‘Reasonable Accommodations’ are in essence, the legal term for what can be described in FET as the supports we put in place to enable disabled learners participate equitably on a course or programme. We provide reasonable accommodations to ensure learners with disabilities have the best platform for success on our courses, and so we can meet our moral and legal obligations.

Under a range of legislation, disabled people have a legal right not to be discriminated against in accessing and fully participating in education and employment. Underpinning this right is the legal obligation of education providers and employers to provide ‘reasonable accommodations’ to disabled people to enable their full participation on an equitable basis.

A maturity model is a tool designed to help organisations reflect on their current practices and identify strengths and areas for growth and improvement. Rather than serving as a strict standard or compliance measure, it encourages self-reflection, self-improvement, and continuous growth. By using this model, ETBs can collectively evaluate their provision of disability support from different perspectives, identify strengths, and plan for future enhancements.

It supports quality assurance by helping teams map out their journey towards better policies and practices, focusing on continuous development rather than meeting fixed benchmarks.

The Maturity Model is a tool aimed at centralised ETBs, rather than at individual colleges and centres. Its primary purpose is to support self-review and improvement planning in the provision of FET disability support services within the ETB. Think of it as an important tool in quality assuring and future-proofing FET provision for disabled learners, providing the ETB with a clearer picture of strengths and areas for improvement. The tool can support the design of annual service plans and future strategic performance agreements, as well as informing applications for funding, such as funding for new staffing posts, or capital funds to support accessibility of infrastructure improvements.

The associated checklists for review of reasonable accommodations and the communication of supports are more detailed are focussed on specifc areas, so relevant individuals/functions can lead on their use, such as the learner support and communcations teams.

Overall, the tool should be used as part of a collaborative review and improvement planning process. In other words, no single professional in the ETB should be tasked with its completion. Rather, the Director of FET should ensure that a range of professionals with knowledge and understanding of different aspects of ETB provision contribute to its use, for example staff in:

• Senior Management
• Disability/Learner Support
• Organisational Support and Development, in particular staff with responsibilities for Buildings, ICT, Finance and Procurement
• Quality Assurance
• Communications
• Professional Learning and Development

Equally, it is likely that reach-out to local colleges and centres to map the support services provided across the ETB may be required to gather a full picture of related information and use the tool strategically.

Before beginning to use this tool within the ETB, it’s useful to consider whether existing committees or working groups with ETB structures could provide a useful forum to discuss and action its use, for example committees set up to implement the Public Sector Duty.

Useful information about how and why you should use the Maturity Model, and the associated checklists, is laid out in the User Guide.

In 2024, AHEAD and ETBI released the findings of scoping research on the provision of Reasonable Accommodations in FET to better understand current practices across the sector and the experience of learners with disabilities seeking accommodations. It highlighted areas of strength, as well as significant challenges for ETBs in delivering reasonable accommodations and significant gaps in provision which must be addressed. 

In 2024, AHEAD and ETBI formed the Reasonable Accommodations in FET Feedback Group, to oversee the AHEAD development of a series of outputs to support ETBs to address systemic barriers to consistent learner support identified in the research. This group featured 28 staff members made up of 1-2 nominated staff members from 13 ETBs in range of support and management roles at both the ETB and the college/centre levels, as well as AHEAD/ETBI staff and an external reviewer.

The tools on this page are some of the outputs developed by AHEAD under the guidance of the group.