In 2019, the Open University launched a free online course, Exploring Learning Disabilities: Supporting Belonging, aimed at the learning disability workforce. A year later, around 50,000 people have visited the course page, 11,206 have enrolled and 3,513 students have received badges after completing the course and its quiz.
Given the size of the learning disability workforce in England – 660,000 – these are impressive figures. An evaluation was completed by 825 students. Although the course is advertised as being for people with a learning disability, and their relatives and friends as well as paid staff, the majority of those completing the evaluation were workers. Feedback was very positive. More than 95% reported that the course had helped them to understand how to support people with learning disabilities. Most found the content interesting, useful, engaging and important, and thought the course was the right length.
Comments collected in the evaluation indicate some students valued it highly:
“As a recently qualified health professional, I covered some aspects of learning disabilities within my university course. However, it did not cover the breadth of information and did not give me an understanding of people with learning disabilities’ lives as this course did. I think this course should be compulsory training for all healthcare professionals.”
“It’s one of the best courses I have done. Thank you to all involved.”
“I would highly recommend this course. As someone who relies on benefits, I’m very grateful to be able to access excellent quality materials for free, as I simply can’t afford to pay.”
“I absolutely loved it – it expanded my knowledge and I learnt more than I ever anticipated and it made me want to explore more. Thank you.”
Most people studying the course were staff who were doing it for professional development. Many said they would consider further study on learning disability with the Open University having completed this introductory course. More than 90% were intending to tell their employer that they had achieved the course completion badge, although there are indications that people were choosing to study the course rather being asked to do so by an employer. Only a small minority did the course at work, with most studying at home.
It also attracted people who are considering work in the sector – 14% of respondents put themselves in this group.
Built on people’s stories
What distinguishes this course from vocationally oriented courses in the learning disability field?
We recall the breakthrough moment came at drawing-board stage when we consulted members of Central England People First about what should go into the course. At a day-long workshop, the strong message from these self-advocates was that it had to start with people’s stories. Simple advice – and it worked.
The format of the course relies heavily on videos. These feature a cast of characters, members of the Access All Areas learning disabled theatre company and the My Life My Choice self-advocacy body – Shaun, Dayo, Charlene, Terry and Cian. All have relatively mild learning disabilities and speak for themselves about having a learning disability, relationships, health, education and rights.
The course also features family members whose relatives cannot advocate for themselves: Clare and her daughter Elinor, and Phil who talks about his sister Bernie. The Open University team were kindly permitted to use extracts from Learn With Us, a video-led course to alert professionals to the perspectives of family carers. Therefore, the students encounter many individuals with different levels of impairment in a variety of life circumstances.
In putting the course together, we were able to draw on the expertise of Ian Davies, founder member of Central England People First and co-chair of the Social History of Learning Disability Research Group. He advised on the content and on accessibility. Endorsement from Learning Disability England, one of whose trustees had reviewed it with enthusiasm, was a welcome boost.
Of course, there are challenges. Although aimed at the four countries of the UK – as well as an international audience – policy divergences between the four nations make it difficult to achieve comprehensive coverage. Inevitably, because England’s population is larger and as the authors and contributors are based there, English legislation and assumptions prevail. Moreover, although the course is itself Covid proof as it is online, it does not cover the hugely important role of digital connectivity since the pandemic. If it were being designed today, thinking creatively about digital connectivity would feature much more prominently.
Using online communication in producing the course would also have allowed the voices of people in more distant parts of the UK to be heard. The popularity of this course suggests there is an appetite for learning in the sector that goes beyond directly vocational courses. Some creative thinking about using this free course might lead to new avenues for attracting and retaining people in this notoriously hard to staff sector.
l Exploring Learning Disabilities: Supporting Belonging is available via OpenLearn at: https://tinyurl.com/y6zsmnmd
Liz Tilley is senior lecturer in the Faculty of Health and Social Care at the Open University; Jan Walmsley is visiting professor in the history of learning disabilities at the Open University
