Quality assurance principles (hen)
Adnodd’s Quality Assurance Principles set out what good looks like when designing and developing high-quality educational resources for Wales. They encourage a user-centred approach grounded in research, curriculum relevance, accessibility, inclusivity, safeguarding, and real-world usability. The framework supports the creation of bilingual resources that are purposeful, engaging, technically reliable, and designed to meet the needs of all learners and practitioners across Wales.
1. Research‑Informed and Needs‑Based Design
- Show how research, user insights and practitioner feedback informed your understanding of learner and practitioner needs.
- Explain how this insight shaped the purpose, structure, content, and format of the resource.
- Be specific about the methods and tools used (e.g. surveys, interviews, testing, desk research) and how each shaped key decisions.
- Evidence of success: A clear link between user needs, design decisions and the final resource.
2. Learner‑Centred Approach
- Demonstrate careful consideration of learners’ contexts, motivations, stages of progression, and varied learning pathways.
- Ensure cognitive load is minimised by using clear language, thoughtful layout, a logical structure and simple, intuitive interactions.
- Consider how the resource will be used in real learning settings, supporting and inspiring effective teaching and learning.
- Evidence of success: A resource that feels purposeful, clear, and genuinely designed with learners in mind.
3. Curriculum Relevance and Learning Purpose
- Provide accurate and clear alignment with the Curriculum for Wales, including relevant Areas of Learning and Experience (AoLEs), progression steps, and intended learning outcomes, as well as the development of cross-curricular skills.
- Justify the selection of themes and topics so they are purposeful, meaningful, and appropriate for the intended learning context.
- Show how content supports progression and reflects the principles of effective curriculum design.
- Evidence of success:Content that is explicitly tied to the Curriculum for Wales and supports purposeful, progressive learning.
4. Language Quality and Learner Appropriateness
- Use language levels that are suitable for the target age group, avoiding vocabulary that is unnecessarily complex, overly formal, unfamiliar, or unintentionally colloquial.
- Maintain a consistent tone, structure, and style across all written, spoken, and interactive elements.
- Prioritise clear, concise language that supports comprehension and reduces cognitive load for learners.
- Ensure terminology, cultural references, and representations are correct and respectful.
- Evidence of success: Language that is accessible, well‑pitched, and promotes learner understanding in both English and Welsh.
5. Visual Design and Content Accuracy
- Adopt visual design and illustration styles that are appropriate for the intended age range.
- Ensure artwork and visuals are inclusive, diverse, and reflective of the learners and communities of Wales.
- Use typesetting, layouts, typography and typeface choices that support accessibility and enhance the user experience. This includes print and background colours (e.g. colour‑blind accessibility), and appropriate typefaces and font sizes.
- Guarantee accuracy across all formats (text, visuals, audio, video, closed captions), removing factual, grammatical, or technical errors.
- Where relevant, ground content in the Welsh context, including Welsh public policy, people, communities, and individual with lived experience, so that it feels authentic and meaningful to learners in Wales.
- Confirm that thorough editing, proofreading and quality checks have been completed for consistency, clarity, and an error‑free final product, in both English and Welsh.
- Evidence of success: High quality, inclusive, accurate content and visuals that users can trust and that enhance the learning experience.
6. Usability, Intuitiveness, and Consistency
- Provide clear navigation and interactions that learners and practitioners can quickly understand.
- Maintain a consistent and coherent look, feel, and overall behaviour throughout the resource.
- Ensure parity of experience across Welsh and English versions, including layout, navigation and overall usability.
- Evidence of success:A resource that is easy to use, requires minimal instruction, and is consistent in both languages.
7. Inclusivity, Accessibility, and Representation
- Demonstrate compliance with recognised accessibility standards (e.g. WCAG 2.2 AA) across all resource components, including multimedia, language, interaction design, and layout.
- Show thoughtful consideration of equality, diversity, and Additional Learning Needs (ALN), so that all learners, regardless of ability or background, can engage meaningfully.
- Provide diverse and relatable representations that reflect learners in Wales.
- Ensure bilingual design is planned from the outset rather than added later, so that functionality, quality and usability are equivalent across languages.
- Evidence of success: A resource that every learner can access and relate to, both practically and culturally.
8. Safeguarding, Privacy, and Well‑being
- Explain how the resource protects learner safety, privacy, and well‑being, online and offline.
- Show that safeguarding measures are embedded in the content, interactivity, data handling and user pathways – not bolted on.
- Outline measures that ensure learners can only access what is intended, can interact safely and respectfully, and remain shielded from inappropriate or harmful material.
- Describe how interactions, content, and data practices meet the highest safeguarding standards, and how intentional design supports safe, respectful engagement.
- Evidence of success: A resource that is safe in content and by design and protects learners at every stage.
9. Technical Reliability and Real‑World Performance
- Detail how the resource will work reliably in real‑world school conditions, accounting for varied devices, operating systems, browsers, screen sizes, and levels of connectivity.
- Ensure equitable access so that learners experience consistent functionality and quality regardless of technical constraints.
- Evidence of success: A resource that works smoothly in real school environments, not just ideal ones.
10. Ongoing User‑Centred (UX) Process
- Show how user research, testing, and feedback are embedded from the start and sustained throughout development, so that the user voice remains central.
- Describe iterative improvements to content, tone, accessibility, and usability, (including ensuring that messages land as intended), based on real user feedback from learners, practitioners and other relevant stakeholders.
- Explain how resources are editable, flexible and adaptable for varied delivery contexts and constraints. They must remain useful across different classroom settings, teaching approaches, and learner needs
- Share plans for continuous evaluation and refinement. Design for durability and re‑use, so materials can be refreshed without full redevelopment.
- Evidence of success:Clear evidence that users shaped the resource, both continuously and measurably.