Assessing_Sen_and_Formal_Examinations

Special Educational needs are a vast area incorporating many areas including physical, emotional and learning needs. Legislation over the past years has removed many of the barriers for candidates with a disability or any form of SEN, to ensure a fully inclusive educational system. The SEN and disability act of 2001 states that schools have to make adjustments to ensure that any student with a disability is not disadvantaged. Educational establishments have to develop a curriculum that meets the needs of a diverse society incorporating many needs, ensuring equality. This also applies within the examination and assessment framework across all educational provision from reception to adult. To ensure consistency and validity the Joint Council for Qualifications (QCF) along with the Federation of Awarding bodies have set up guidelines and procedures with regard to Access Arrangements for general and vocational qualifications. These guidelines are updated, published and sent out to all examination centres each academic year. They are also available online. Access arrangements allow examination or assessment candidates with long term or temporary need to access the exam/ assessment with some form of concession. This concession must not compromise the examination or give the candidate any unfair advantage. The access arrangement that is put in place will ensure that the candidate can show their knowledge and skills within the demands of the assessment. Some examples of access arrangements are: • Reader • Scribe • Additional time to complete the exam • Supervised Rest breaks • Use of a word processor An example of use would be A candidate has a physical need that results in tiredness of limbs; supervised rest breaks would be put in place to allow the candidate to complete the assessment. The candidate would still complete the exam within the required time and time taken for breaks would be discounted. A student with Dyslexia may struggle to write legibly, however use of a word processor (with Spell checker disabled) will enable the candidate to complete the exam and be marked correctly. Access arrangements also include the application of reasonable adjustments. Reasonable adjustments include arrangements such as Braille or enlarged papers. This arrangement removes the effects of substantial disadvantage Special Consideration is an adjustment to a candidates mark after the examination has taken place. Special Consideration would take into account severe trauma or disturbance experienced before or during the examination or assessment, such as someone taken ill in the examination room or the recent death of a family member. For GCSE examination s access arrangements have to be applied for in advance of the examination date. Recent developments have improved this process and now enable applications for access to be made online. This greatly reduces the time and cost both in centre administration and for awarding bodies. It also enables late entries to be processed. The online system is central to main awarding bodies AQA, EDEXCEL, WJEC and OCR thus requiring only one application. Previous to this applications were paper based and a separate application per candidate needed for each awarding body. The application process has deadlines, dependant on the type of arrangement being applied for. Some arrangements take longer than others to put in place For temporary arrangements, for example: A student arrives on the day of examination with a broken arm and requires a scribe, the arrangements can be applied for and put into the system immediately and medical evidence filed securely with a copy of the application. For all forms of GCSE access arrangements evidence is needed to support the application. Evidence is still needed even if the candidate has a Statement of Educational Need. This evidence can be in the form of psychometric testing results, Specialist Teacher or Educational Psychologist reports, Medical evidence or Statements of Educational Need. Any psychometric testing must be carried out by qualified persons deemed suitable by the head of centre. That person should be named on supporting evidence and subsequent reports. Evidence should be held securely in accordance with the Data Protection Act and a signed copy of student authority to share information, should accompany the evidence. It is also god practice to complete FORM 8 or equivalent document. This document provides information on candidate history of need, previous test scores and other relevant information. Evidence must show that a candidate has met the requirements for access arrangements as given in the booklet Access Arrangements, Reasonable Adjustments and Special Consideration. A full list of acceptable arrangements with examples and scenario’s is also given along with principles for centres and detailed explanations of what is and is not acceptable. JCQ inspectors will randomly visit registered centres to inspect procedures and examine supporting evidence. They will want to see evidence o support applications and in addition they will request to see the candidate signed copy of the Data Protection Notice. This gives permission to share evidence held by the centre, with JCQ. Although GCSE arrangements are now completed online, many other qualifications still have to be completed separately, such as literacy and numeracy tests and key skills. This makes the whole process time consuming. Tasks including gathering evidence, liaising with processors, invigilators etc. take up lots of time. Candidates’ evidence supporting application for the majority of access arrangements is valid for 26 months; (with the exception of ‘up to 25% extra time’ where the report must date from the secondary period after KS2) therefore testing needs to be done at the beginning of Year 10 to ensure that arrangements will cover the whole of the GCSE syllabus. A candidate with a history of learning needs /intervention would still need to be tested around this time to ensure the test data is current. SAT’s (Standard Attainment Tests) are the subject for much debate at present. Head teachers and schools have voiced strong opposition to the tests carried out at KS 1, 2 and 3. Recently the KS3 (Year 9) test was discontinued and this year many schools have boycotted KS2 (Year 6) However at present access arrangements are available for SAT’s, however the regulations differ slightly from those at GCSE. At KS2 many of the access arrangements are assessed and permitted by the school- with the exception of additional time and early opening of papers. Additional time must be applied for and uploaded along with supporting evidence to the National Assessment Agency (NAA) Some of the differences are: • Readers are allowed without the need for a formal application • A candidate with a Statement is allowed additional time • If a transcript is completed the candidate can be present Again the educational establishment is open to inspection at any time and the inspector will have a list of eligible access candidates. In my experience overall, the guidelines are clear and straightforward. The online application process has made administration easier and should any queries arise the JCQ support centre is helpful and easy to access by phone or online. Having an organised system and nominated staff helps to ensure documentation and procedures are followed and that the credibility of the candidate and the qualifications assessed are not compromised in any way.