The main aim of the BRITE Initiative is to encourage inclusive practice in teaching and learning. We do this by offering a wide range of resources including accredited professional training; themed seminars; a Virtual Staffroom; online resources; assistive technology user guides and equipment loan/evaluation scheme for members.

BRITE came about as a result of the Beattie Committee Report "Implementing Inclusiveness; Realising Potential", which emphasised the importance of creating inclusive, accessible learning opportunities – equipped to welcome and provide for students with a diverse range of abilities, aspirations and support needs.

BRITE (Beattie Resources for Inclusiveness in Technology and Education) operates from a purpose-built centre in Edinburgh, on the campus of Stevenson College. The ‘not-for-profit’ Initiative receives core funding from the Scottish Funding Council, supplemented by income from a range of consultancy and research activities focused on inclusiveness and enabling technologies.

Beattie Committee Report

From its beginnings in 2001, when the BRITE Initiative was established to support Scotland’s 43 Colleges, work has expanded beyond further education and beyond Scotland. Recent projects have seen the BRITE Team providing training and professional development in Northern Ireland (for staff in colleges and universities); in Norway and Finland (to networks of post-school inclusiveness practitioners) and for the disability advisers in Scotland’s 21 universities. Though the participants come from a broader range of organisations and a greater geographical spread, the key aims of the BRITE Initiative remain at the heart of what we do.

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