Inclusive Baseline Standards

Institutional Standards for Inclusive Learning and Teaching

The following standards are based on guidance from the Department for Education and were agreed by the University’s Taught Student Education Board in 2018 and support us to deliver our Student Education Strategy for taught student provision, as well as being integral to the delivery of our Access & Student Success Strategy for 2025-2030. 

1. We will ensure that all learning and teaching practices, activities, and supporting materials, can be used by all students. (Reasonable adjustments may still be required in some circumstances.)
2. We will release materials in advance so that students have sufficient time to engage with them prior to scheduled sessions.
3. We will ensure that there is an appropriate range of assessment methods at a programme level, and that the language used in assessment tasks is clear.
4. We will ensure that colleagues are up to date with the institutional assessment strategy.
5. The University will support staff to achieve these baseline standards.
6. Schools will identify academic inclusivity leads to help embed guidance in local contexts.

These standards are deliberately broad so that they can be applied across all disciplines. In practical terms, our Inclusive Curriculum Priorities provide a more tangible framework aligning to the Leeds Curriculum, to show what activities should be expected and monitored in all schools to help achieve these baseline standards.

The Inclusive Curriculum Priorities span 5 themed areas:

• Respond to the 2010 Equality Act for Disabled Students (competence standards & reasonable adjustments) 
• Enable an accessible & welcoming Virtual Learning Environment
• Embed inclusive assessment practices
• Incorporate decolonial education principles
• Create communities in the classroom 

Further guidance for University of Leeds staff can be found on the Inclusive Curriculum Priorities page of the Accessibility & Inclusivity SharePoint.

Last updated: 16/01/26