Access to Higher Education for all Students A Duty or a Luxury?

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Access to Higher Education for all
Students A Duty or a Luxury?
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Why this title?

• Myriam Van Acker (1996)
• accessibility for people with disabilities to
  Higher Education is not a luxury but a duty for
  society that offers everyone equal rights.
• How are we doing?

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Agency Member Countries
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Shared Aims

• The aim of this conference, the Transnational
  project and the Examples of Practice document is
  an aim shared by the Agency - sharing of
  information on policy and practice
  internationally to support learning and
  development for all involved

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Agency Work
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Provision in Post-Primary Education
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www.european-agency.org/site/info/publications/ag
ency/ereports/18.html
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Two parameters of Access

• Access to HE - opportunities to gain initial
  entry into an HEI
• Access within HE - support for full participation
  in all aspects of studying within HE

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HE institutional level support

• Statements or action plans for students with SEN
• Support service, office, team or person
• Different types of support offered
• Academic support
• Specialist study support materials
• Accommodation/housing
• Health services
• Financial advice
• Counselling

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Students Responsibility

• Students with SEN being given
• Possibilities for taking and developing
  responsibility for their learning decision-making
  and situations
• The responsibility for decision-making regarding
  their long-term future

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Teachers Responsibility

• A developing focus of HE support services away
  from students, towards supporting mainstream
  teachers to support all learners in their classes
• Initiatives to encourage all teaching staff to
  become more responsible and able to respond to
  the needs of students with SEN
• These points apply to administrators and HE
  managers as well as teachers

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National level support services

• Umbrella support services or organisations
  providing support and advice for students with
  SEN
• National organisations or NGOs that offer support
  and advice to students with SEN
• Support services involving networks of HEIs

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National level tasks

• General awareness raising regarding the rights
  and entitlements
• Co-ordination of different sources of information
• Networking of disability support staff working at
  an institutional level
• Provision of a forum for different interest
  groups and stakeholders to meet and exchange
  information

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The Future of Support Services

• Short term aim - integrated services
• Mid term aim - transfer of responsibility to
  teachers
• Long term aim - redundancy

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Entitlements to access and support within HE

• What are the trends and developments in
  legislation in different European countries?
• Are there aspects of good practice policy that
  are highlighted in the Transnational Projects
  guide and proposals?

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General Disability Legislation

• National level legislation covering all aspects
  of public services
• Guarantees rights of access to services
• International legislation such as the UN
  regulations on Equalisation of Opportunity for
  People with Disabilities may be applicable
• Denmark, Germany, Iceland as examples
• Issue countries may have more than one act or
  regulation covering equality of opportunity

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General Disability Legislation with Specific
Elements that Refer to HE

• Three elements mainly evident
• definition of disability
• outline of general duties of organisations to
  promote equality
• specific duties for HEIs
• France, Italy, UK as examples

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Specific Legislation Relating to HE

• Different forms
• Dictation that HEIs enrol a certain percentage of
  students with SEN each year (Greece, Portugal,
  Spain)
• Specific budget reservations for SEN support
  (Sweden)
• Possibility for additional grants and financial
  support (Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Poland,
  Sweden)
• specific entitlements to support for example
  exemptions/alternative arrangements in
  examinations (Austria, Cyprus, Denmark, Flanders,
  Hungary and Italy)

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A Range of General and Specific Laws

• In effect, most countries
• Focus on equal rights for all students and to
  combat discrimination based on gender, ethnical
  group, religion, sexual orientation or disability
• Core principles of accessibility for all and
  universal design design are developing features
  (for example in Norway)

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Trends?

• Ongoing developments in general disability
  related as well as HE specific legislation
• Changes in some countries legislation has dual,
  inter-connected aims
• improving individual rights and entitlements
• balancing this with the responsibilities of HEIs

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Cause and Effects?

• Impetus for change
• changes in societal views of disability
• raising of expectations for different progression
  pathways for students who have experienced
  inclusive provision in compulsory education
• European legislation
• Litigation
• Positive developments in making learning
  environments more easily accessible in all
  respects (Hurst 2006)

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A Quote from the Partnership Guide

• In all countries, we are still a long way from
  finding a university which can claim quite
  justifiably to be a genuinely inclusive place
  which meets the diverse range of students needs
  in all of its routine policies, procedures and
  practices including international exchanges and
  work placements/study overseas
• It can be argued the same is true at policy level
  - no country has got it right

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Barriers to and within HE

• Physical barriers
• Access to information
• Access to support
• Attitudes
• Entitlements

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Allan Vibur, Estonia

• European Parliament Hearing
• I had the luck to grow up together with great
  changes in my country
• step by step
• No one wonders when they are studying in the
  mainstream schools and the universities
• The attitude has changed. Young Estonians with
  special needs do their best to get a good
  education and a real good job in the future

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Value Added Provision

• What is good for students with special
  educational needs (SEN) is good for all students
• Aspects of successful inclusive practice in
  compulsory education that need to be examined,
  considered and studied within the HE sector
• Co-operative teaching and learning
• Heterogeneous grouping
• Alternative ways of learning

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Possible ways ahead

• More information on best practice in policy and
  provision for supporting students with SEN is
  required at International and National levels
• There is not only a need to share this
  information, but also work towards guidelines
  that make certain minimum levels of provision an
  entitlement

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Inclusive Policies

• All policies consider and account for the needs
  of all learners from the beginning
• Policies should be
• trans-sectoral
• underpinned by a philosophy of meeting all needs
• have long-term vision, but reflect local level
  needs
• Phases of policy development
• short term recognisable (separate) specific
  action plan/strategy
• medium term part of general strategy plans
• long term not mentioned, accepted as a given

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Inclusive HE as a natural progression

• Students with SEN can only reach their full
  educational potential if there are real
  opportunities for building on their achievements
  from compulsory education in inclusive settings
  in HE
• As Myriam pointed out, this should be a duty,
  not a luxury

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More Information

• Amanda Watkins
• amanda_at_european-agency.org
• European Agency for Development in Special Needs
  Education
• www.european-agency.org