Access Arrangements allow candidates/learners with special educational needs, disabilities or temporary injuries to access the assessment without changing the demands of the assessment.

I hold a current APC and work with schools and colleges to carry out assessments for students requiring access arrangements in GCSEs, A levels and other Level 1, 2 and 3 qualifications. This is usually for extra time and/or a scribe, although an assessment can provide additional information on the candidate's needs. These brief assessments can be done at the school or college or at my home. Before the assessment takes place I provide the student’s centre with evidence of my qualification to assess.

The centre then completes the first part of Form 8 from the Joint Council of Qualifications (JCQ), the organisation that regulates all GCSE and A Level providers. This gives me the information on the student so I can take their needs and normal way of working into consideration and tailor the assessment to address their individual needs.

Each assessment takes between 15 and 45 minutes, depending on the needs of the individual student. Most assessments are individual, but testing for a scribe can be done in small groups.

After the assessment is complete, I complete Part 2 of Form 8, providing statistical evidence of the student’s needs, and I make recommendations to the centre based on the assessment outcomes. The access arrangements requested from the JCQ are decided by the centre's SENCo or access arrangements coordinator based on teacher evidence of normal way of working collected by the centre and recording in Part 1 of Form 8.

For more information on any or all of these areas, please contact Louise Green