Access to learning and teaching
2.5 Once a student is admitted into a school, it is the responsibility of the school to meet the student’s
learning needs. This includes provision of access to learning and teaching with suitable access
arrangements.
2.6 As access arrangements serve to reduce or remove barriers to learning, the first step in planning for
access arrangements is to identify the barriers. Observation of the student in the classroom, information
from past teachers, parents/legal guardians or the student about previously identified challenges,
anecdotal information from parents/legal guardians about what they currently observe at home, combined
with reports from professionals such as psychologists and doctors will all help to identify the barriers.
2.7 The inclusive access arrangements provided for a student must:
• be carefully individualized, evaluated and monitored
• be applied throughout the course of study
• reflect the optimal support that the student requires
• be based on current, not past, requirements
• be drawn from teacher observations in the classroom
• be considered in line with the eligibility criteria for inclusive access arrangements in this policy
• be strictly based on individual requirements (and not provided as a standard to all students with
learning support requirements in the school/classroom).
2.8 The access arrangements for a student must be based on the principle of optimal support, which means
that they must be accurately planned to remove or reduce barriers during teaching, learning and
assessment. They must neither be more nor less than what the student requires.
2.9 Inclusive access arrangements must be put in place as soon as the need for additional support is
identified by a professional such as a psychologist, observed (at school or at home) or after learning about a
previously identified challenge (such as when the student enters an IB programme).
2.10 The inclusive access arrangements for a student must be in place throughout the course of learning
and teaching, including for all formative assessments.
2.11 Access arrangements must be considered in instructional planning as part of universal design for
learning (UDL). To learn about UDL and how it can be used in the IB classroom, please refer to the
publication Using Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in the IB classroom.
2.12 While some inclusive access arrangements may apply to the classroom context, others may also be
applicable for IB summative assessment.
2.13 In some instances, a student may require an access arrangement for one subject but not another. For
example, a student may require support with a graphic organizer for writing history essays but would not
need the same type of support while working in science subjects. Sometimes, a barrier may exist within one
learning and assessment construct and a student may require a specific type of scaffolding in addition to
use of access arrangements. For example, a student with partial vision working on the visual elements of
the language and literature course will require enlarged papers and also scaffolding to understand
language through visual media.
2.14 A student’s access requirements may change over the course of their study. Their challenge or
condition may worsen (such as a medical condition) or improve (such as mental health difficulties), which
would alter their access requirements. For this reason, inclusive access arrangements for a student must be
2. Barriers to learning, teaching and assessment
Removing and reducing barriers
10 Access and inclusion policy