Document accessibility for education

Education sits across more than one accessibility regime, and which applies depends on the kind of institution. In the EU, the Web Accessibility Directive (EU) 2016/2102 covers the websites and mobile apps of public sector bodies, including the documents published through them. It lets member states exclude the websites and apps of schools, kindergartens and nurseries, except for content relating to essential online administrative functions. The UK took up that option: the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 do not apply to schools or nurseries, apart from the content of their sites and apps relating to those essential administrative functions.

Universities and colleges are in a different position. UK government guidance says most higher and further education providers are considered to be in scope of the 2018 Regulations because they depend on government funding, and it advises any provider unsure of its position to take legal advice. Separately, the Equality Act 2010 places a duty to make reasonable adjustments on further and higher education institutions, and section 20(6) says the reasonable steps include making sure information is provided in an accessible format.

The documents are where the work lies: prospectuses, course handbooks, reading lists, lecture slides exported to PDF, exam timetables, fee letters, and admission and enrolment forms. That last group matters for schools in particular, because a form parents need in order to use a school's services is the kind of administrative content the partial exemption leaves in scope. Under the UK Regulations, office files published before 23 September 2018 are exempt unless they are needed for active administrative processes, so an institution can concentrate on what it publishes now and on older forms still in use. A slide deck that was accessible in presentation software can lose its reading order or alternative text when exported, so the PDF students receive is the file worth checking.

Normfluss checks each PDF against PDF/UA-1 and the WCAG AA success criteria that apply to PDF, remediates it, and issues a signed evidence record stating which checks ran and what they found. Documents are processed in the EU. For an institution writing or updating its accessibility statement, a record per document gives the section on documents something concrete to rest on. The record documents conformance within a stated scope; whether the institution meets its legal duties is a determination for the institution and its advisors.