

week deadline if other students have been given an extension; it

means setting a different assessment

Staff Perspectives: Mediation and Resolution Process

• The process tends to address the University’s liability rather than

academic issues

• A process which supports resolution should be developed e.g. a

panel of academic disability link tutors who look at cases where

there are difficulties in providing an alternative assessment and/or

an independent mediator

Staff Perspectives: Guidance and training

• There isn’t enough training and guidance for academic staff

• Staff from other countries may not have the same understanding of

disability issues as UK staff

• There are insufficient administrative staff working as and with

Disability Link Tutors

• Guidance is needed on the sorts of conditions students are coming

in with and where the boundaries lie in offering support to such

students

Key recommendations

1) A community of practice needs to be formally established

2) Training and greater support needed for staff

3) A common system for recording and sharing data should be established

4) Compulsory disability discrimination and awareness training should be part of

staff induction

5) A College / University level panel of academic Disability Link Tutors who look at

cases may be a useful system to help staff (confidence and trust)

6) Good practice from other universities should be explored

7) Alternative/inclusive assessment should be more explicitly embedded into

module/programme development/review

Current progress: Dave Eason, SPIN student

Working within SAILS

Reviewing and collating good practice

from other HEIs

Developing resources and case studies

to assist staff

Online resources housed within SALT

New guidance and information for staff being produced by Dave Eason

Mental Health Conditions

• What is a Mental Health Condition?

• Student Experiences

• Effects of Mental Health on Study

• Communicating with a Student with a Mental Health

Condition

• Teaching and Assessment Guidance

• Case Studies

Diolch yn fawr

Thank you

Many thanks for listening

Any questions