Agenda and Papers - University of Edinburgh

Appendix 4
Senatus Teachability Task Group
May 2011
University–wide remit for the Co-ordinator of Accessible Learning (CAL)
and Co-ordinator of Adjustments (CoA)
At present many, but not all, Schools have an Academic Co-ordinator of Teachability
(ACT). In a number of Schools one person holds a joint ACT-CoA post, in other
Schools the posts are split between two academics, and in yet others they are split
between a member of academic staff and a member of administrative staff. In one
case (Molecular and Clinical Medicine & Clinical Sciences and Community Health)
the roles are more associated with programmes (e.g. MBChB) than Schools.
At College-level, HSS developed remits for each of these posts in 2005. At Schoollevel,
the majority (18 of 22) currently have no remit for the ACT role. However,
absence of a written remit should not be seen as indicative of a lack of good practice.
Several ACTs said that they would welcome a University-wide understanding of the
role.
A related issue is the fact that, in a number of Schools, it is very difficult to find the
ACT via the web/phone (although this information may be available to students in
course handbooks etc). In HSS this information is readily available on the Collegelevel
webpages, although it is not available on all School websites.
Note – the proposed recommendations draw on existing remits for these roles and on
the Disability Office’s ‘Manual for the Management of Adjustments to Academic
Processes for Disabled Students’ (due to be revised shortly). The recommendations
are designed to clarify the function of the two roles. In some cases, these
recommendations will result in a slight change of responsibilities for the existing
holder(s) of these posts. Schools may therefore wish to take the opportunity to review
which members of staff cover the roles and how the responsibilities are shared out.
As there was no previous University-wide remit for the CAL role, there is likely to be
variation across Schools in the extent to which the recommendations change the
responsibilities currently associated with this role. For some ACT/CALs there may be
new responsibilities, e.g. advising Boards of Examiners, sitting on School
committees, and contributing to the School QAE report. Other ACT/CALs may
already be involved in all of the proposed responsibilities.
CoAs were previously guided by the Disability Office’s Manual of Adjustments and,
in the case of HSS, the remit supplied by college. The tasks outlined do not differ
substantially from those listed in the manual, although in some Schools it may not
have been the CoA who fulfilled all of these tasks (e.g. they may not previously had
responsibility for ensuring that lists of offers from the Admissions Office were
reviewed). Additionally, the need for collaboration between the CoA and the CAL is a
new feature. The most substantial change is the ‘signing off’ of Adjustment
Schedules.
In the recommendations below the term ‘accessible learning’ has replaced
‘teachability’.
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