SIST-TP CEN/TR 17884:2022
(Main)ICT accessibility competences - Guidelines for a more inclusive ICT development
ICT accessibility competences - Guidelines for a more inclusive ICT development
This document specifies the knowledges, skills, responsibility and autonomy of ICT experts involved in the development of products and services (including digital contents) to increase the accessibility knowledge in different fields, for different competences and responsibilities.
This document:
- considers accessibility as "base line" (accessibility has been also recognized in EN 16234-1:2019 as a Transversal aspect);
- recognizes accessibility as the requirement in procurement for both public and private sectors;
- provides an overview of useful CEN, ISO and ESCO publications in the field;
- defines a set of knowledges, skills, responsibility and autonomy for different ICT areas to improve accessibility in the current professional roles and job positions (hardware, software, web);
- refers to ESCO ICT profiles, that can be adapted for the three main areas: hardware, software, web;
- refers to W3C activities for define knowledges, skills, responsibility and autonomy in web accessibility role profiles;
- supports activities for educational providers and exam/certification institutes.
This document should help, for example, to:
- avoid issues on the definition of third level profiles derived from European ICT Professional Role Profiles without missing accessibility requirements;
- enable easy application of accessibility related EU-level standards and references from CEN, ISO and ESCO;
- allow the market to adapt their current job profiles and/or training courses adding the accessibility skills.
This document supports the definition of knowledge and skills for each ICT professional role without creating new ICT role profiles which includes accessibility competences.
IKT-Zugänglichkeitskompetenzen - Leitlinien für eine umfassendere IKT-Entwicklung
Kompetence za dostopnost IKT - Smernice za širši razvoj IKT
General Information
Standards Content (Sample)
SLOVENSKI STANDARD
SIST-TP CEN/TR 17884:2022
01-december-2022
Kompetence za dostopnost IKT - Smernice za širši razvoj IKT
ICT accessibility competences - Guidelines for a more inclusive ICT development
IKT-Zugänglichkeitskompetenzen - Leitlinien für eine umfassendere IKT-Entwicklung
Ta slovenski standard je istoveten z: CEN/TR 17884:2022
ICS:
03.100.30 Vodenje ljudi Management of human
resources
35.020 Informacijska tehnika in Information technology (IT) in
tehnologija na splošno general
SIST-TP CEN/TR 17884:2022 en,fr,de
2003-01.Slovenski inštitut za standardizacijo. Razmnoževanje celote ali delov tega standarda ni dovoljeno.
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CEN/TR 17884
TECHNICAL REPORT
RAPPORT TECHNIQUE
September 2022
TECHNISCHER REPORT
ICS 03.100.30; 35.020
English Version
ICT accessibility competences - Guidelines for a more
inclusive ICT development
IKT-Zugänglichkeitskompetenzen - Leitlinien für eine
umfassendere IKT-Entwicklung
This Technical Report was approved by CEN on 19 September 2022. It has been drawn up by the Technical Committee CEN/TC
428.
CEN members are the national standards bodies of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia,
Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway,
Poland, Portugal, Republic of North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye and
United Kingdom.
EUROPEAN COMMITTEE FOR STANDARDIZATION
COMITÉ EUROPÉEN DE NORMALISATION
EUROPÄISCHES KOMITEE FÜR NORMUNG
CEN-CENELEC Management Centre: Rue de la Science 23, B-1040 Brussels
© 2022 CEN All rights of exploitation in any form and by any means reserved Ref. No. CEN/TR 17884:2022 E
worldwide for CEN national Members.
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Contents Page
European foreword . 3
Introduction . 4
1 Scope . 6
2 Normative references . 6
3 Terms and definitions . 7
4 ICT competences and accessibility . 7
4.1 State of art . 7
4.2 e-Competence Framework (e-CF) - A common European Framework for ICT
Professionals in all sectors - Part 1: Framework, EN 16234-1:2019 . 7
4.3 European ICT Professional Role Profiles, CWA 16458:2018 series . 8
4.4 Curriculum for training ICT Professionals in Universal Design, CWA 16266:2011 . 10
4.5 Foundational Body of Knowledge for the ICT Profession - Part 1: The Body of
Knowledge (ICT BoK), EN 17748-1 . 11
4.6 Information technology — Development of user interface accessibility — Part 1: Code
of practice for creating accessible ICT products and services, ISO/IEC 30071-1:2019
. 11
4.7 European Skills, Competences, Qualifications and Occupations (ESCO) . 12
4.8 Curricula on Web Accessibility, W3C . 13
5 ICT product requirements and accessibility . 14
5.1 Accessibility requirements for ICT products and services . 14
5.2 Accessibility goals for new ICT competences . 14
6 ICT accessibility competence requirements . 15
6.1 Rationale . 15
6.2 ICT competences and functional performances . 15
6.3 Common and base accessibility knowledge . 16
6.4 Digital Communication Role . 17
6.5 Education and Outreach Role . 18
6.6 Hardware Developer Role . 19
6.7 Software Developer Role . 20
6.8 Web Role Profiles . 21
Annex A (informative) ICT Accessibility Role Profiles examples . 26
Bibliography . 30
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European foreword
This document (CEN/TR 17884:2022) has been prepared by Technical Committee CEN/TC 428 “ICT
professionalism and digital competences”, the secretariat of which is held by UNI.
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of
patent rights. CEN shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
Any feedback and questions on this document should be directed to the users’ national standards body.
A complete listing of these bodies can be found on the CEN website.
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Introduction
Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) allows the removal of many of the remaining
barriers faced by persons with disabilities. With ICT increasingly integrated into every aspect of the
modern world, these ubiquitous technologies have become a positive force of transformation and a
crucial element of any personal development/empowerment and institutional framework for inclusive
development. ICT is already providing access to key public services, with widespread implications for
social progress and economic growth aimed at eradicating poverty and promoting inclusive societies and
sustainable development. Accessible ICT developments have the potential to provide persons with
disabilities unprecedented levels of access to education, skills training and employment, as well as the
opportunity to participate in the economic, cultural and social life of their communities.
Currently accessibility is not always considered in the design process and this leads to an exclusion of
persons with disabilities from access to ICT technologies which generates a digital discrimination.
Accessibility has become necessary due to the rapid growth of online information and interactive services
provided by web and mobile applications. Even if people with disabilities want to be independent and
carry out their activities independently, unfortunately, most Information and Communication
Technologies (ICT) applications and systems are not fully accessible today.
Nowadays everything interacts with technologies and for this reason technologies and digital
communication should be available for all.
The inclusion of persons with disabilities in all aspects of society is one of the remaining challenges of the
global development agenda. The widespread adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of
the Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) in 2006 heralded a major step forward in advancing the inclusion
of persons with disabilities, turning their socio-economic exclusion into a human rights issue. The
UNCRPD places significant obligations on all state officials responsible for equal access to education and
employment opportunities.
In April 2019, the European Union published the DIRECTIVE (EU) 2019/882 OF THE EUROPEAN
PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on the accessibility requirements for products and services.
The “European Accessibility Act” (EAA) will become national law in the member states by 2022.
The EEA will have implications for different actors in the ICT field:
— Service providers offering ICT (especially Web) services for their customers;
— Device manufacturers;
— Software and ICT hardware manufacturers;
— Procurers and procurement of ICT products.
Standardization bodies as an organization offering services to its members and the public may be affected
by the EAA.
Europe is currently developing and defining the requirements for accessible devices and services.
EN 301549 (published under Mandate M 376) specifies functional accessibility requirements applicable
to ICT products and services, together with a description of the test procedures and evaluation
methodology for each accessibility requirement in a form that is suitable for use in procurement. The
minimum requirements of the European Web Accessibility Directive (Directive 2016/2102) are explicitly
detailed in Annex A of EN 301549:2021.
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In this scenario, there is a need to set the basic ground of ICT competences related to Accessibility.
EN 16234-1:2019, e-Competence Framework (e-CF) - A common European Framework for ICT
Professionals in all sectors - Part 1: Framework refers to accessibility competences, but different actors in
the ICT market (e.g. education institutes, professional certifications) still need to be supported with
specific requirement knowledge, skills, responsibility and autonomy related to different ICT professional
profiles.
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1 Scope
This document specifies the knowledges, skills, responsibility and autonomy of ICT experts involved in
the development of products and services (including digital contents) to increase the accessibility
knowledge in different fields, for different competences and responsibilities.
This document:
— considers accessibility as "base line" (accessibility has been also recognized in EN 16234-1:2019 as
a Transversal aspect);
— recognizes accessibility as the requirement in procurement for both public and private sectors;
— provides an overview of useful CEN, ISO and ESCO publications in the field;
— defines a set of knowledges, skills, responsibility and autonomy for different ICT areas to improve
accessibility in the current professional roles and job positions (hardware, software, web);
— refers to ESCO ICT profiles, that can be adapted for the three main areas: hardware, software, web;
— refers to W3C activities for define knowledges, skills, responsibility and autonomy in web
accessibility role profiles;
— supports activities for educational providers and exam/certification institutes.
This document should help, for example, to:
— avoid issues on the definition of third level profiles derived from European ICT Professional Role
Profiles without missing accessibility requirements;
— enable easy application of accessibility related EU-level standards and references from CEN, ISO and
ESCO;
— allow the market to adapt their current job profiles and/or training courses adding the accessibility
skills.
This document supports the definition of knowledge and skills for each ICT professional role without
creating new ICT role profiles which includes accessibility competences.
2 Normative references
The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content
constitutes requirements of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For
undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.
EN 16234-1:2019, e-Competence Framework (e-CF) — A common European Framework for ICT
Professionals in all sectors — Part 1: Framework
EN 301549:2021, Accessibility requirements for ICT products and services
CWA 16458-1:2018, European ICT professional role profiles — Part 1: 30 ICT Profiles
CWA 16458-2:2018, European ICT professional role profiles — Part 2: User Guides
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CWA 16458-3:2018, European ICT professional role profiles — Part 3: Methodology documentation
CWA 16458-4:2018, European ICT professional role profiles — Part 4: Case studies
CWA 16266:2011, Curriculum for training ICT Professionals in Universal Design
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the terms and definitions given in EN 16234-1:2019, EN 301549:2021,
CWA 16458:2018 series and CWA 16266:2011 apply.
ISO and IEC maintain terminological databases for use in standardization at the following addresses:
— IEC Electropedia: available at https://www.electropedia.org/
— ISO Online browsing platform: available at https://www.iso.org/obp
4 ICT competences and accessibility
4.1 State of art
e-Competence in accessibility field is a core topic that can be found in different frameworks and
documents produced by standardization bodies and third parties.
EN 16234-1:2019, ESCO, CWA 16458-1:2018 and CWA 16266:2011 described in the following clauses,
set the state of art regarding accessibility aspects without addressing the specific competences required
by ICT professionals that have basic and/or advanced accessibility principles knowledge.
4.2 e-Competence Framework (e-CF) - A common European Framework for ICT
Professionals in all sectors - Part 1: Framework, EN 16234-1:2019
EN 16234-1:2019 provides a reference of 41 competences as required and applied at the Information and
Communication Technology (ICT) professional work environment, using a common language for
competences, skills and proficiency levels that can be understood across Europe.
EN 16234-1:2019 can be used by:
— ICT service, user and supply organizations,
— ICT professionals, managers and human resource (HR) departments,
— vocational education institutions and training bodies including higher education,
— social partners (trade unions and employer associations), professional associations, accreditation,
validation and assessment bodies,
— market analysts and policy makers, and other organizations and stakeholders in public and private
sectors.
It recognizes the relevance of several cross-cutting aspects that are important and provide additional
generic ICT related descriptors for successful application of e-CF competences in a workplace context.
They are complementary to competence descriptions and provide additional descriptors that vary in
their relevance to each competence ranging from the need for awareness to proactive engagement.
One of transversal aspects identified for context-specific and flexible application within this document is
T1, Accessibility, described as follow:
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— T1 Accessibility
Accessibility is applicable to the design of products, devices, services or environments to ensure that
they are usable by all, irrespective of their personal capacities. It is relevant to the extent to which
products, systems, services, environments and facilities can be used by people from a population
with the widest range of characteristics and capabilities to achieve a specified goal. For example, web
accessibility allows people with visual impairment to gain access to online content such as webpages,
electronic documents, and multimedia. Accessibility is also relevant, for example, when working in
adverse conditions (such as noisy or badly illuminated environments) or stressful situations.
This transversal aspect affects many e-competences. For example, “A.6. Application Design”, dimension
4, it quotes “K5 principles, standards, methods and frameworks related to ergonomics and accessibility”.
4.3 European ICT Professional Role Profiles, CWA 16458:2018 series
4.3.1 Develop and manage ICT Professional needs
The CWA 16458:2018 series increases transparency and convergence of the European ICT Skills
landscape and mature the ICT Profession overall. In addition to focusing upon individual ICT professional
competence and performance, the overall aim is to influence the ability of organizations to leverage ICT
for better performance.
CWA 16458:2018 series complements EN 16234-1:2019 and contributes to a shared European reference
language for developing, planning and managing ICT Professionals needs in a long-term perspective.
Benefitting from collaboration and exchange on multiple levels across Europe, the European ICT
Professional Role Profiles and the underpinning concepts provide a means of summarizing and
organizing the insights of experts and stakeholders into a reference tool.
4.3.2 How to make best use of the Role Profiles
There are many ways to apply the 30 typical ICT Profiles as described in the CWA 16458:2018 series.
CWA 16548-2:2018 “User Guide” and CWA 16458-4:2018 “Case studies” provide pragmatic explanations
and user experiences on how to apply CWA 16458-1:2018 from multiple stakeholder perspectives and
for a broad range of application purposes, such as, for example:
— HR planning,
— recruitment,
— digital transformation process support,
— curriculum design and qualifications promotion, including transfer of the concept to other sectors.
4.3.3 Generations for role profiles
The profiles may be used for reference or alternatively as a base to develop further profile generations.
Structured in seven main ICT Profile families, the 30 profiles reflect the top of a European ICT Profile
Family Tree (see Figure 1). The concept is broadly analogous to a human family where characteristics
from one generation pass from one generation to the next but are also combined with new characteristics.
In a similar way it is envisaged that the core components of the 30 ‘generation 2’ profiles may be passed
down and adapted as needed to user generated profiles with higher granularity.
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Figure 1 — 30 European ICT Professional Role Profiles (generation 2) in seven families
(generation 1) at the top of the European ICT Profile Family Tree (from CWA 16458-1:2018)
It is possible to form new profiles with greater granularity (generation 3) associated and derived from
the 30 profiles of generation 2. An example for a full third generation ICT professional role profile,
regarding “Web Accessibility Expert” role, is available in Annex A, A.2.
4.3.4 The European ICT Professional Role Profile template
A standard template facilitates users to compare different profiles and also provide a fast start to develop
new role profiles or contribute to design new job descriptions.
Profile elements are described in CWA 16458-2:2018, Table 3.
The template was designed to respond to assist users in communicating the purpose and potential
application of the profiles within their organization.
The main principle applied to constructing the profiles was to focus on the most essential characteristics
that accurately represent the profile and effectively differentiate one profile from another.
The European ICT Professional Role Profiles have therefore been created in a generic and simple way, in
order to enable reference and use by all types of ICT organisations, whatever their size and their
structure. In consequence, the ICT Profiles provide high level outlines of typical ICT Professional Roles;
easy to apply to the next context specific application level, for instance job descriptions.
The European ICT Profiles provide a consistent structure and offer a base to facilitate the creation of
further and more detailed Profiles.
In this context the Italian document UNI 11621-3:2017 “Unregulated professional activities – ICT
professional profiles - Part 3: Web profession professional profiles” defines 12 web related professional
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profiles (third-generation ICT profile) which incorporates the accessibility requirements. One of them is
the Web Accessibility Expert (see Annex A), a third level ICT role profile and a professional position that
supports the development of Web services to guarantee that the product complies with Web accessibility
specifications.
4.4 Curriculum for training ICT Professionals in Universal Design, CWA 16266:2011
CWA 16266:2011 describes curriculum guidelines on Universal Design that are suitable for training ICT
professionals. These guidelines, referred to as curricula or syllabi, aim at ensuring a high-quality,
comprehensive training plan that meets industry needs. The guidelines may be also used in universities
or for other professional education, training of procurers and relevant persons in public authorities.
The guidelines follow general recommendations in the European Qualifications Framework for Lifelong
Learning (EQF), the European credit system for Vocational Education and Training (ECVET) and related
recommendations by the Directorate-General for Education and Culture of the European Commission.
In order for ICT industry to adopt Universal Design principles, methods and solutions, the professionals
involved need to acquire the necessary knowledge and skills. This is a crucial condition for an effective,
as well as economic, change in management, services and production process in the ICT industry.
CWA 16266:2011 identifies the knowledge and skills that are necessary to successfully implement the
Universal Design approach in an ICT development process. The training guidelines reflect the special
training needs of ICT professionals, the conditions and context of training for professionals, and the
different needs of different professional roles in the ICT industry.
Accessible Design (AD) is closely related to Universal Design. It emphasizes adaptive design and
interoperability with assistive devices. These training guidelines are for use for anyone in industry
developing continuous professional development training materials to educate ICT professionals in the
Universal Design approach and Accessibility requirements EN 301549. These ICT professionals include:
— executive manager;
— middle manager;
— software and hardware developer;
— designer;
— reviewer and tester;
— marketing and communication personnel;
— human resources personnel.
The training guidelines are designed for use by ICT professionals. Those who benefit from improved
design of ICT systems include people experiencing some form of performance limitation due to age, size,
physical environment, ability or disability.
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4.5 Foundational Body of Knowledge for the ICT Profession - Part 1: The Body of
Knowledge (ICT BoK), EN 17748-1
Similar to and complementary to EN 16234-1 (e-CF), which provides an efficient and broadly accepted
common European language about ICT professional competence, the European ICT Foundational Body of
Knowledge will make another key contribution to increase transparency and mature the ICT Profession
across Europe.
Beyond basic knowledge clustered by specific areas of expertise the European Foundational Body of
Knowledge will establish an underpinning common body of knowledge shared by all ICT professionals
regardless of speciality.
For successful BoK development strong ICT sector engagement is needed from both ICT qualification and
workplace perspectives, the latter involving ICT supply and demand. Personal experience and views
coming from across the European ICT multi-stakeholder community are essential to broad acceptance
and usability of the forthcoming ICT BoK.
EN 17748-1 (EU ICT BoK) has a specific unit called “Accessibility [T1]” defined as follows:
The Accessibility knowledge unit concerns knowledge about the extent to which the design of products,
devices, services or environments are usable by all, irrespective of personal capacities. It relates to the
extent to which products, systems, services, environments and facilities may be used by people with the
widest range of characteristics and capabilities to achieve specified goals. This unit incorporates
crosscutting knowledge directly related to the e-CF transversal aspect, ‘T1 – Accessibility’.
4.6 Information technology — Development of user interface accessibility — Part 1:
Code of practice for creating accessible ICT products and services,
ISO/IEC 30071-1:2019
ISO/IEC 30071-1:2019 provides guidance on developing and implementing an organizational
accessibility policy for creating accessible ICT systems (including products and services). It can help
organizations to ensure that their ICT systems are accessible to diverse users.
The design of many ICT systems unnecessarily excludes users with disabilities or others with accessibility
requirements, for example, older persons, which can leave organizations that provide these systems
subject to legal challenge on the grounds of discrimination. However, by following good practice in
creating, updating or procuring ICT systems, this exclusion can generally be prevented.
ISO/IEC 30071-1:2019 contains process-related guidance rather than technical requirements. It brings
together and summarizes important information needed to enable organizations that create ICT systems
to understand:
— how to create organizational policies to embed accessibility considerations into their "business as
usual" processes;
— how to consider the needs of users with disabilities and older people at all stages of the ICT
development process.
The document is intended for:
— persons responsible for setting high-level organizational policies;
— persons responsible for setting accessibility policies and procedures at the system, product or service
level;
— persons responsible for directly designing or implementing accessibility activities derived from the
policies applied within the organization.
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The guidance focuses on activities and outcomes rather than specifying complete processes and methods,
allowing organizations to implement this guidance in the manner most suited to their individual
organizational culture and operations.
Drivers for organizations to make their ICT systems more accessible and usable include:
— legal reasons;
— commercial reasons;
— ethical reasons/human rights/social responsibility;
— innovation reasons.
Often, these drivers interrelate. These include the accessibility of ICT systems that support employment,
those used in public and private transport, in public buildings, in the home, in education, in social
networking and in the ubiquitous use of ICT known as the Internet of Things. Ensuring systems are
accessible to the widest range of diverse users will increase inclusion. This can create benefits for many
sectors of society.
ISO/IEC 30071:2019 takes a holistic approach to the accessibility of information and communications
technology (ICT) by combining guidance on implementing the accessibility of ICT systems (ICT
accessibility) both at organizational and system development levels.
ISO/IEC 30071:2019 gives guidelines for building and maintaining ICT systems (including products and
services) that are accessible to diverse users (including users with disabilities and older people).
ISO/IEC 30071:2019 is applicable to all types of organizations and applies to the breadth of ICT systems
and the results of convergent and emerging technologies within an organization including, but not limited
to: information systems; intranet systems; websites; mobile and wearable applications; social media; and
Internet of Things (IoT) systems.
It gives requirements and recommendations for organizations:
a) ensuring accessibility is considered in their policies or strategy by creating an organizational ICT
accessibility policy;
b) embedding the consideration of accessibility decisions through the entire process of developing
procuring, installing, operating and maintaining ICT systems, and documenting these choices;
c) justifying decisions on accessibility;
...
SLOVENSKI STANDARD
kSIST-TP FprCEN/TR 17884:2022
01-julij-2022
Kompetence za dostopnost IKT - Smernice za širši razvoj IKT
ICT accessibility competences - Guidelines for a more inclusive ICT development
IKT-Zugänglichkeitskompetenzen - Leitlinien für eine umfassendere IKT-Entwicklung
Ta slovenski standard je istoveten z: FprCEN/TR 17884
ICS:
03.100.30 Vodenje ljudi Management of human
resources
35.020 Informacijska tehnika in Information technology (IT) in
tehnologija na splošno general
kSIST-TP FprCEN/TR 17884:2022 en,fr,de
2003-01.Slovenski inštitut za standardizacijo. Razmnoževanje celote ali delov tega standarda ni dovoljeno.
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kSIST-TP FprCEN/TR 17884:2022
FINAL DRAFT
TECHNICAL REPORT
FprCEN/TR 17884
RAPPORT TECHNIQUE
TECHNISCHER BERICHT
May 2022
ICS 35.020; 03.100.30
English Version
ICT accessibility competences - Guidelines for a more
inclusive ICT development
IKT-Zugänglichkeitskompetenzen - Leitlinien für eine
umfassendere IKT-Entwicklung
This draft Technical Report is submitted to CEN members for Vote. It has been drawn up by the Technical Committee CEN/TC
428.
CEN members are the national standards bodies of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia,
Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway,
Poland, Portugal, Republic of North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and
United Kingdom.
Recipients of this draft are invited to submit, with their comments, notification of any relevant patent rights of which they are
aware and to provide supporting documentation.
Warning : This document is not a Technical Report. It is distributed for review and comments. It is subject to change without
notice and shall not be referred to as a Technical Report.
EUROPEAN COMMITTEE FOR STANDARDIZATION
COMITÉ EUROPÉEN DE NORMALISATION
EUROPÄISCHES KOMITEE FÜR NORMUNG
CEN-CENELEC Management Centre: Rue de la Science 23, B-1040 Brussels
© 2022 CEN All rights of exploitation in any form and by any means reserved Ref. No. FprCEN/TR 17884:2022 E
worldwide for CEN national Members.
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Contents Page
European foreword . 3
Introduction . 4
1 Scope . 6
2 Normative references . 6
3 Terms and definitions . 7
4 ICT competences and accessibility . 7
4.1 State of art . 7
4.2 e-Competence Framework (e-CF) - A common European Framework for ICT Professionals
in all sectors - Part 1: Framework, EN 16234-1:2019 . 7
4.3 European ICT Professional Role Profiles, CWA 16458:2018 series . 8
4.4 Curriculum for training ICT Professionals in Universal Design, CWA 16266:2011 . 10
4.5 Foundational Body of Knowledge for the ICT Profession - Part 1: The Body of Knowledge
(ICT BoK), EN 17748-1 . 11
4.6 Information technology — Development of user interface accessibility — Part 1: Code of
practice for creating accessible ICT products and services, ISO/IEC 30071-1:2019 . 11
4.7 European Skills, Competences, Qualifications and Occupations (ESCO) . 12
4.8 Curricula on Web Accessibility, W3C . 13
5 ICT product requirements and accessibility . 14
5.1 Accessibility requirements for ICT products and services . 14
5.2 Accessibility goals for new ICT competences . 15
6 ICT accessibility competence requirements . 15
6.1 Rationale . 15
6.2 ICT competences and functional performances . 15
6.3 Common and base accessibility knowledge . 16
6.4 Digital Communication Role . 17
6.5 Education and Outreach Role . 18
6.6 Hardware Developer Role . 19
6.7 Software Developer Role . 20
6.8 Web Role Profiles . 21
Annex A (informative) ICT Accessibility Role Profiles examples . 26
Bibliography . 31
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European foreword
This document (FprCEN/TR 17884:2022) has been prepared by Technical Committee CEN/TC 428 “ICT
professionalism and digital competences”, the secretariat of which is held by UNI.
This document is currently submitted to the Vote on TR.
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Introduction
Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) allows the removal of many of the remaining
barriers faced by persons with disabilities. With ICT increasingly integrated into every aspect of the
modern world, these ubiquitous technologies have become a positive force of transformation and a
crucial element of any personal development/empowerment and institutional framework for inclusive
development. ICT is already providing access to key public services, with widespread implications for
social progress and economic growth aimed at eradicating poverty and promoting inclusive societies and
sustainable development. Accessible ICT developments have the potential to provide persons with
disabilities unprecedented levels of access to education, skills training and employment, as well as the
opportunity to participate in the economic, cultural and social life of their communities.
Currently accessibility is not always considered in the design process and this leads to an exclusion of
persons with disabilities from access to ICT technologies which generates a digital discrimination.
Accessibility has become necessary due to the rapid growth of online information and interactive services
provided by web and mobile applications. Even if people with disabilities want to be independent and
carry out their activities independently, unfortunately, most Information and Communication
Technologies (ICT) applications and systems are not fully accessible today.
Nowadays everything interacts with technologies and for this reason technologies and digital
communication should be available for all.
The inclusion of persons with disabilities in all aspects of society is one of the remaining challenges of the
global development agenda. The widespread adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of
the Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) in 2006 heralded a major step forward in advancing the inclusion
of persons with disabilities, turning their socio-economic exclusion into a human rights issue. The
UNCRPD places significant obligations on all state officials responsible for equal access to education and
employment opportunities.
In April 2019, the European Union published the DIRECTIVE (EU) 2019/882 OF THE EUROPEAN
PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on the accessibility requirements for products and services.
The “European Accessibility Act” (EAA) will become national law in the member states by 2022.
The EEA will have implications for different actors in the ICT field:
— Service providers offering ICT (especially Web) services for their customers;
— Device manufacturers;
— Software and ICT hardware manufacturers;
— Procurers and procurement of ICT products.
Standardization bodies as an organization offering services to its members and the public may be affected
by the EAA.
Europe is currently developing and defining the requirements for accessible devices and services.
EN 301549 (published under Mandate M 376) specifies functional accessibility requirements applicable
to ICT products and services, together with a description of the test procedures and evaluation
methodology for each accessibility requirement in a form that is suitable for use in procurement. The
minimum requirements of the European Web Accessibility Directive (Directive 2016/2102) are explicitly
detailed in Annex A of EN 301549:2021.
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In this scenario, there is a need to set the basic ground of ICT competences related to Accessibility. The
EN 16234-1:2019, e-Competence Framework (e-CF) - A common European Framework for ICT
Professionals in all sectors - Part 1: Framework refers to accessibility competences, but different actors in
the ICT market (e.g. education institutes, professional certifications) still need to be supported with
specific requirement knowledge, skills, responsibility and autonomy related to different ICT professional
profiles.
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1 Scope
This document specifies the knowledges, skills, responsibility and autonomy of ICT experts involved in
the development of products and services (including digital contents) to increase the accessibility
knowledge in different fields, for different competences and responsibilities.
This document:
— considers accessibility as "base line" (accessibility has been also recognized in EN 16234-1:2019 as
a Transversal aspect);
— recognizes accessibility as the requirement in procurement for both public and private sectors;
— provides an overview of useful CEN, ISO and ESCO publications in the field;
— defines a set of knowledges, skills, responsibility and autonomy for different ICT areas to improve
accessibility in the current professional roles and job positions (hardware, software, web);
— refers to ESCO ICT profiles, that can be adapted for the three main areas: hardware, software, web;
— refers to W3C activities for define knowledges, skills, responsibility and autonomy in web
accessibility role profiles;
— supports activities for educational providers and exam/certification institutes.
This document should help, for example, to:
— avoid issues on the definition of third level profiles derived from European ICT Professional Role
Profiles without missing accessibility requirements;
— enable easy application of accessibility related EU-level standards and references from CEN, ISO and
ESCO;
— allow the market to adapt their current job profiles and/or training courses adding the accessibility
skills.
This document supports the definition of knowledge and skills for each ICT professional role without
creating new ICT role profiles which includes accessibility competences.
2 Normative references
The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content
constitutes requirements of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For
undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.
EN 16234-1:2019, e-Competence Framework (e-CF) - A common European Framework for ICT
Professionals in all sectors - Part 1: Framework
EN 301549:2021, Accessibility requirements for ICT products and services
CWA 16458-1:2018, European ICT professional role profiles – Part 1: 30 ICT Profiles
CWA 16458-2:2018, European ICT professional role profiles – Part 2: User Guide
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CWA 16458-3:2018, European ICT professional role profiles – Part 3: Methodology
CWA 16458-4:2018, European ICT professional role profiles – Part 4: Case studies
CWA 16266:2011, Curriculum for training ICT Professionals in Universal Design
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the terms and definitions given in EN 16234-1:2019, EN 301549:2021,
CWA 16458:2018 series and CWA 16266:2011 apply.
ISO and IEC maintain terminological databases for use in standardization at the following addresses:
— IEC Electropedia: available at https://www.electropedia.org/
— ISO Online browsing platform: available at https://www.iso.org/obp
4 ICT competences and accessibility
4.1 State of art
e-Competence in accessibility field is a core topic that can be found in different frameworks and
documents produced by standardization bodies and third parties.
EN 16234-1:2019, ESCO, CWA 16458-1:2018 and CWA 16266:2011 described in the following clauses,
set the state of art regarding accessibility aspects without addressing the specific competences required
by ICT professionals that have basic and/or advanced accessibility principles knowledge.
4.2 e-Competence Framework (e-CF) - A common European Framework for ICT
Professionals in all sectors - Part 1: Framework, EN 16234-1:2019
EN 16234-1:2019 provides a reference of 41 competences as required and applied at the Information and
Communication Technology (ICT) professional work environment, using a common language for
competences, skills and proficiency levels that can be understood across Europe.
EN 16234-1:2019 can be used by:
— ICT service, user and supply organizations,
— ICT professionals, managers and human resource (HR) departments,
— vocational education institutions and training bodies including higher education,
— social partners (trade unions and employer associations), professional associations, accreditation,
validation and assessment bodies,
— market analysts and policy makers, and other organizations and stakeholders in public and private
sectors.
It recognizes the relevance of several cross-cutting aspects that are important and provide additional
generic ICT related descriptors for successful application of e-CF competences in a workplace context.
They are complementary to competence descriptions and provide additional descriptors that vary in
their relevance to each competence ranging from the need for awareness to proactive engagement.
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One of transversal aspects identified for context-specific and flexible application within this document is
T1, Accessibility, described as follow:
— T1 Accessibility
Accessibility is applicable to the design of products, devices, services or environments to ensure that
they are usable by all, irrespective of their personal capacities. It is relevant to the extent to which
products, systems, services, environments and facilities can be used by people from a population
with the widest range of characteristics and capabilities to achieve a specified goal. For example, web
accessibility allows people with visual impairment to gain access to online content such as webpages,
electronic documents, and multimedia. Accessibility is also relevant, for example, when working in
adverse conditions (such as noisy or badly illuminated environments) or stressful situations.
This transversal aspect affects many e-competences. For example, “A.6. Application Design”, dimension
4, it quotes “K5 principles, standards, methods and frameworks related to ergonomics and accessibility”.
4.3 European ICT Professional Role Profiles, CWA 16458:2018 series
4.3.1 Develop and manage ICT Professional needs
The CWA 16458:2018 series increases transparency and convergence of the European ICT Skills
landscape and mature the ICT Profession overall. In addition to focusing upon individual ICT professional
competence and performance, the overall aim is to influence the ability of organizations to leverage ICT
for better performance.
CWA 16458:2018 series complements EN 16234-1:2019 and contributes to a shared European reference
language for developing, planning and managing ICT Professionals needs in a long-term perspective.
Benefitting from collaboration and exchange on multiple levels across Europe, the European ICT
Professional Role Profiles and the underpinning concepts provide a means of summarizing and
organizing the insights of experts and stakeholders into a reference tool.
4.3.2 How to make best use of the Role Profiles
There are many ways to apply the 30 typical ICT Profiles as described in the CWA 16458:2018 series.
CWA 16548-2:2018 “User Guide” and CWA 16458-4:2018 “Case studies” provide pragmatic explanations
and user experiences on how to apply CWA 16458-1:2018 from multiple stakeholder perspectives and
for a broad range of application purposes, such as, for example:
— HR planning,
— recruitment,
— digital transformation process support,
— curriculum design and qualifications promotion, including transfer of the concept to other sectors.
4.3.3 Generations for role profiles
The profiles may be used for reference or alternatively as a base to develop further profile generations.
Structured in seven main ICT Profile families, the 30 profiles reflect the top of a European ICT Profile
Family Tree (see Figure 1). The concept is broadly analogous to a human family where characteristics
from one generation pass from one generation to the next but are also combined with new characteristics.
In a similar way it is envisaged that the core components of the 30 ‘generation 2’ profiles may be passed
down and adapted as needed to user generated profiles with higher granularity.
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Figure 1 — 30 European ICT Professional Role Profiles (generation 2) in seven families
(generation 1) at the top of the European ICT Profile Family Tree (from CWA 16458-1:2018)
It is possible to form new profiles with greater granularity (generation 3) associated and derived from
the 30 profiles of generation 2. An example for a full third generation ICT professional role profile,
regarding “Web Accessibility Expert” role, is available in Annex A, A.2.
4.3.4 The European ICT Professional Role Profile template
A standard template facilitates users to compare different profiles and also provide a fast start to develop
new role profiles or contribute to design new job descriptions.
Profile elements are described in CWA 16458-2:2018, Table 3.
The template was designed to respond to assist users in communicating the purpose and potential
application of the profiles within their organization.
The main principle applied to constructing the profiles was to focus on the most essential characteristics
that accurately represent the profile and effectively differentiate one profile from another.
The European ICT Professional Role Profiles have therefore been created in a generic and simple way, in
order to enable reference and use by all types of ICT organisations, whatever their size and their
structure. In consequence, the ICT Profiles provide high level outlines of typical ICT Professional Roles;
easy to apply to the next context specific application level, for instance job descriptions.
The European ICT Profiles provide a consistent structure and offer a base to facilitate the creation of
further and more detailed Profiles.
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In this context the Italian document UNI 11621-3:2017 “Unregulated professional activities – ICT
professional profiles - Part 3: Web profession professional profiles” defines 12 web related professional
profiles (third-generation ICT profile) which incorporates the accessibility requirements. One of them is
the Web Accessibility Expert (see Annex A), a third level ICT role profile and a professional position that
supports the development of Web services to guarantee that the product complies with Web accessibility
specifications.
4.4 Curriculum for training ICT Professionals in Universal Design, CWA 16266:2011
CWA 16266:2011 describes curriculum guidelines on Universal Design that are suitable for training ICT
professionals. These guidelines, referred to as curricula or syllabi, aim at ensuring a high-quality,
comprehensive training plan that meets industry needs. The guidelines may be also used in universities
or for other professional education, training of procurers and relevant persons in public authorities.
The guidelines follow general recommendations in the European Qualifications Framework for Lifelong
Learning (EQF), the European credit system for Vocational Education and Training (ECVET) and related
recommendations by the Directorate-General for Education and Culture of the European Commission.
In order for ICT industry to adopt Universal Design principles, methods and solutions, the professionals
involved need to acquire the necessary knowledge and skills. This is a crucial condition for an effective,
as well as economic, change in management, services and production process in the ICT industry.
CWA 16266:2011 identifies the knowledge and skills that are necessary to successfully implement the
Universal Design approach in an ICT development process. The training guidelines reflect the special
training needs of ICT professionals, the conditions and context of training for professionals, and the
different needs of different professional roles in the ICT industry.
Accessible Design (AD) is closely related to Universal Design. It emphasizes adaptive design and
interoperability with assistive devices. These training guidelines are for use for anyone in industry
developing continuous professional development training materials to educate ICT professionals in the
Universal Design approach and Accessibility requirements EN 301549. These ICT professionals include:
— executive manager;
— middle manager;
— software and hardware developer;
— designer;
— reviewer and tester;
— marketing and communication personnel;
— human resources personnel.
The training guidelines are designed for use by ICT professionals. Those who benefit from improved
design of ICT systems include people experiencing some form of performance limitation due to age, size,
physical environment, ability or disability.
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4.5 Foundational Body of Knowledge for the ICT Profession - Part 1: The Body of
Knowledge (ICT BoK), EN 17748-1
Similar to and complementary to EN 16234-1 (e-CF), which provides an efficient and broadly accepted
common European language about ICT professional competence, the European ICT Foundational Body of
Knowledge will make another key contribution to increase transparency and mature the ICT Profession
across Europe.
Beyond basic knowledge clustered by specific areas of expertise the European Foundational Body of
Knowledge will establish an underpinning common body of knowledge shared by all ICT professionals
regardless of speciality.
For successful BoK development strong ICT sector engagement is needed from both ICT qualification and
workplace perspectives, the latter involving ICT supply and demand. Personal experience and views
coming from across the European ICT multi-stakeholder community are essential to broad acceptance
and usability of the forthcoming ICT BoK.
EN 17748-1 (EU ICT BoK) has a specific unit called “Accessibility [T1]” defined as follow:
The Accessibility knowledge unit concerns knowledge about the extent to which the design of products,
devices, services or environments are usable by all, irrespective of personal capacities. It relates to the
extent to which products, systems, services, environments and facilities may be used by people with the
widest range of characteristics and capabilities to achieve specified goals. This unit incorporates
crosscutting knowledge directly related to the e-CF transversal aspect, ‘T1 – Accessibility’.
4.6 Information technology — Development of user interface accessibility — Part 1:
Code of practice for creating accessible ICT products and services,
ISO/IEC 30071-1:2019
ISO/IEC 30071-1:2019 provides guidance on developing and implementing an organizational
accessibility policy for creating accessible ICT systems (including products and services). It can help
organizations to ensure that their ICT systems are accessible to diverse users.
The design of many ICT systems unnecessarily excludes users with disabilities or others with accessibility
requirements, for example, older persons, which can leave organizations that provide these systems
subject to legal challenge on the grounds of discrimination. However, by following good practice in
creating, updating or procuring ICT systems, this exclusion can generally be prevented.
ISO/IEC 30071-1:2019 contains process-related guidance rather than technical requirements. It brings
together and summarizes important information needed to enable organizations that create ICT systems
to understand:
— how to create organizational policies to embed accessibility considerations into their "business as
usual" processes;
— how to consider the needs of users with disabilities and older people at all stages of the ICT
development process.
The document is intended for:
— persons responsible for setting high-level organizational policies;
— persons responsible for setting accessibility policies and procedures at the system, product or service
level;
— persons responsible for directly designing or implementing accessibility activities derived from the
policies applied within the organization.
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The guidance focuses on activities and outcomes rather than specifying complete processes and methods,
allowing organizations to implement this guidance in the manner most suited to their individual
organizational culture and operations.
Drivers for organizations to make their ICT systems more accessible and usable include:
— legal reasons;
— commercial reasons;
— ethical reasons/human rights/social responsibility;
— innovation reasons.
Often, these drivers interrelate. These include the accessibility of ICT systems that support employment,
those used in public and private transport, in public buildings, in the home, in education, in social
networking and in the ubiquitous use of ICT known as the Internet of Things. Ensuring systems are
accessible to the widest range of diverse users will increase inclusion. This can create benefits for many
sectors of society.
ISO/IEC 30071:2019 takes a holistic approach to the accessibility of information and communications
technology (ICT) by combining guidance on implementing the accessibility of ICT systems (ICT
accessibility) both at organizational and system development levels.
ISO/IEC 30071:2019 gives guidelines for building and maintaining ICT systems (including products and
services) that are accessible to diverse users (including users with disabilities and older people).
ISO/IEC 30071:2019 is applicable to all types of organizations and applies to the breadth of ICT systems
and the results of convergent and emerging technologies within an organization including, but not limited
to: information systems; intranet systems; websites; mobile and wearable applications; social media; and
Internet of Things (IoT) systems.
It gives requirements and recommendations for organizations:
a) ensuring accessibility is consi
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