Information for staff

What we do for staff

Work closely with Admissions Tutors to ensure reasonable adjustments can be put in place and that courses are accessible to individual students.
- Admissions Policy,
- Impairment Categories as listed on UCAS/application form
Work closely with Schools’ Disability Contacts and other staff to support individual students
Provide specialist information and advice in relation to specific impairments
Provide advice and guidance to staff regarding reasonable adjustments to teaching and learning and assessment.
Offer guidance on making services and facilities accessible.
Provide information and guidelines about disability legislation
Inform policy and procedure in relation to provision for disabled students.
Offer tailored staff development sessions for all staff at the University
Link staff with sources of support and information from both within the University and externally.

Policy and Procedure

BU’s Code of Practice on the Provision for Disabled Students

Contains policy and procedure on: the learning environment; assessment; admissions; confidentiality.

Staff Development

We offer tailored development sessions for all staff at the University with the following aims:

to increase awareness of the issues and barriers faced by disabled students
to explore strategies to provide an inclusive learning experience
to outline the University's responsibilities in relation to such students
to brief staff on the relevant University policies and procedures

Sessions can focus on a specfic disability or condtition, including:

Dyslexia / Dyspraxia / Attentional Difficulites
Asperger’s syndrome and related conditions
Visual impairment
Deaf Awareness
Mental health difficulties
Dyslexia / Dyspraxia / Attentional Difficulites

Sessions are also offered in:

Legislation in relation to disabled students
Bangor's support systems for disabled students
Disability Awareness/Equality Training
Selection and Admission of Disabled Students
Accessible Placements and Fieldtrips

Useful Resources for Staff

This website provides practical advice about teaching inclusively and will also help teaching staff meet the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act. The website covers:

how you can enhance the learning experience of your students
common barriers to learning and ways to find solutions
types of learning support
assistive technologies and specialist staff

The most compelling reasons for making teaching inclusive come from the students themselves and the staff who support them. There are video clips throughout the site to tell their stories.

Making the Research Environment More Accessible to Disabled PGR Students

This resource base is home to a range of awareness and development materials for staff and students, including research supervisors, managers and postgraduate students.

Inclusive Programmes of Study

SCIPS (Strategies for the Creation of Inclusive Programmes of Study) is the result of a HEFCE funded project, Academic Standards and Benchmark Descriptors: Developing Strategies for Inclusivity. It offers strategies for promoting inclusive teaching, learning and assessment within programmes of study taught at degree level (including foundation degrees). It identifies potential challenges that disabled students may experience in achieving and/or demonstrating key skills and attributes as defined within Subject Benchmark Statements. It also suggests strategies and adjustments to practice that academic staff might consider in helping students overcome these challenges.

Managing Reasonable Adjustments in HE

A new publication developed by Equality Challenge Unit to assist institutions in taking a strategic approach to the overall planning cycle, leading to a more inclusive culture and long term cost and efficiency savings.

Disability Legislation: Practical Guidance for Academics
www.ecu.ac.uk or www.heacademy.ac.uk/disability.htm

A book produced by the Equality Challenge Unit and the Higher Education Academy to help academic staff apply the Disability Discrimination Act Part 4 to learning and teaching.

Toolkits for Success

A toolkit to help all those involved in planning off-campus learning opportunities for students, including placements and fieldwork. Information is aimed at students, employers and placement providers, academics and placement supervisors.

Accessible Assessments

This website gives practical support to academic staff in the design and delivery of inclusive academic assessments. There is an option to work online through an interactive content or print off selected material.

Inclusive Assessment in Higher Education: A Resource for Change

This resource is the result of a three-year HEFCE funded Project to develop and promote alternative forms of assessment as a way of facilitating a more inclusive approach to assessment.

HEA Guide to Inclusion: E-bulletins

These e-bulletins seek to provide focused, targeted, bite-sized advice and guidance on providing a more inclusive experience for all students.

Group Work: A guide to working with deaf students (Sheffield Hallam University)

Other Sources of Support

The Higher Education Academy (HEA) also disseminates the learning from disability projects through its UK-wide network of Subject Centres to embed disability awareness and practice in professional standards of frameworks. Many Subject Centres have provided or commissioned discipline-specific information and resources on disability. Many of them engage with their community and act as broker and collaborator with practitioners and innovators on disability issues in response to demand in a subject area.

To find out more about activity in your discipline, please visit the relevant Subject Centre website – accessible through a drop-down list on the Academy’s home page. Alternatively, contact Academy York to be put in touch with the centre for your discipline area