Reasonable Adjustments and Special Considerations Policy

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• Assessment and Internal Verification
• Complaints Procedure
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• Equalities & Diversity Policy
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• Malpractice Policy
• Reasonable Adjustments Policy
• Referrals Policy
• Safeguarding Policy

This policy sets out the procedures that learners and tutors should follow when implementing reasonable adjustments and special considerations.

Reasonable adjustment

A reasonable adjustment helps to reduce the effect of a disability or difficulty that places the learner at a substantial disadvantage in the assessment situation.
Reasonable adjustments must not affect the validity or reliability of assessment outcomes, but may involve:

• changing usual assessment arrangements
• adapting assessment materials
• providing assistance during assessment
• re-organising the assessment physical environment
• changing or adapting the assessment method
• using assistive technology.

Reasonable adjustments must be approved by the Internal Quality Assurer (IQA) and set in place prior to assessment commencing. It is an arrangement to give a learner access to a qualification.

The work produced following a reasonable adjustment must be assessed in the same way as the work from other learners.

Below are examples of reasonable adjustment. It is important to note that not all adjustments described below will be reasonable, permissible or practical in particular situations. The learner may not need, nor be allowed the same adjustment for all assessments.
A reasonable adjustment must never affect the validity or reliability of assessment, influence the outcome of assessment or give the learner(s) in question an unfair assessment advantage.

Examples of reasonable adjustments as defined by the above categories are listed below.

• Allowing extra time, e.g. assignment extensions
• Using a different assessment location
• Use of coloured overlays, low vision aids, CCTV
• Use of assistive software
• Assessment material in large format or Braille
• Readers/scribes
• Practical assistants/transcribers/prompters
• Assessment material on coloured paper or in audio format
• Language-modified assessment material
• British Sign Language (BSL)
• Use of ICT/responses using electronic devices

Applying reasonable adjustment

Reasonable Adjustments are the responsibility of the Learnwithunite. Reasonable adjustments are approved by the Quality Team before an assessment and are intended to allow attainment to be demonstrated. A learner does not have to be disabled (as defined by the DDA) to qualify for reasonable adjustment; nor will every learner who is disabled be entitled to reasonable adjustment.

Learnwithunite will facilitate access for the learner. A reasonable adjustment is intended to allow access to assessment but can only be granted where the adjustment does not:

• affect the validity or reliability of the assessment
• give the learner(s) in question an unfair advantage over other learners taking the same or similar assessment
• influence the final outcome of the assessment decision.

Learnwithunite is committed to fair and equal assessment of its learners.

Special consideration

Special considerations are different to reasonable adjustments as they apply to a disadvantage that occurs to the learner either just before or during the assessment. Reasons for special consideration could be:

• Temporary illness
• Injury
• Adverse circumstances at the time of the assessment.

A learner may be eligible for special consideration if:

• Their performance in an external assessment is affected by circumstances beyond the control of the learner, e.g. recent personal illness, accident, bereavement, serious disturbance during the assessment
• The alternative assessment arrangements which were agreed in advance of the assessment proved inappropriate or inadequate
• Any part of an assessment has been missed due to circumstances beyond the control of the learner.

Learnwithunite will submit a written Special Consideration request to the Awarding organisations.

All applications for special consideration can only be made on a case-by-case basis and thus separate applications must be made for each learner.

Learners may apply for special consideration during or after an assessment but may not apply for special consideration in the case of a permanent disability or learning difficulty. The size of the adjustment will depend on the circumstances during the assessment and will reflect the difficulty faced by the learner.

Policy Written April 2014
To be revised  April 2015