GDS Blog: IPO SCULPT framework and accessibility roles
Frameworks for industry training and development:
Roles in government for Accessibility:
https://accessibility.blog.gov.uk/2022/10/25/establishing-accessibility-in-the-ddat-profession/
Apprenticeship
BSL GCSE:
WCAG 1.0 1999, then WCAG 2.0 then the regulations in the UK updating them to 2.1, and more recently 2.2. The need to be able to test the WCAG guidelines led to WCAG 2 in 2008
The skills needed to keep up with the ongoing updates in the digital world has been recognised by government. Skills strategy etc.
Reference to digital skills gap and strategies too. Government have identified the need to meet the skills gap. They provide guidance such as…. And AbilityNet.
Progress in this area is further illustrated by the commitment to create a recognised profession for accessibility, in 2022 government digital service launched the…unpack
and subsequently educational pathways into it such as the level 4 digital accessibility qualification that…unpack
Issues of accessibility are continuing to gain recognition Most recently the BSL Act was passed that recognises it as an official language - GCSE in BSL.
Gov guidance and WCAG, however there is still a gap in skills, awareness and adoption of digital accessibility within industry (PEAT, Hassell, AbilityNet, 500). According to PEAT there are…. Echoed by AbilityNet that… and Hassell using data of over 111 businesses who completed their maturity questionnaire raising concerns that… The valuable 500 echo this saying…
Causes for this have been put forward such as….TeachAccess and blah. Complexity and cost.
Assumption this is only the responsibility of web developers.
A search for a more wide scale and everyday approach, beyond that of just the web developers.
One solution to simplify the perceived complexities of digital accessibility was a model aimed at the basics…to help simplify adoption of the underlying principles of accessibility…SCULPT. This was developed by a digital designer at Worcestershire County Council (Wilson) and shared freely for others to adopt on a Creative Commons licence. It was described as a way to engage the workforce in the basics. Mandatory. It is also a model to address costs…
IPO, DWP, Manchester City Council and Sheffield Hallam University etc. However this baseline of skills is not a set standard or mandated by government. Other models of training to simplify the understanding of accessibility principles have also seen success…such as?
so even though work has been done to address skills and adoption with models of practice are emerging in this area it’s clear that education and progress in this area is slow and there is still a strong need to promote further awareness and adoption both nationally and internationally.
Beyond the workplace….
The education curriculum in universities, colleges and schools however appears to be lacking. It has been identified in the US that only 3% of any computer or web courses refer to accessibility (Sonka), in other countries, and in the UK this appears to uphold the trend.
There have been attempts to add the topic to the curriculum such as IT2008 and other attempts, yet this still appears not to have happened. Educationally progress is slow.
In conclusion even though the government has invested in guidance and a specialised apprenticeship for digital accessibility, the education and uptake in this area is sparse. As echoed by most recent studies there is still considerable work to be done.
Where this type of learning has been introduced there are still challenges…such as engagement…unlearning…perceptions built up over time about the complexity of this subject matter.
Making sure that university courses are preparing students for industry the WCAG guidelines have been used to underpin and scaffold the learning process in subjects such as computing, web development and human interface design.
Conclusion is that WCAG is not ideal for beginners. However exposure to the subject area heightens awareness even though the technical application of it can be challenging to learn.
Where digital accessibility has been taught from the perspective of user needs or empathy this has helped to understand the subject contextually…
However paper that recognises the lack of awareness education on the curriculum says learners and teachers can see the value of this being added to the curriculum. They surveyed those before and after an intervention to measure the value of the subject.
In most cases Learners appear to start with no prior knowledge or awareness to build from or understand the subject. This strongly suggests the need to start awareness earlier so there is a foundation of awareness to begin with.
The Complexity appears to come from multiple perspectives to teach it from, conceptual understanding, procedural knowledge and technical skills development (Lewthwaite) - three way dance. A Multiple perspective and stakeholder approach to the subject seems to have more impact - Teach Access etc - rather than teaching one element in isolation. This suggests a multi-disciplinary approach to teaching digital accessibility and universal design principles and skills.
QUOTES:
ACCESSIBLE AT LAST (Lewthwaite?)
*Still concerns that progress in compliance is slow - recent homepage reports.
To align to the regulations and to support the legal agenda, Lewthwaite and James (2020) suggest accessibility education is needed to build digital capacity, particularly within the workplace, and within educational disciplines of computer science, human computer interaction and web development.
*These regulations have changed the landscape of digital accessibility for those who need it.
As Lewthwaite and James (2020) state, these moves now offer a concrete legal impetus towards digital accessibility and the success or failure in the public sector will be centrally monitored for the first time helping to raise awareness and the encouraging of best practice. They explain that as a result, for the first time, disabled people will have a clear route for reporting accessibility issues, to request alternative formats and reporting non-compliance issues to external monitoring organisations. This legal move has been fully welcomed by disability advocate organisations and professionals that support inclusive practices to improve transparency and improve accessibility amongst website users (JISC, 2019, GDS, 2018).
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