Siôn Simon MP (centre) explores the new accessibility guidelines on Excellence Gateway with Barry Kruger, LSIS (left) and Alistair McNaught, JISC TechDis (right).

The Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS) has launched an online toolkit which provides practical guidelines for teachers and trainers to make learning materials even more accessible.

Available on Excellence Gateway, the accessibility resources merge pedagogical and technical advice where previously this has been scattered over several different channels.  At one of his first events as Minister for Further Education, Siôn Simon MP, launched the guidelines at Lewisham College on Tuesday 14 October 2008.

Grouped into eight categories (users who have difficulty seeing things; hearing things; understanding things; concentrating; handling and manipulating things, communicating with others, difficulty accessing text; are dyslexic) the resources will enable staff to create effective, engaging and accessible learning materials. They were produced for LSIS by JISC TechDis, a leading educational advisory service in accessibility and inclusion.

The Minister was joined by Roger McClure, chief executive of LSIS, the new sector-led FE improvement body. Kevin Carey, Director of HumanITy, who advised on the creation of the guidelines, spoke making educational materials accessible for blind and visually impaired people and he was joined by a learner and tutor from Lewisham College who discussed the day-to-day reality of improvements in accessibility.
 
Kevin Carey, who is uniquely placed to provide guidance because of his long involvement in education, his expertise in accessibility and his standing as a blind author and speaker, commented: “There is no single solution for accessibility, and often the most time-consuming and expensive adjustments are not always the most effective. These accessibility guidelines available on Excellence Gateway will help teachers to adapt and personalise delivery to all learners.”

Roger McClure said: “These new accessibility guidelines will really make a difference to teachers and trainers across the learning and skills sector in their work with a diverse range of learners. As the new sector-owned organisation, LSIS has responded to a clear need to bring all the dispersed guidelines together in one place, easily accessible online.”

Siôn Simon MP, Minister for Further Education said: “The FE sector has, at its core, the needs of learners and these accessibility guidelines will ensure that all learners can unlock their talent in an amazing and innovative way. As the new minister in this area, I would also like to congratulate LSIS which has supported the production of this toolkit and shown that, as a newly-formed organisation, it regards equality and diversity as a priority.”

In addition to the accessibility guidelines, the Excellence Gateway incorporates some 50 education websites and an impressive resource bank comprising more than 75,000 pages, and 12,000 separate pieces of content. LSIS has joined forces with a number of partners to centralise resources on the portal including the Ofsted Good Practice Database, the Becta technology exemplars and evidence from the nine JISC Regional Support Centres. Registration and use of the Excellence Gateway is completely free by visiting http://excellence.qia.org.uk