Access Arrangements

Access Arrangements allow candidates/students 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.  How reasonable the adjustment is will depend on a number of factors including the needs of the disabled candidate/student.  An adjustment may not be considered reasonable if it involves unreasonable costs, timeframes or affects the security or integrity of the assessment.

There is no duty on the Awarding Bodies to make any adjustment to the assessment objectives being tested in an assessment.  The teachers of each student will make a recommendation where they feel exam access arrangements need to be put in place and that they can evidence the support given as the student’s ‘normal way of working’.  Confirmation regarding exam access entitlement at KS2 as well as a description of the student’s ongoing SEN need will also need to be used as evidence.

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.

The applications submitted to the Examination Boards have to be supported with the results of tests carried out by a Specialist Trained Assessor as well as demonstrating through evidence of work samples that support in tests and examinations is the student’s ‘normal way of working.