Abstract:

In today’s modern education systems there is a diverse range of learners progressing through to university level. Cohorts are made up of learners from different ethnic backgrounds, cultures, financial situations and include those with specific learning differences. Educating large cohorts is a significant challenge in its own right and catering to different needs requires careful consideration, not just of the learning material and styles of teaching but also of the processes in place to enable those learners to be tracked and managed. Regulations lead to a need for checks to be made - “box-ticking” - but there can be a misalignment between these and providing reasonable adjustments for those with additional needs.

This paper presents case studies from Higher Education and considers the impact of processes and regulations on students’ abilities to meet the requirements of their studies. Findings describe the delicate balance that was achieved between providing a rigorous qualification framework and enabling the reasonable adjustments within this that were needed. Challenges described include knowing when an adjustment was “reasonable”, fair and equitable and fitting adjustments into centralised systems and processes. This often lay with academics who were embedded within the discipline and involved in ensuring learning outcomes were met but also required an understanding of differing needs. Overcoming these challenges needed discipline-specific key champions as education equity enablers.

Keywords:

Higher Education, Additional needs, Reasonable adjustments, Processes, Regulations.