Website accessibility statement in line with Public Sector Body (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018
This accessibility statement applies to https://schoolsonline.education.ed.ac.uk/
The University of Edinburgh Moray House Online webpages are run by the Data Education in Schools Team on behalf of the University of Edinburgh and content is provided by students and staff across the University of Edinburgh.
We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:
- change colours, contrast levels and fonts
- magnify the content
- experience no time limits to content
- navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
- listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)
We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand.
Customising the website
AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability. This is an external site with suggestions to make your computer more accessible:
AbilityNet – My Computer My Way
With a few simple steps, you can customise the appearance of our website to make it easier to read and navigate.
Additional information on how to customise our website appearance
If you are a member of the University staff or a student you can use the free Sensus Access accessible document conversion service.
How accessible this website is
We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:
The website is built on the WordPress platform using the Divi Theme with the Divi Accessibility plugin installed.
- Some of our PDFs provided as school resources may not be fully accessible to screen reader software
- Not all media will have a transcript or subtitles on our website or our Media Hopper channel. We are working to provide transcripts for videos by October 2020
- The hyperlinks within the site could be more informative to screen readers. Many have been provided as URLs so that learners, teachers, parents and carers can copy them for their own reference
- Not all non-text content has text alternatives
- Not all colour contrasts meet recommended guidance
- It may be difficult to access all the content using a screen reader
- The navigation across the site is not always consistent.
Feedback and Contact Information
If you need information on this service in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille:
If you need information on this website in a different format, including accessible PDF, large print, audio recording or braille:
- Email: dataschools@ed.ac.uk
- Phone Information Services Helpline on 0131 651 5151
We’ll process your request and get back to you within 5 working days.
If you are a member of the University staff or a Student you can use the free Sensus Access accessible document conversion service Information on SensusAccess Conversion Service
Reporting accessibility problems with this website
We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this service. If you find any problems that aren’t listed on this page or think we’re not meeting the requirements of the accessibility regulations, contact:
- Email: dataschools@ed.ac.uk
- Phone Information Services Helpline on 0131 651 5151
Enforcement procedure
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the ‘accessibility regulations’). If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint please contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS) directly.
Contact details for the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS)
The government has produced information on how to report accessibility issues:
Reporting an accessibility problem on a public sector website
Contacting us by phone using British Sign Language
British Sign Language service
contactSCOTLAND-BSL runs a service for British Sign Language users and all of Scotland’s public bodies using video relay. This enables sign language users to contact public bodies and vice versa. The service operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
contactSCOTLAND-BSL service details
Technical information about this website’s accessibility
The University of Edinburgh is committed to making its websites and applications accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.
This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.
The full guidelines are available at:
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA standard
Non accessible content
The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.
Noncompliance with the accessibility regulations
The following items do not comply with the WCAG 2.1 AA success criteria:
Some images and icons do not have alternative text and in some cases, the alternative text may not be as helpful as it could be.
Some seminars may be references within the website on the University’s media hopper service that have still to be provided with overlayed captions.
We host live seminars with up to 500 participants. There are no live captions although we do facilitate the use of signing by using a platform that allows a participant to have picture-in-picture signing. We also, on request, prioritise the subtitling of content.
The order of heading tags is not ordered correctly on all pages. Heading levels are occasionally skipped
A correct reading sequence of the page content does not always occur and new content can be opened without the focus switching to this. This is particularly the case when moving between landscape and portrait versions in tablet form.
Not all colour contrasts in some classroom resources meet the recommended guidance. These tend to be older resources which will be replaced in due course.
Some resources, generally in PDF and Word format, that have been developed by contributors may include images of text that are inherent to the understanding of that resource.
Most content will reflow but occasionally some content with large images will experience some difficulty.
1.4.10 Reflow and Focus Order 2.4.3
The focusable components on a page do not always receive focus during reflow
2.4.4. Link Purpose in Context
The purpose of each link cannot always be determined from the link text alone
Navigation by heading level is not always intuitive
Focus highlighting is not always easy to see in some of the more complex pages
Since this website contains resources for school aged learners, teachers, parents and carers, not all resources will be easily understood by all user groups. The content will be tagged to make searching of appropriate content easier.
Navigation is not always consistent, especially when navigating through resources on associated websites linked from this one.
Unless specified otherwise, a complete solution, or significant improvement, will be in place for those items within our control by June 2021
Disproportionate burden
We are not currently claiming that any accessibility problems would be a disproportionate burden to fix.
Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations
At this time we do not believe that any content is outside the scope of the accessibility regulations apart from live seminars which are being addressed.
What we’re doing to improve accessibility
Unless specified otherwise, a significant improvement, was in place for those items within our control by June 2021. Further work will be done on an ongoing basis to improve accessibility.
We will continue to monitor the accessibility of the system and will carry out further accessibility testing if significant changes are made to the user interface or if a service user raises an issue. We did manual accessibility testing in June 2021 Where we are working to resolve an issue or where we are unable to resolve an issue we will ensure reasonable adjustments are in place to make sure no user is disadvantaged.
We plan to add a page for writers of the web content to ensure the content added is as accessible as possible.
Since some of our content is contributed by students and staff across the university and serving teachers in primary, secondary and special schools, we will make training available to writers.
We plan to do manual testing by June
Information Services and Accessibility
Information Services (IS) has further information on accessibility including assistive technology, creating accessible documents, and services IS provides for disabled users.
Assistive technology, creating accessible documents, and services IS provides for disabled users
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 25/03/20. It was last reviewed on 02/09/2020.
This website was tested throughout the month of August 2020 and adjustments made to the underlying coding by the Data Education in Schools Team staff.
The website was tested using two methods. The tests were run on the four main page types as the content is generated dynamically to fit into these templates.
- Home page which is the landing page for the domain
- Search page which returns the results from all four searches available on the website
- Category page, containing excerpts of particular categories
- Posts which contain the contents from that individual post
Firstly using the Elegant Themes Divi Accessibility module in-built into the website. Besides adapting the underlying code itself, it has a built-in page testing functionality for Headings, Contrast, Link Text, Labels, Image alt-text and landmarks. It also has an experimental Screen Reader Wand which replicates a screen reader. Adjustments were made where possible during the testing and any other issues were recorded above to be addressed in future works.
Secondly, the online test facility at WebAim WAVE automated accessibility testing tool, which tests a broad range of accessibility parameters.
All eight tests returned errors which are identified above and will form the basis of remedial work going forward.