Education Business

The DDA 1995 originally contained provisions making it unlawful to discriminate against a person with disabilities in relation to employment, the provision of goods, facilities and services. It also contained limited provisions relating to education. The Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001 amended DDA 1995 to make unjustified discrimination by education providers against disabled pupils, students and adult learners unlawful. DDA 2005 progressed even further, giving local authorities a positive duty to promote disability equality.

Who is protected?
The Education Standards protect any person with disabilities who is enrolled in a pre-school, school, college or university. It also protects any person with a disability who is not yet enrolled, but who has approached an education provider about enrolling.
    
The DDA defines a disabled person as someone who has ‘a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.’ Children with a wide range of impairments, including learning disabilities, dyslexia or epilepsy where the effect of the impairment on the pupil’s ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities is adverse, substantial and long-term, are protected by the Education Standards.
    
Physical or mental impairment also includes sensory impairments. In the DDA ‘substantial’ means ‘more than minor or trivial’. ‘Long-term’ describes an impairment that has lasted or is likely to last more than 12 months.

How does it work?
The Education Standards comprise of three areas: rights, obligations and measures of compliance. The three areas aim to ensure that students with special and additional educational needs and disabilities can participate equally in education and training courses.
    
Rights - these include the basic entitlements that a student with disabilities can expect from an education provider.
    
Obligations - include the routes that the education providers must follow in order to respect the rights of students with disabilities. These are legal requirements and if an education provider was to disobey them, this would be against the law.
    
Obligations to consult: Education providers must consult in order to understand a student's disability and to work out if any adjustments or changes are needed to assist the student. The challenges, needs or barriers for the student must be established. Adjustments that could overcome the barriers must also be identified. For example, an occupational therapist may assess types of furniture and equipment that can best help a student with a physical disability. The benefits or disadvantages that the adjustment might have on other people, and also the costs and benefits of making the adjustment must be addressed.
    
Obligation to eliminate harassment and victimisation: Harassment can be defined as abusing or bullying an individual about their disability. Victimisation is threatening or hurting someone because that person is contemplating making a discrimination complaint. This is a crime. It is paramount to remember that students with disabilities have the right to feel safe in the education environment, as does any other student.
    
Measures of compliance - these are examples of what education providers can do to make sure that they have carried out their obligations, for example, providing all important class materials in different formats - Braille, audio or electronic formats. Measures of compliance are not legal requirements and failing to carry them out does not always mean that it is against the law.

On offer
Education providers must provide aids to ensure that people with disabilities do not suffer a disadvantage in comparison to their peers. The suggestion is to make ‘reasonable adjustments’. The DDA defines this as threefold:

• changing any practice that makes it unreasonably difficult for people with disabilities to use a service;
• providing an aid which would enable people with disabilities to use a service;
• overcoming physical barriers by providing services or adapting the environment to improve accessibility.
  

The main aim of the Education Standards is to give students with disabilities the right to participate in educational courses on the same basis as students without disability. Students with disabilities should have access to the same opportunities and choices in their education.

When to apply
The Education Standards cater for a range of stages in an individual’s education. Firstly, when an education provider is designing the teaching material for a course, it must consider the needs of the students with special and additional educational needs and disabilities. It must consider pedagogical delivery methods that ensure all students achieve the main aims of the course.
    
Secondly, when enrolling at school, the Education Standards state that all information and materials be supplied to cater for everyone’s needs, be they Braille, large type or audio.
    
Thirdly, while the student is part of the education system, the education provider must ensure to provide the same opportunities to participate at a school or in a course like other students. This may include adjustments as to how the course is taught, type of materials utilised and assessment methods for the students.
    
This also includes access arrangements for examinations. Appropriate arrangements should be made for all those who need them, to access and exit an examination hall. Differing disabilities have differing needs. For example, individuals that are blind or partially sighted, they may need good lighting, adequate signs and good colour contrasts. Physical disabilities may require mobility helpers or wheelchair access. Furthermore, furniture in the examination hall must be addressed to cater for all needs. Individuals with mental health difficulties may require timetable planning and support with planning exam periods. Exam officers must also be made aware that problems may arise during exam periods. In some instances alternative examination arrangements may need to be made to ensure that the individual is able to complete the examination.
    
Additionally, an education provider must address school trips and excursions. Individuals with special and additional educational needs and disabilities must not be excluded from these due to their disabilities. Wider safety margins and higher pupil-teacher ratios than normal are paramount.
    
Further areas that the DDA addresses include support services offered to individuals with special and additional educational needs. The education provider must make sure that the individual can access and use support services that can help them participate at school or in an education course.
    
Finally, when a student completes their education, the provider must ensure that students with disabilities receive the same recognition for their learning and training outcomes as students without disability.

Concluding thoughts
In order for an education provider to ensure compliancy with the Education Standards, the whole school and community must be responsible. Consultation with parents, pupils, community members and especially individuals with special and additional educational needs and disabilities is essential for compliancy.
    
It is not just one person’s job to produce these plans. In many schools it has been the Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator’s (SENCO) responsibility. The role of a SENCO can warrant a full time commitment, especially in schools with high SEN numbers; therefore it would not be fair to add this to their list of responsibilities. In order for any standards to be met successfully, a team of individuals are required to manage, co-ordinate and implement the action plan.

DDA compliancy checklist

• Has your school got a shared vision? Is it understood and acted upon by all?
• Does your school promote a ‘can-do’ attitude by all staff?
• Does your school have a proactive approach to identifying barriers and implementing effective solutions?
• Is the student voice heard at your school?
• Is staff training and development placed high on the agenda at your school?
• Does your school participate in regular reviews (at pupil, departmental and school level)?
  

About Nasen
Nasen is the leading UK professional association embracing all special and additional educational needs and disabilities. The organisation promotes the education, training, development and support of all those working within the special and additional educational needs and disabilities sector. Membership of nasen is an invaluable source of advice, offering an exclusive and vital range of benefits to support teachers, governors, teaching assistants and the entire education support network in the delivery of high quality inclusive practice. Benefits include fresh and creative education resources, dynamic conferences and seminars with world-class speakers. An inspirational professional development programme, plus print and on-line journals and magazines, exhibitions and access to recently completed research are also available. Furthermore, nasen contributes greatly and has a strong influence on policy and practice in the area of special educational needs through consultation and joint projects with other professional bodies.

For more information
To find out more, contact Lorraine Petersen at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or visit www.nasen.org.uk