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SOLAS Adopts ALTITUDE Charter and Supports Call for Universal Design to be Embedded in Tertiary Education
SOLAS/09.04.2025
SOLAS has adopted ALTITUDE, the National Charter for Universal Design (UD) in Tertiary Education, highlighting our commitment to fostering an equitable, UD-informed Further Education and Training (FET) learner experience across the FET sector.
The ALTITUDE Charter is a cross organisational initiative to embed a UD approach sector wide, with the aim of creating a tertiary education system where all learners are included and have their needs met through universal design in education. Developed by national agencies, Education and Training Boards (ETBs), and higher education institutions (HEIs), the charter outlines principles and practices that can help practitioners support learners’ individual needs, strengths and learning preferences, and reduce barriers to learning by building flexibility, accessibility, learner voice, and choice in the fabric of the learning interactions they design.
FET continues to play a critical role in fostering inclusion and providing access to education for all learners, particularly those under-represented in society. With one in ten adults in Ireland engaged in FET activity last year, a flexible and responsive approach is required to meet the evolving support needs of our diverse learner community which, in 2023, included 5,596 learners who reported difficulty with learning, remembering or concentrating and 3,735 learners with an intellectual disability.
As fostering inclusion of learners was a key pillar of the FET Strategy 2020 – 2024, actions taken by SOLAS and the FET sector during this time have included embedding UD principles across all FET provision to ensure that we can meet the needs of learners through an inclusive approach. Through the next FET strategy, SOLAS will continue to work with key stakeholders to ensure that FET provides inclusive learning environments, in line with the ALTITUDE Charter.
Welcoming SOLAS’s adoption of ALTITUDE, Andrew Brownlee, CEO of SOLAS said:
“A key part of our role in SOLAS is to ensure that the FET sector caters to and is accessible for everyone and we are delighted to adopt the ALTITUDE Charter.
As an organisation we are responsible for driving transformation, growth, and reform within FET, as well as ensuring that we continue to make important progress in how FET is delivered and widening participation to those most marginalised in our communities. SOLAS’ support with the ALTITUDE Charter, and the support from the wider FET sector is key to creating a supportive and inclusive environment where the huge diversity of FET learners can reach their full potential.
I strongly encourage all tertiary education organisations to join us in adopting the ALTITUDE Charter, so that all learners in this country can benefit from a UD led approach.”
Universal Design, or UD for short, offers us an evidence-based approach to engender this mindset, and is increasingly seen as a central tenet of our response to rising diversity, (Centre for Excellence in Universal Design, 2022). But how can we embed a UD approach in our institutions?
Funded by the Higher Education Authority (HEA), the ALTITUDE Project is an extensive cross sectoral collaboration involving six national agencies, fifteen higher education (HE) institutions and six Education and Training Board (ETB) representatives of the Further Education and Training (FET) sector. The Charter was launched in Spring 2024, alongside an accompanying technical report and implementation toolkit.
The vision of the project looks to a future in tertiary education where ‘all learners are transformatively included through universal design in education’, deriving the name ALTITUDE. It seeks to move us in that direction by supporting HEIs and ETBs to make sustainable progress towards systemically embedding a UD approach…. - one which places human diversity at the heart of tertiary education design and fosters student success for all learners.
The ALTITUDE Charter, and the associated toolkit and technical report, build on significant existing work on UD in the Irish tertiary education landscape (Kelly & Padden, 2018), and through these outputs, provides a clear roadmap for institutions to make progress.
Drawing from national and international literature, the Charter recommends key strategic enablers, which institutions should put in place over time to support the sustainable implementation of UD, and proposes collaborative action to work towards goals under 4 key pillars of our institutions:
· Learning, Teaching & Assessment;
· Supports, Services & Social Engagement;
· the Physical Environment;
· the Digital Environment
Institutions who adopt it will over time benefit from:
· a more unified language of and commitment to a universal design approach in their institution
· a greater culture of shared responsibility for UD, access, and inclusion, operationalising the ‘Inclusion is Everyone’s Business’ mindset.
· a more effective and learner centred approach to compliance with national legislation and policy
· and most importantly, the iterative development of programmes, services, and environments that enable equitable opportunities for all learners to thrive and be successful.
The cross-sectoral development of the ALTITUDE Charter represents a landmark moment for the tertiary education sector, signalling its intent to place human diversity at the heart of its design and delivery.
The Charter pillars provide a robust framework to further enhance the existing range of inclusive supports across teaching, learning and assessment, digital and physical learning environments and support services and social engagement. Vital mechanisms for supporting staff and learner communities to strategically embed Universal Design, such as UD and UDL-focussed CPD for practitioners and those beyond the classroom, have a direct positive impact on the learner experience, and by extension the reputation of tertiary institutions.
The ALTITUDE Charter, Toolkit and Technical Report are all available to view here.