Driving awareness and understanding of digital accessibility through apprenticeships
In September 2024, I became the first person in the world to complete a Digital Accessibility Specialist apprenticeship. The two-year programme, pioneered by the Met Office, was the first of its kind, both in the Civil Service and globally.
While it’s too early to determine what the legacy of this apprenticeship will be, I hope I’m the first of many individuals to become an expert in this field through an apprenticeship. Collectively, we can embed accessibility into all we do.
One of the things I’ve been deliberately conscious of, and acted upon throughout my apprenticeship, is leaving the Met Office in a better place than when I joined – whether that is through building a consistent approach to how accessibility is reviewed, or by seeking to build a community where common concern about the importance of accessibility cannot only be fostered, but can be leveraged to maturing accessibility in all we do.
Although it is early days in my career at the Met Office, the start we’ve made is as unconventional as it is unprecedented, because it has been driven by an apprentice – but I have not done it alone. I’ve been fortunate to be supported by accessibility champions that work across the Met Office from a variety of business areas including, testing, business analysis, communications, procurement and knowledge information management, people and user experience.
My approach to embedding accessibility and inclusion into my work has been driven by three principles:
- Always be willing to meet people where they are at, and treat every meeting as a means to declare and demonstrate why digital accessibility is important.
- Provide people with an understanding about what accessibility means practically so that they can make digital accessibility a conscious consideration within their work.
- Seek out opportunities to embed accessibility into the teams and organisational functions which enable accessibility to be thought about earlier.
This approach recognises that digital accessibility spans across everything we do at the Met Office, and that digital accessibility has a function in ensuring that our world-changing work is perceivable, usable and understood by everyone.
This is transformative work and it will require a collective effort across the Civil Service for the founding purpose of this apprenticeship to be realised in the future. The stuff we do matters and maybe embedding digital accessibility into your work is a little thing that can make a huge difference.
My journey to the Met Office hasn’t been a straight path. From studying Religious Studies at Wolverhampton University, to roles as a Teaching Assistant and a Support Worker in Wiveliscombe, each experience has deepened my understanding of people’s diverse needs and perspectives. This varied background has created the perfect foundation for my apprenticeship journey in digital accessibility.
I would encourage anyone considering applying for an apprenticeship to think about all the transferable skills and knowledge that you have – you already have more relevant experience than you realise. Try and think through how that connects to the apprenticeship standard. This will give you something to research, relate to and share with a prospective employer.
I think in terms of specific advice about digital accessibility, it’s about finding a space where you can confidently share what you’re learning with others. My engagement with the Civil Service Southwest Ambassador Network (CS SWAN) has provided the space to share why digital accessibility is important with other apprentices. This platform hasn’t just helped spread awareness – it’s helped me develop into a more confident public speaker too.
In my working life, I’ve often reflected on what drives us to help others and how these actions shape who we become. I wrote this poem to capture those transformative moments – both big and small – that occur when we dedicate ourselves to making a difference. It’s about the ripple effects of our work, and how in serving others, we often discover parts of ourselves we never knew existed through our civil service.
The Stuff We Do.
It’s the stuff you do for others…
The things you do
To make the world
A better-place
It’s the stuff that people remember
Long after you’re gone
The way you worked with them; for them
And the way you made them feel.
It’s the stuff you do that makes sense
Without knowing the rationale or the why
The stuff that orientates you
And carries you through
Becalm and storm alike.
It’s the stuff that transforms you –
That in the doing
You become more than you
Ever thought you’d ever be.
This is the stuff you hope to do for a life-time.
Because it changes you as you help make the world a better-place.
– Adam Keane