Part 4 of the DDA places duties on those providing education.

What duties do education providers have?

Education providers are required to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ for disabled students and pupils to enable them to access the educational services. The duties include all areas of education, schools, colleges, universities, adult education and youth services.

Education providers have a duty:

• not to treat disabled students or pupils less favourably than non-disabled students or pupils without justification

• to make reasonable adjustments to policies, practices and procedures that may discriminate against disabled students or pupils

• to provide education by a ‘reasonable alternative means’ where a physical feature places a disabled student/pupil at a substantial disadvantage

Important note: Under Part 4, there is no specific duty on education providers to make adjustments to physical features of premises. Instead, there is a duty on local education authorities in England and Wales to plan strategically and increase the overall accessibility to school premises and the curriculum.

Post-16 providers

There are additional duties placed on providers of post-16 education. These are as follows:

• not to discriminate against existing and prospective disabled students by treating them less favourably in the provision of student services

• to make reasonable adjustments to provide auxiliary aids

• to make adjustments to physical features – this is an anticipatory and continuing duty

Many schools or further/higher education providers are also service providers, and therefore also have duties under Part 3. For example, many educational premises are used for evening classes, exhibitions or parents’ evenings.

For further guidance on the duties the DDA places on education providers, refer to the following:

• Code of practice for schools
• Code of Practice for providers of post-16 education and related services