Sheffield Hallam is an inclusive community that recognises and celebrates difference.  We are committed to removing barriers to enable success for our community. To support our inclusive curriculum, Disabled Student Support, in consultation with the Students Union, has developed Hallam’s Baseline Inclusive Measures. These have been included in the Access and Participation plan and will be monitored and evaluated.

What are the Baseline Inclusive Measures?

The Baseline Inclusive Measures are reasonable adjustments that the university can apply universally to ensure that all students can access their teaching, learning, and assessment with fewer barriers at the start of their course. The Disabled Student Support team has reviewed the learning contract's reasonable adjustments and considered our legal obligations, and after feedback from research with the Students Union, we are implementing the following Baseline Inclusive Measures.

• Recordings of taught sessions or suitable alternatives will be made available to students in line with the code of practice
• Exams will continue to have 25% additional time (15 mins per hour)
• Teaching materials will be accessible
• Teaching materials will be available in advance

Who are the Baseline Inclusive Measures for?

We recognise that students who don’t identify as disabled may still experience barriers (either most of the time or temporarily) that impact their ability to study. 70% of Hallam students are included in the Access and Participation groups, which include Disabled students. We want to move away from a deficit model of disability, placing the onus on the student, to the Social Model of disability, which aims to reduce barriers that impact students' ability to study. These Baseline Inclusive Measures support all students to reach their potential and make the most of their studies.

Why are they important?

We recognise that students who don’t identify as disabled may still experience barriers (either most of the time or temporarily) that impact their ability to study. In addition, the university has a legal (Equality Act, 2010, Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) Accessibility Regulations (2018)) and moral duty;

• To improve the learning experience for all students 
• To meet our anticipatory duty in the Equality Act
• To meet our legal duty to provide accessible information
• To lessen the reliance on individual reasonable adjustments
• To ensure consistent provision and approach

How can I find out more?

Recordings of taught sessions or suitable alternatives will be made available to students in line with the code of conduct

• Why - to allow students to review or access taught sessions in a different way.
• How - Use Panopto and make sure your videos are accessible.  
• Further Support – Panopto guide, or contact the Digital Learning Team

Exams will continue to have 25% additional time (15 mins per hour)

• Why - to accommodate people with different needs and ensure everyone has the opportunity to succeed.  
• How – The exams team will automatically apply additional time to all exams to ensure that every student who needs it gets it.
• Further Support – The exams team will automatically apply the extra time to exams. So you don’t need to do anything else.

Teaching materials will be accessible – our teaching staff follow accessibility guidelines, which means the materials they design are easy to read, use, and understand.  

• Why - Accessible content is easier for everyone to access. It's the right thing to do, it benefits everyone, and it's the law.
• How – More information is available on the Digital Skills Hub, Remember to complete the Digital Accessibility module on Blackboard
• Further Support – Content Creation Support

Teaching materials will be available in advance – to allow people to read, hear, or adapt information before the session starts. 

• Why - this particularly helps part-time, distance, and commuting students and students with notetaking difficulties. It also helps students and those supporting them prepare for each session, which is especially important if they are neurodivergent, use British Sign Language, or have comprehension or focus issues.
• How – make digital versions available on Blackboard ideally two weeks in advance to allow time for advanced accessible formats to be created.

Find out more:

Sheffield Hallam Guidance

Visit the Disabled Students Support SharePoint site