Pathways Academy is CAE’s award winning training programme created in 2020 to give disabled people in London the confidence, skills and support needed to kick start a career in inclusive design and access. Since its start over 70% of trainees are working in inclusion and access related roles.
Learning with Pathways Academy
We know that disabled people face a number of complex barriers to employment, the Pathways Academy seeks to help trainees overcome those barriers by giving the technical knowledge you need to develop a career in inclusive design. On the course, trainees will receive 22 days of training over 9 months.
The course covers a different topic each month including:
- principles of inclusive design
- access auditing
- website accessibility
- design and neurodiversity
- accessible housing
- accessibility and historic environments
- reading and understanding plans
Trainees also develop the all-important communications skills to help them use their new technical knowledge, through topics like presentation and training skills and how to write reports.
Watch our video to find out more about the course.
Applications
If you’re a disabled person living in London and are interested in pursuing a career in access and inclusion then apply now for the Pathways Academy!
Complete the online application form for the course starting in September 2025.
Email pathways@cae.org.uk for the application form in an alternative format.
Pathways Outcomes
Three years on from its 2020 launch, an interim evaluation report of Pathways has found that on completion of the
programme, 100% of students had gained a good understanding of inclusive design, while 56% reported they had a strong knowledge of inclusive design.
Pathways has trained 40 young disabled people from 14 London boroughs, giving them the confidence, skills and support to kick start a career in inclusion or access roles.
It has also won Inside Housing’s Women in Housing Awards and been nominated for Housing Heroes Awards.
Read the report to learn what else the evaluation has found.
Find out more about our trainers
Our trainers all have decades of experience and currently work in the inclusive design and access field. They are:
What do past Pathways Academy trainees have to say?
“One of my teaching assistants at school found the course through a Google search when looking for courses around architecture, inclusion and accessibility. I thought it sounded perfect to build some specialist knowledge around inclusion in the built environment.“I didn’t realise how many modifications that really benefit people with hearing loss also overlap with what benefits other people with their disabilities. Pathways has taught me to see beyond my own disability.” Josephine Mason, Pathways Student.
For more information about Pathways Academy, email the team via pathways@cae.org.uk .
Our funder
The CAE Pathways Academy is part of the City Bridge Foundation’s Bridge to Work programme which aims to tackle the disproportionately high level of young unemployed disabled Londoners. The City Bridge Foundation invests in a range of activities to break down the barriers to employment for young people.