diff --git a/lib/outputrenderers.php b/lib/outputrenderers.php
index e63cc428415..fe02ce78805 100644
--- a/lib/outputrenderers.php
+++ b/lib/outputrenderers.php
@@ -2876,7 +2876,7 @@ EOD;
 
         //accessibility: heading for navbar list  (MDL-20446)
         $navbarcontent = html_writer::tag('span', get_string('pagepath'), array('class'=>'accesshide'));
-        $navbarcontent .= html_writer::tag('ul', join('', $htmlblocks), array('role'=>'navigation'));
+        $navbarcontent .= html_writer::tag('nav', html_writer::tag('ul', join('', $htmlblocks)));
         // XHTML
         return $navbarcontent;
     }