Access to Fair Assessment Statement

Access to Fair Assessment Statement

At the School of Babywearing®, we want to make sure that all of our candidates have access to assessments that are fair. We aim to have in place the necessary systems and procedures to allow the provision of access arrangements, including reasonable adjustments. These will reflect the needs of individual learners and ensure that assessment continues to enable a valid, reliable and consistent judgement to be made about achievement of all learning outcomes against the stated assessment criteria.

We will also arrange for special consideration to be given to learners that experience temporary illness, injury or indisposition at the time of an assessment. This will allow our learners to demonstrate the achievement they are capable of for the units that are subject to special consideration.

Reasonable Adjustments

A reasonable adjustment is any action that helps to reduce the effect of a disability or difficulty that places the learner at a substantial disadvantage in the assessment situation. The reasonable adjustments that we will make may involve:

• Changing our usual assessment arrangements, for example allowing a learner extra time to complete the assessment activity.
• Adapting our course and assessment materials, such as providing materials in Braille.
• Providing assistance during assessment, such as a sign language interpreter or a reader.
• Re-organising the assessment environment, such as removing visual stimuli for a learner with autism.
• Changing the assessment method, for example from a written assessment to a spoken assessment.
• Using assistive technology, such as screen reading or voice activated software.

All reasonable adjustments will be approved or set in place before the assessment activity takes place; they constitute an arrangement to give our learners access to our units and qualifications. The work produced by the learner will be marked in the same way as the work of other assessed learners.

All of our assessments are carried out under non-examination conditions and we offer a range of assessment methods for each aim and learning outcome so we can offer flexibility in meeting these. We will consider the use of appropriate mechanical, electronic or other aids as long as these reflect the learner’s normal way of working, allow them to meet the specified criteria and do not give the learner an unfair advantage.

Learners who are Eligible for Reasonable Adjustments

Any learners who believe that they are eligible for reasonable adjustments should inform us when booking their course, if possible. Below are some examples of learner needs that may be adjustments to assessments. This list is not exhaustive and it should be noted that some learner needs will fall within more than one of the categories set out below:
• Communication and interaction needs
• Cognition and learning needs
• Sensory and physical needs
• Behavioural, emotional and social needs

We have internal procedures for identifying learner’s needs which comply with the requirements of Disability and Equal Opportunity legislation.

Policy Review Date September 2023