Access arrangements – SEND
Access Arrangements, Reasonable Adjustments and Special Consideration
An Overview
Access Arrangements
Access Arrangements are pre-examination adjustments for candidates based on evidence of need and normal way of working. Access Arrangements fall into two distinct categories: some arrangements are delegated to centres, others require prior JCQCIC awarding body approval.
Access Arrangements allow candidates/learners with special educational needs, disabilities or temporary injuries to access the assessment without changing the demands of the assessment. For example, readers, scribes and Braille question papers. In this way Awarding Bodies will comply with the duty of the Equality Act 2010 to make ‘reasonable adjustments’.
Reasonable Adjustments
The Equality Act 2010 requires an Awarding Body to make reasonable adjustments where a disabled person would be at a substantial disadvantage in undertaking an assessment.
A reasonable adjustment for a particular person may be unique to that individual and may not be included in the list of available Access Arrangements.
How reasonable the adjustment is will depend on a number of factors including the needs of the disabled candidate/learner. An adjustment may not be considered reasonable if it involves unreasonable costs, timeframes or affects the security or integrity of the assessment. School assesses the individual needs of our pupils through our Specialist Teacher, Mrs Gladders.
Mrs Gladders has the appropriate qualification to assess whether a pupil will benefit from Access Arrangements; a scribe, a reader, additional time, etc
There is no duty on the Awarding Bodies to make any adjustment to the assessment objectives being tested in an assessment.
Special Consideration
Special Consideration is a post examination adjustment to a candidate’s mark or grade to reflect temporary injury, illness or other indisposition at the time of the examination/assessment.
To download an electronic copy of the JCQ publication ‘Access arrangements and reasonable adustuments’, please click here.