Our journey to creating diverse, inclusive and accessible content.

At Oxford University Press Australia & New Zealand (OUPANZ) we are changing to make learning work for anyone, anywhere. Learning changes lives – and we’re here to drive that change. We support people wherever and however they want to learn, so they can achieve their learning goals and uncover new possibilities. Today, we reach more learners than ever, in more ways than ever. And we’re just getting started.

Ensuring the teaching and learning content we develop is diverse and inclusive

We aim to publish content that reflects the diversity of our audience and promotes inclusivity. We see this as part of the pursuit of our mission to improve the lives of young people and all learners, and increasing the educational value of our publishing.

Diversity encompasses many different facets, including:

• ethnicity, heritage and culture
• sex, gender and gender identity
• sexual orientation
• disability (physical conditions, cognitive impairments and learning difficulties) and neurodivergence
• family set-up
• maternity and pregnancy
• age
• social and economic backgrounds and status
• religious and cultural beliefs
• appearance (including body image and body diversity).

Inclusion is about ensuring that all people – including those who experience marginalisation due to one or more of the above factors – feel safe, supported and able to participate fully.

Diversity and Inclusion Content Framework

In content development, diversity and inclusion is about who is represented in our content and how they are represented. We have implemented a Diversity and Inclusion Content Framework and its purpose is to communicate how principles of diversity and inclusion underpin our content development processes, and to provide context and information to support our team as we continue to learn from each other. Just like a writing style guide, this framework is designed to be a useful reference at many different stages of product development, from author briefing to marketing. The Diversity and Inclusion Content Framework will continue to evolve and grow over time.

Ensuring the teaching and learning content we develop is accessible

Another important element of the pursuit of our mission is to ensure that the teaching and learning resources we develop are accessible for all.

At OUPANZ, we have a team of Accessibility Champions that understands why accessibility is important and champions our journey of continuous improvement. We have begun the journey to ensure that our education platform, Oxford Digital, and the teaching and learning content it serves, is increasingly accessible over time. As we progress, we’ll provide an updated list of milestones achieved.

Achieved

• We can provide alternative file formats for all our titles for students with print disabilities so they can be converted to alternative formats such as braille, audio and large print. Please note:
  • We are only able to provide files for titles published by OUPANZ, but we can facilitate requests for titles published by other OUP branches in other countries.
  • We can provide texts in PDF or Word formats for most current titles, but some older titles are not available in our archives.
• Adobe ‘Read Out Loud’ can be used to read text. For help, visit: https://www.adobe.com/acrobat/hub/how-to/how-to-read-pdf-aloud. Due to the format and design of some pages, some sections of text might read out of order. We are working towards improving this experience.

In progress

• Compliance with WCAG2.1 guidelines
• Our Content Accessibility Framework and Guidelines
• Improving the audio experience for reading texts in Oxford Digital
• Ensuring all videos in Oxford Digital include closed captions
• A new digital content development process that will ensure content in Oxford Digital is accessibility compliant from the outset

We are always ready to listen to you about how we can help all students achieve their learning goals. For all Diversity, Inclusion and Accessibility queries, please contact us at accessibility.au@oup.com. For all other queries, please go to oup.com.au/help.