Awarding Organisations and centres are only required by law to do what is ‘reasonable’. What is reasonable will depend on the individual circumstances, cost implications and the practicality and effectiveness of the adjustment. Other factors, such as the need to maintain competence standards and health and safety, will also be taken into consideration.
SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS
Special consideration is a post assessment/examination adjustment that is applied if there is a reason the learner may have been disadvantaged during the assessment/examination. Reasons for special consideration could be temporary illness, injury or adverse circumstances at the time of the assessment/examination. Learners cannot enter a plea for special considerations for assessment solely on the grounds of disability or learning difficulty. Learners must declare their needs prior to the assessment period and all necessary reasonable adjustments arrangements must have been implemented before the time of their assessment/examination. Special consideration should not give the learner an unfair advantage. The learner’s result must reflect his or her achievement in the assessment and not necessarily his or her potential ability. Special consideration may result in a small post-assessment/examination adjustment to the mark of the learner. The size of the adjustment will depend on the circumstances during the assessment/examination and will reflect the difficulty faced by the learner. Where an assessment requires a competence, criterion or standard to be met fully, or in the case of qualifications that confer a Licence to Practise, it may not be possible to apply special consideration. It may be more appropriate to offer the learner an opportunity to retake the assessment later or to extend the registration period so that the learner has more time to complete the assessment activity. All learners regardless of their special consideration must still meet the minimum requirement for the award of a certificate.
EXTRA EXAM ARRANGEMENTS
If a learner requires Reasonable Adjustments or Special Considerations, then the following must be adhered to when applying Extra Access Arrangements: not invalidate the assessment requirements of the qualification not give the learner an unfair advantage reflect the learner’s normal way of working. be based on the individual need of the learner.
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