Thinking ahead around exam access
The 2025 GCSE Exams Series might seem like a long way off, but if you have learners with special educational needs, you will need to apply in advance of the examination to the exam board to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ for your learner/learners. This includes making sure the assistive technology they might need to use is allowed and is their normal way of working.
Exam boards
In England there are several different awarding bodies (or exam boards) that set, mark and assess qualifications. In order to ensure consistency, each exam board uses the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) to set common policies and procedures that all schools in England must follow when delivering GCSEs, Vocational Qualifications and A Levels.
Access Arrangements, Reasonable Adjustments and Special Considerations
Access Arrangements allow learners with special educational needs to access the assessment. For example, they might use readers, scribes and Braille question papers and various types of assistive technology. This is called a ‘reasonable adjustment’. The demands of the assessment remain the same.
Special Consideration is not the same. It is a post examination adjustment to a learners’ mark to reflect injury, illness or another type of indisposition at the time of the exam/assessment.
Key changes for the 2024 – 2025
Before contacting the JCQ and/or an awarding body with a query about access arrangements/reasonable adjustments, the SENCo can use the Adjustments for candidates with disabilities and learning difficulties – Access Arrangements and Reasonable Adjustments document or the relevant section of the JCQ document Instructions for conducting examinations to check for advice and guidance. The answers to many queries will be found within these documents.
Advice for organising Access Arrangements
CENMAC’s Advisory Teacher Maureen De Longhi is here to help! On Thursday 19th September 2024 from 15.30 to 16.00 (BST) she will be running a 30-minute online session which will look at JCQ guidance to schools and colleges with regard to the use assistive technology for access arrangements and identify key points. She will also look at how to make the necessary applications to enable students to use AT in exams.
> Reserve your free spot and take a look at the guidance
