Accessible teaching materials: a practical guide for FE

Every learner meets your materials before they meet you. A slide deck that cannot be read by a screen reader, a handout with tiny type or a video with no captions creates a barrier for some learners, and an irritation for many more.

This guide shows you how to build accessibility into everyday materials, so that individual adjustments are the exception and not the rule. It is practical: formats, habits, a checklist and a worked example.

Why do accessible teaching materials matter more than individual adjustments?

Accessible design removes barriers for many learners at once, and saves time. If handouts are already in an editable, well-structured format, you do not need to rebuild them for each learner who uses a screen reader, magnifier or text-to-speech tool.

The legal background is as follows. The Equality Act 2010 prohibits discrimination against disabled students in further education (section 91). The duty to make reasonable adjustments in section 20 includes taking reasonable steps to provide information in an accessible format. Your college may also be subject to the public sector accessibility regulations for its website and apps, which require WCAG 2.2 at level AA and an accessibility statement. Check the GOV.UK guidance to see how that applies to you. The regulations cover websites and mobile apps; documents shared in a virtual learning environment have their own rules and exemptions, so ask your digital accessibility lead.

None of this is legal advice. Treat the law as the floor and learner need as the target.

What are the core habits of an accessible document?

GOV.UK’s guidance on publishing accessible documents is a good base. Its main points translate directly into teaching materials.

1. Use real headings. Apply heading styles (Heading 1, Heading 2) rather than bold text. Do not skip levels. Screen reader users navigate by headings.
2. Write plainly. Short sentences, familiar words, explain acronyms the first time. This helps learners with English as an additional language, dyslexia and anyone tired.
3. Format for readability. A sans serif font at 12 points or larger, left aligned, sentence case. Avoid all capitals, italics for long passages, underlining (except links) and justified text.
4. Write meaningful links. “Read the assessment brief” rather than “click here”.
5. Do not rely on colour alone. If a chart uses red and green, add labels or patterns.
6. Describe images. Add alt text to informative images and charts. Mark purely decorative images as decorative. Do not put key information only in an image of text.
7. Keep tables simple. Use them for data, with header rows, and no merged or split cells.
8. Use real lists. Use the list tool, not typed dashes or numbers.
9. Keep the layout simple. One column, a logical reading order, no footnotes or text boxes that float.
10. Check contrast. Text must stand out clearly from its background.
11. Run the accessibility checker built into your software before sharing.
12. Give files a short, descriptive name.

The W3C’s writing tips add transcripts for audio, captions for video, helpful page titles and clear form instructions.

What makes slides accessible?

Slides are the most common source of barriers in teaching. A good slide deck:

• Uses the slide layouts and placeholders in your software, so reading order and titles are correct.
• Has a unique title on every slide.
• Has one idea per slide and short text, and puts detail in notes or a handout.
• Uses at least 24 point type for body text where projected.
• Avoids text over busy images.
• Includes alt text for images and charts.
• Does not rely on animation or timing to convey meaning.
• Is shared in an editable format before the session, so learners can use their own settings.

Sharing before the lesson matters. A learner using a screen reader or text-to-speech needs time to read in their own way, and a learner who processes information slowly benefits from preparing.

What makes handouts and assessment briefs accessible?

Handouts and briefs are where deadlines, criteria and instructions live, so they deserve the most care.

• Put the task, deadline and what to submit at the top.
• Number multi-step instructions.
• Use headings so learners can find a section.
• Separate “what to do” from background reading.
• Define terms and avoid unexplained jargon.
• Keep the page uncluttered, with space between sections.
• Offer an editable file, not a scan.
• Do not use a scanned page or photo of text. It cannot be read by assistive technology.

For external qualifications, awarding bodies and employers may have their own requirements, for example for question papers. See the exam access arrangements guide.

What about video, audio and online learning?

Provide captions for recorded video, a transcript for audio, and avoid content that flashes. Check that online tools work with a keyboard alone and with screen readers. The W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.2) are the standard reference. They are organised around four principles: content must be perceivable, operable, understandable and robust. Our guide to WCAG 2.2 for education software explains how to use them when buying or building tools.

Live sessions need thought too:

• Share the plan and resources beforehand.
• Say what is on screen, not “as you can see here”.
• Allow breaks and let learners turn cameras off unless there is a clear reason.
• Offer a recording and a written summary where practicable.

What does this look like in practice?

Fictional example. A tutor teaches a Level 2 construction course. A learner, Tom, uses text-to-speech software and has difficulty with long dense paragraphs. The tutor’s existing materials are scanned PDFs of handwritten notes, photocopies of textbook pages, and slides with 30 words per line over a photograph.

The tutor does not rebuild everything. Over a term, she:

1. Starts with the three documents used every week. She rewrites them in a word processor with headings, numbered steps and short paragraphs, and shares them two days before each session.
2. Replaces the scanned notes with typed text and adds a photo with alt text where the diagram matters.
3. Changes the slide template to a plain background, 28 point text and one idea per slide.
4. Adds captions to the two videos she shows most.
5. Keeps a checklist at her desk and uses it before sharing anything new.

Tom now uses his software with the typed handouts and no longer needs a special version of each. Two other learners say the numbered steps help them too. Nobody was singled out.

What are the common mistakes?

• Scanned documents. They look like documents but are pictures. Assistive technology cannot read them.
• Bold text instead of headings. It looks the same and works differently.
• Fancy fonts and decorative layouts that reduce readability.
• Colour-coded instructions with no other cue.
• Locked PDFs that prevent learners changing the text or colours.
• Alt text that says “image” or repeats the caption.
• Sharing slides after the lesson.
• Treating accessibility as a one-off project. It needs to be part of how materials are made and checked.
• Fixing the document but not the process. Staff need templates, training and a quick way to check.

A checklist before you share

• ☐ The document has a clear title and uses real heading styles.
• ☐ Language is plain and acronyms are explained.
• ☐ Font is sans serif, 12 points or larger, left aligned.
• ☐ Links describe their destination.
• ☐ Images have alt text, or are marked decorative.
• ☐ Colour is not the only way to convey information.
• ☐ Tables have header rows and no merged cells.
• ☐ Lists use list formatting.
• ☐ Video has captions and audio has a transcript.
• ☐ The accessibility checker has been run.
• ☐ The file is in an editable format and shared in advance.

The accessible materials checklist is a printable version.

How do you build accessibility into your team’s routine?

One-off clean-ups fade. Habits last. Four low-effort steps help a department keep materials accessible.

1. Share templates. Provide a handout template and a slide template with correct headings, fonts and contrast already set. Staff who start from them get most of the way without thinking.
2. Agree a short standard. One page, using the checklist below. Say which formats are the default and who to ask for help.
3. Check by sampling. Each term, look at a few resources from each team, using the built-in checker and a screen reader or text-to-speech tool. Share what you find as learning, not blame.
4. Ask learners. A short, regular question such as “Which materials are hard to use, and why?” will find problems no checker can.

Remember that checkers find only part of the problem. They can tell you whether an image has alt text but not whether the text is useful, and whether headings exist but not whether they make sense. A quick read-through with the learner’s tools is the best test.

Keep an eye on third-party content too. Publisher resources, online platforms and embedded videos may not meet the standard you set for your own materials. Ask suppliers for their accessibility information before adopting a resource, and have a plan for providing an alternative if something is not usable. The same questions appear in the guide to choosing learner support software. Accessible materials help many neurodivergent learners and those using assistive technology.

How does Inclusion Studio support this?

Accessible materials are about your teaching resources, which sit outside Inclusion Studio. Where it helps is in recording what an individual learner needs, such as a preferred format, so tutors can see it in the learner’s support plan. The accessibility features page describes what is planned for the product’s own interface. Inclusion Studio is pre-pilot, with a clickable prototype using fictional learners; the production application is in development. Its accessibility statement will be kept current as the product develops.