Week 14 Activity 1.1 - Accessible Examinations

The students in my context are in secondary school, so are studying GCSE's and A-Levels in the main. In these scenarios then the assessment (exams) are very much core to the course, although continuous assessment forms a percentage of the final grades in many courses.

In a secondary education context assessment is regulated by the exam board so decisions on accessibility arrangements will be made by them. AQA is one of the main exam boards used so I have visited their website to find out about adjustments that can be made for disabled students. The types of adjustments that are allowed are determined for each subject on an individual basis and are outlined in course specification documents, however they must be arranged in advance and approved by the exam board. There are also guidelines on ensuring accessible assessment environments for exam invigilators e.g. time allowances, supervised rest breaks and giving reminders on time remaining, use of assistants etc.

It seems that AQA have processes for reasonable adjustments in place for assessment produced in collaboration with the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ - Access Arrangements, reasonable adjustments and Special Considerations). "Access arrangements are not there to give candidates an unfair advantage, but to give all candidates a level playing field in which to demonstrate their skills, knowledge and understanding." The flexibility of the assessment process to accommodate the needs of disabled students is not particularly well publicised on the AQA website and took me some time to find. Hopefully this does not mean that some students who may be eligible are lacking requests for access arrangements being made on their behalf.