Toolkits - Information For Academics and Placement Supervisors

The law and University policies and procedures

In light of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA), institutions should review their policies and procedures for disabled students undertaking placements and field trips, improving where necessary to provide more equality.

Understanding the placement process and how it relates to the course and the student's educational development is essential.

"An effective placement learning opportunity is one in which the aims and intended learning outcomes are clearly defined and understood by all parties and where the responsibilities of the higher education institution, placement provider and student are made explicit."
(Introduction to the QAA Code of Practice on Placement Learning)

The Disability Rights Commission has excellent information concerning the legal responsibilities surrounding placements and employment.

Consider the following key stages and activities:

Course planning

The DDA says institutions have a responsibility to anticipate the needs of disabled students and make reasonable adjustments in advance. Such needs should be considered at the course planning stage, particularly where a work placement or field trip is an integral part of the course.

Adjustments may be required to the placement, including to learning objectives. If some students have gaps in their experience and skills, these may be addressed through adapted objectives.

The willingness to adapt and improve accessibility could be communicated to potential applicants in promotional course information. Appropriate supportive processes, such as the following, are important:

Placement approval

Student work placements involve a range of relationships, rights and responsibilities. Some are legal. Others are negotiable between the student, institution and placement provider.

The institution's relationship with the placement provider is often informal. However, the institution has a legal responsibility towards students to ensure that discrimination does not take place and reasonable adjustments are made during the work placement.

Institutions should therefore have procedures for ensuring the quality and accessibility of placements before they are approved. These include arrangements to ensure disabled students will be appropriately supported. A written agreement with the placement provider, which outlines the responsibilities of the placement provider, the institution and students, may be helpful. This could cover:

physical access to the workplace
responsibility for assessing the individual needs of disabled students
who (the institution or the placement provider) will pay for any adjustments that need to be made for disabled students
responsibilities for health and safety in the workplace
procedures for risk assessment of activities associated with the work placement
procedures for responding to any difficulties, including complaints and health emergencies
procedures for providing feedback to the institution and the disabled student on the student’s progress.

Institutions should also advise placement providers of their expectation that disclosure of disability should not lead to discrimination in the workplace.

Physical access

In some cases institutions may want to carry out an access audit of a provider’s premises so that they are fully aware of the appropriateness of the employer for possible future placements. Such an audit might be undertaken by an access consultant or - less formally - by the placement organiser or disability staff from the institution. Employers may be persuaded employers to carry out or fund the audit themselves in response to their own responsibilities under the DDA. Such an audit might cover the following:

Building layout: approaches, entry points, lifts, toilets, work stations, reception areas, parking facilities, internal corridors, staircases, public areas (including canteens) and rest areas
Fixtures and fittings: handles, taps, signage, power sources, lighting, counters
Furniture: desks, chairs, filing cabinets
Equipment: computer hardware and software, communication aids
Other facilities: access to public transport and amenities
Noise levels
Emergency egress procedures

Monitoring procedures

Institutions should monitor and review the effectiveness of their procedures for securing effective work placements for disabled students. Monitoring may identify any particular issues faced by disabled students such as restricted choice or poorer quality work placements. It may also identify disadvantage for such students in relation to ethnicity and/or gender.

Complaints, harassment and discrimination procedures

Complaints procedures should make clear who students can contact if problems arise. However, complaints processes can be slow. It is therefore important that placement organisers can respond quickly and appropriately to solve problems, so students’ learning experiences are not interrupted.