Reasonable Adjustments and Special Considerations Policy

Introduction 

Quinn’s Training Services Ltd is committed to creating an inclusive environment where all candidates can feel supported and able to achieve.  In the interest of an inclusive assessment process, QTS will always aim to provide assistance for both candidates with additional learning needs and for those who may be suffering from a temporary disadvantage to learning.

Support during courses and assessments can be provided in two ways: a reasonable adjustment and/ or a special consideration.

A Reasonable Adjustment helps to reduce the effect of a disability or difficulty that places the individual at a substantial disadvantage in a learning or training environment or assessment situation. It is a requirement under the Equality Act 2010.

Reasonable adjustments must not affect the integrity of the assessment. Examples include:

• Changing “normal” assessment arrangements or adapting assessment materials

      • Providing assistance during assessment or learning

      • Re-organising the physical learning or training environment

      • Changing or adapting the assessment method

      • Using assistive technology

      • Allowing extra time

      • Assessment materials in BSL, on coloured paper or in audio format

These are to be assessed on a case-by-case basis and evidence used to support the application may include:

• The Centre’s assessments of learner’s needs;
• The history of provision within the Centre;
• The candidate’s medical certificate; and
• Psychological or other professional assessment report

A Special Consideration is different from a reasonable adjustment. It is an allowance given to an individual to accommodate a temporary disadvantage that occurred at the time of the assessment.

Reasons could include:

     • temporary illness or injury of the individual or a close family member

     • adverse circumstances at the time of the assessment

     • Serious domestic crisis

     • Flare up of congenital illness (eg asthma, diabetes, epilepsy)

These are to be assessed on a case-by-case basis and evidence used to support the application may include:

• Medical or psychological evidence
• Statement from the invigilator.

If a candidate falls into either of these categories above, Special Consideration may result in a post assessment adjustment being made to the mark of the candidate in question.

consider on the basis of legislation, regulation or good practice models,

Aim

The purpose of this policy is to establish the guidelines which need to be followed by staff when reasonable adjustments and/ or special considerations are requested. This policy will ensure that any reasonable adjustments or special considerations provided meet the procedures established by the relevant awarding body.

QTS will always ensure that the integrity of all qualifications and assessments is maintained at all times.

This policy applies to all staff and contractors.

Policy

The guidelines which will be followed by QTS are outlined below.  Where a particular awarding body does not especially express procedures, QTS will follow best practice from other awarding bodies in identifying and providing reasonable adjustments and/ or special considerations.  

HABC

QTS will work within the principles outlined by the Highfield Reasonable Adjustments Policy and the Highfield Special Considerations Policy. QTS recognise that they should:

• identify learners having or likely to have difficulties accessing assessment;
• advise learners to make any adjustment needs known to Centre staff at the

             earliest opportunity;

• ensure Centre staff decide, in conjunction with the learner, what adjustment may

             be required;

• when identifying the adjustment(s) necessary, take into consideration the

            learner’s normal way of working and how previous assessment has been made

            during teaching, as well as the assessment requirements of the qualification or

            standard;

Once the appropriate adjustment has been identified, the centre must document the request and rationale for audit purposes;

Any application for Reasonable Adjustment must be supported, where appropriate, by information/evidence, which is valid, sufficient, reliable and justifies your decision.  Highfield reserves the right to request a copy of this information/evidence to inform our decision or for audit purposes; and if the Reasonable Adjustment is permitted at the discretion of the Centre, the Reasonable Adjustment form must be completed and submitted to Highfield at the end of the assessment together with the associated examination/assessment materials. 

For onscreen, Centre permitted adjustments, please forward completed forms to your account manager, post assessment. Please include learner details and relevant exam codes/ID. 

The centre or the individual can complete a Reasonable Adjustments Application Form (appendix 1 in the Highfield Reasonable Adjustments Policy) when applying for Reasonable Adjustments or complete a Special Consideration form when applying for Special Consideration and send this to their account manager before the course.

EUSR

For all EUSR courses, the awarding body is to be approached on a case-by-case basis by contacting quality@euskills.co.uk at least 5 working days before the assessment. Evidence of application and supporting evidence must be stored for quality assurance and audit purposes.

 Requests for reasonable adjustments must be approved by Energy and Utility Skills and set in place before the assessment activity takes place. The work produced following a reasonable adjustment must be assessed in the same way as the work from other learners. The individual may not need, nor be allowed, the same adjustment for all assessments.

Individuals cannot enter a plea for a special consideration for assessment solely on the grounds of disability or learning difficulty. A special consideration may result in a small post-assessment adjustment to the mark of the individual. The size of the adjustment depends on the circumstances during the assessment and reflect the difficulty facing the individual. It must not give the individual an unfair advantage and must reflect their achievement and not necessarily their potential ability.

Where individuals do not have English as their first language, a reasonable adjustment may be requested.

The process is as follows:

• Prior to any assessment taking place, conduct an assessment of the individual’s understanding of written and oral English. This assessment must include the individual’s ability to read health and safety signage and communicate risks to others – the individual must be able to adhere to UK legislative and regulatory practices.

 • Contact EUSR for any advice and guidance, if required

 • Once satisfied that there is no health and safety risk, submit a request to Energy & Utility Skills for a reasonable adjustment

Note: Translators or Interpreters are not allowed in an assessment and are not therefore considered to be a reasonable adjustment. An individual may use a bilingual dictionary during an assessment.

CITB

Delegates with special assessment requirements can request the assistance of the invigilator, if required. Discussions to accommodate delegates with special requirements should be arranged prior to the course and separate arrangements must be put in place.

Prior to course commencement, training providers should identify any special requirements that delegates may have, such as physical disabilities, including sight, hearing or writing, and learning or reading difficulties (for example, dyslexia). It is important to remember that sensitive information about the delegate has been offered voluntarily and it should be respected as confidential and in accordance with data protection and equality legislation.

In circumstances where assistance is required, the training provider should know that under the Equality Act 2010, the training provider is specifically required to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ or give ‘special consideration’ to enable everyone to have an equal opportunity to complete the course.

QTS must also be mindful not to make the course easier or for any individual to gain an advantage through any special considerations or reasonable adjustments that they apply. The integrity of the examination must not be compromised.

QTS must discuss with the delegate what support they need and be prepared to arrange for adaptations (for example, the examination can be held in a separate room and questions can be read to the delegate), which may include additional staff support.

IOSH

There are two ways in which access to fair assessment can be maintained:

• reasonable adjustments – agreed before the assessment takes place. QTS will ensure that reasonable adjustments:

• do not affect the integrity of what is being assessed
• are approved or set in place before the assessment activity takes place. 
• Will not be taken into account during the assessment of a delegate’s work

• special considerations – applied post-assessment if there is a reason the delegate may have been disadvantaged during the assessment.

QTS’ will consistently follow the procedure outlined below when requesting reasonable adjustments and special considerations from IOSH. Staff must:

• immediately upon identifying a requirement for reasonable adjustments, complete the IOSH Reasonable Adjustments form located on the IOSH course management system in the library section
• email this form to verifiers@IOSH.com
• wait five working days for IOSH to respond
• request from the delegate, and supply to IOSH in a timely way, any evidence of the learning need which IOSH may need to approve the request
• Inform IOSH of any circumstances requiring special considerations, within five working days of the assessment.
• All evidence must be kept for audit purposes.  More information on this can be found in IOSH Reasonable Adjustments and Special Considerations Policy. 

Translation

When a training provider translates the IOSH authored course materials into another language a reputable translator must be used.

It is essential that:

 • the Training Provider who wishes to have the course translated holds a current up to date IOSH licence to deliver the original course

• if the Training Provider wishes to translate the Leading Safely materials, Managing Safely materials or the Working Safely materials into a language other than English then the latest version of Leading Safely, Managing Safely or Working Safely must be used as the original to translate from.

The Training provider must supply:

• a copy of the translated course to the IOSH Tailored Course Approval Service with a letter asking for approval of the translated version

 • a letter which states:

o that the translated version of the materials is a true and accurate translation of the original course material

o that the Training Provider has used a reputable translation service

o that the Training Provider used all reasonable efforts to ensure the translation is accurate (eg back translation).

IOSH delegate workbooks must be purchased from IOSH, as stipulated in our Terms and Conditions, and cannot be translated. A supplementary hand-out, produced in the required language, can be given to each delegate and it is the responsibility of the Training Provider to ensure the accuracy of content and language. The Training Provider must supply, to IOSH, a copy of the hand-out and a translated English version.

If, in the future, IOSH wishes to audit specific delegate assessment papers, the Training Provider must translate the requested delegate papers (questions and delegate answers) into English.

 All costs must be incurred by QTS.

Centre Responsibilities

QTS understands it must meet its responsibilities to learners and comply with current disability and equal opportunity legislation as well as meeting regulatory requirements. QTS will therefore, consider in advance any difficulties learners may have in accessing assessment. QTS will also ensure all staff must have training in relevant access issues.

QTS must ensure that they can provide appropriate resources to make the necessary adjustment to assessment and that each individual Awarding Organisation’s procedures for requesting adjustments are followed.

In the interest of Equal Opportunities and the avoidance of malpractice claims, only approved adjustments will be allowed, and the approved level of assistance must not be exceeded.

Appropriate adjustments will be based on the specific assessment requirements of the particular qualifications, on the type of assessment and the particular needs and circumstances of the learner in question.