Accessible Learning Toolkit launched
The Archives for Learning and Education Section (ALES) of the Archives & Records Association UK & Ireland (ARA), has published an Accessible Learning Toolkit.
Archives are for everyone and are everyone’s history. So inclusion should be on the agenda of every service and of everyone working in archives. We know that children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) can engage meaningfully with archives, and so ARA wants to encourage more archive services to become more ‘SEND-friendly’.
Above all else, SEND-friendly archives need people who are confident in welcoming children and young people with SEND. One of the main barriers to inclusion is fear of the unknown and of saying or doing the wrong thing. Whilst engaging with children and young people with SEND might seem daunting it really isn’t! This toolkit aims to equip archive services with information, ideas, tools and language to reduce this fear and to increase accessibility and inclusion of children and young people with SEND in archive services which are SEND-friendly.
The toolkit’s introductory section includes information about equality, diversity and inclusion as well as types of SEND. The main sections will help services to design and deliver accessible learning experiences. These sections are overlapping but are also designed to be read individually – so people can start where they need to, whether that is Assess, Plan, Do, or Review. Each section includes top-tips, things to think about and a case study. Further case studies and resources are provided in the appendices along with templates for SWOT analysis and action plans. There’s also a section about ethics, safeguarding and legislation covering Ireland and the UK.
The work on the toolkit was led by a steering group comprising Alexandra Healey, Philip-Milnes-Smith and Laura Yeoman. Consultant, Sarah Wickham brought the project to final completion. A number of archive services and their partner organisations collaborated on the toolkit providing case studies and sharing their experiences with colleagues in online workshops. These services, which are already more SEND-friendly, want colleagues in the sector to know that they may already know more than they think they do about making their service accessible and that everyone can do something.
John Chambers, Chief Executive of the Archives and Records Association (UK & Ireland) said:
“We are very proud to have supported this toolkit. Whilst it is encouraging to see so many positive case studies of archive services becoming more SEND-friendly there is always more work to do. As the report says - becoming more SEND- friendly is a journey not a destination and you don’t have to do everything at once! I hope that this toolkit will make it easier for people to start that journey, or take it forward to the next step. I’d like to thank all our sector colleagues for their help in making this toolkit possible and particularly the ALES steering group for their hard work in getting this toolkit published and available to both the archive sector and the wider cultural sector in the UK and Ireland.”
The toolkit is available here.
The project was funded by ARA Research Fund.
An event to mark the launch of the toolkit will be held on 28 February 2022, online.
This online lunchtime talk from the Archives for Learning and Education Section of the Archives & Records Association UK & Ireland will take place in February, and is being given by Sarah Wickham a freelance consultant with over 25 years' experience working in archives and records management roles, in engagement and leadership.
Sarah was delighted to be commissioned by ALES to bring the Accessible Learning Toolkit to completion and to support the wider sector to become more 'SEND-friendly'. The toolkit aims to equip you with information, ideas, tools and language to take practical and proportionate steps to increase accessibility and improve the inclusion of children and young people with SEND in archives.
Her talk, ‘Practical steps to becoming a (more) accessible service - introducing the accessible learning toolkit’, will be held using Microsoft Teams at 1pm on Monday 28 February 2022. Afterwards, there will be the opportunity for questions and discussion with the speaker.
The event is free to attend for ARA Members / £10 to non-members book via Eventbrite here.
Archives for Learning & Education Section (ALES) of the Archives & Records Association UK & Ireland
The Archives for Learning and Education Section (ALES) advocates for the use of archives in formal education and informal learning activities. ALES provides skills training and shares useful tools, resources and examples of good practice with its members to help them deliver innovative and effective user learning experiences.
Email: ales@archives.org.uk
Twitter: @ARALearning