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In many areas of Scotland pupils have been provided with their own '1:1' personal Chromebook, iPad or Windows laptop while in other areas, pupils with additional support needs have access to a shared device
It's vital that these personal devices and digital learning in general are accessible.
Practically speaking, what does this mean for Chromebooks, iPads and Windows devices? What features and tools should be on devices?
In October 2014, the Scottish Government published Statutory Guidance for education authorities on planning improvements for disabled pupils’ access to education. The Guidance provides advice on how education authorities and schools can meet obligations to improve access to education required under the Equality Act and the Education (Disability Strategies and Pupils' Educational Records) (Scotland) Act 2002.
The Guidance has advice on providing accessible ICT in Appendix D and E that can be used to audit the accessibility of school technology.
To help schools and local authorities implement these measures, in 2014 we created an Accessibility Essentials Guide identifying specific apps and resources that should be available on computers to meet the Scottish Government recommendations.
However, the guidance was written before Chromebooks and iPads were in common use and so we have created equivalent documents for all the devices that are now in use in schools. The files are in Microsoft Word and PDF formats.
| Chromebooks | ipads | windows 10 | windows 11 |
|---|---|---|---|
Ensuring that school ICT is accessible to all learners is not just a legal requirement: it is also good educational practice, and improves attainment for all learners.
For example, the Dyslexia Learning Trail recommends that "Children and young people with dyslexia have access to specialised technology aids and ICT provision" and following the guidance will help to ensure that learners with dyslexia have "dyslexia friendly computers".
Learners with disabilities who require technology to access the curriculum need three things:
Technology is used in assessment and evidence from schools using SQA digital examinations shows that technology provides a more independent and cost-effective method of support than human readers and scribes.
In the case of National Literacy Assessment, human readers and scribes are not permitted as a reasonable adjustment, but computer readers are – therefore school computers should have computer reader software and the free Scottish computer voices installed.
For the National Standardised Assessments for Scotland, "any additional support which is made available to children and young people through daily learning should be made available during the standardised assessments" and so accessibility features must be available on devices so that pupils can use them as required.
The table below takes each of the points in the Checkist for planning ICT and provides information on how these points can be addressed.
Access to ICT and Assistive Technology (AT) | How? |
|---|---|
The school or local authority’s stock of shared netbooks, laptops or tablets can be booked out by pupils with disabilities for specific learning tasks. | Some local authorities provide pupils with a personal device. If the school does not have 1:1 technology, there should be a pathway for pupils to have their assistive technology needs assessed and met. Some students with ASN may require a personal device at all times. Other needs may be addressed using a shared device for specific tasks or classes. |
The school or local authority has a pathway or procedure and staff with expertise to:
| All teachers have a responsibility to educate learners with ASN and this includes learners who use technology to access the curriculum. The Teacher Digital Skills toolkit from Education Scotland specifies the skills that are required by teachers at essential, core and enhanced levels. All teachers should possess a universal level of knowledge and expertise around inclusive digital learning. Some pupils who require a more targeted or specialist response from an assistive technology specialist or team such as:
|
Accessibility of school computers and DEVICES | How? |
|---|---|
All school computers have text-to-speech (TTS) software installed for reading documents and web pages. | Use the Accessibility Essentials documents to find out what should be on your Chromebooks, iPads or Windows devices. Refer to CALL's text-to-speech web pages to find out more about TTS software. Schools, parents/carers and learners can download free TTS software through the site. This case study from Denny High School provides useful insights on the benefits of providing TTS across the school. |
All school computers accessed by pupils have the free Heather and Stuart voices installed. | Schools, parents/carers and learners can download free high quality Scottish computer voices for Windows and MacOS from CALL's Scottish Voice web site. The site also provides information on Scottish Voices for Chromebooks and iPads. |
Headphones are available for use with TTS where required. | Schools can provide headphones or earbuds or learners can use their own. |
Control Panel settings can be easily and quickly changed to enable access for each disabled pupil, including where needed. Such adjustments can be saved with the user’s profile. | Sometimes, all that's needed to enable access is to make small adjustments to the device using the built in Accessibility Features. In some schools, access to Accessibility Tools is restricted - these tools should be easily accessible for learners who need them. Use the Accessibility Essentials documents to find out what should be on your Chromebooks, iPads or Windows devices. |
Specialist software required by learners with disabilities can be easily and quickly installed and used on school computers. | ICT policies and procedures should make reasonable adjustments to ensure that specialist software required for access can be installed in good time. For example, a local authority might give highest priority to requests to install accessibility apps or software. |
Specialist hardware required by learners with disabilities can be easily and quickly installed and used on school computers. | ICT policies and procedures should make reasonable adjustments to ensure that specialist hardware required for access can be installed in good time. |
Computer refreshes or re-imaging are planned to accommodate existing assistive software and hardware used by disabled pupils. | ICT policies and procedures should record instances of specialist installations and adaptations so that assistive technologies can be re-installed following refresh. |
Where computer refresh or re-imaging will result in current assistive technology not being usable, replacement or upgrade takes place so that the disabled pupil is not disadvantaged. | ICT policies and procedures should ensure that assistive technologies can be upgraded, if required, following refresh. |
Access to Learning Resources | How? |
|---|---|
Learning resources (e.g. textbooks, reading books, teacher- generated materials, assessments, homework) can be provided in a format that learners can access, such as Digital, Audio, Large Print, on Coloured paper, Braille, etc. | Provision of accessible books and leaning resources is regarded as a reasonable adjustment under the Equality Act. Staff can download textbooks in accessible formats free of charge from: Schools and local authorities policies and procedures should ensure that learning resources created by teachers are made available in accessible formats. |
Online learning resources and online assessments used can be adapted so that they do not disadvantage disabled pupils. | Digital learning involves digital learning resources and these must be accessible. CALL Scotland provides professional learning resources on creating accessible materials. |
Learners can transfer work to and from school and home using e.g. file sharing on the intranet or Internet, or on a memory stick. | Staff can make use of file sharing mechanisms such as Glow, OneDrive, Google Drive etc to share and transfer resources and materials. |
Learners who use ICT for writing and recording can print their work. | Learners with additional support needs who rely on technology to access the curriculums should be able to print out the work quickly and easily. |
Staff and pupil awareness and expertise | How? |
|---|---|
Staff (teaching, support, librarian and technical) are made aware of legal obligations to provide access to the curriculum and to curriculum resources under Equality Duties, with particular reference to Guidance on Auxiliary Aids and Services. | Build accessibility and disability awareness into school and local authority development plans. |
Procurement decisions for hardware and software have due regard to accessibility and reasonable adjustment duties under the Equality Act. In particular, no extra cost should be charged for changes made to systems as part of reasonable adjustments made. | Build accessibility and disability awareness into school and local authority development plans. Ensure that ICT development teams are aware of obligations for reasonable adjustments. Where ICT provision is contracted out of the authority, contracts must not discriminate against learners with disabilities – for example, the contract should not result in excessive delays or costs attached to installation of accessibility software. |
Staff and pupils are aware of specialist hardware and software installed and Control Panel options on schools computer, to enable access. | Build accessibility and disability awareness into school and local authority development plans. |
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