Equal opportunities in post-16 education
After the age of 16, schools and colleges can restrict access to particular courses to students who have achieved the necessary qualifications or who can prove they have the subject knowledge necessary to take the course. But they cannot restrict access to these courses – or any activity within the courses – on the grounds of disability, race, religion or belief, gender or sexual orientation. Neither further education nor higher education providers can restrict access to courses based on age.
Example
A student with a mobility impairment is told he cannot take part in a geography field trip because of his impairment – even though the activities proposed for the trip would not be difficult for him to participate in. The college gives the reason that the transport provided for the trip (a college minibus) is not accessible.
The student is being discriminated against on the grounds of his disability, because the college is not providing accessible transport. This could be an example of not making reasonable adjustments.
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Fair assessments
Assessments – like exams or oral assessments – should take place in a fair environment that does not give any students a particular advantage or disadvantage.
Assessors should always try to assess work as fairly as possible. Most exams after the age of 16 are marked anonymously to help ensure that students aren’t given any advantage or disadvantage. However, coursework may not be marked anonymously.
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Deferring exams
If a pupil is ill and unable to attend their exams, schools should try to find ways to ensure the pupil has the chance to do the exam – either from a different place or on a different date. But there is no requirement for them to do so: it’s up to the school to set its own policy, and up to the pupil to prove that they were unable to attend the exam.
If a pupil has a long-term illness which is defined as a disability under the Disability Discrimination Act, different rules may apply. Find out more about disability in education.
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Work placements and careers advice
Education providers do not have to provide work experience placements or careers advice for students. However, most colleges provide careers advice, and work placements are an integral part of many college or university courses.
Any careers advice given to students should be based on their abilities and interests, and not on their age, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation, gender or whether they have a disability. Some jobs do have specific requirements – such as language requirements or physical requirements (eg eyesight standards for pilots) – which may mean some people cannot do them. However, there are strict, and limited, rules on when employers can put these requirements into place.
In any work placement, it is up to employers to ensure that they treat students fairly and in a non-discriminatory manner. Employers must do a health and safety risk assessment before work placement students go onsite. Larger organisations may have a work placement recruitment policy: if so, policies must be fair and non-discriminatory.
Further and higher education institutions must make sure that disabled students have the same access to work placements as non-disabled students. This can present particular challenges. Find out more about work placements for disabled students.
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