The Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) is a UK-based community interest company that represents eight major qualification providers, including AQA, CCEA, City & Guilds, Edexcel, NCFE, OCR, SQA, and WJEC. It acts as a unified voice for these organizations, overseeing standards for GCSE, GCE, Scottish Highers, and vocational qualifications. JCQ ensures consistent examination administration, monitors invigilation, and supports examination officers. It’s distinct from Ofqual, which regulates and accredits exam boards.
The SpLD Assessment Standards Committee (SASC) is a representative organisation for professionally qualified diagnostic assessors of specific learning difficulties (SpLD). SASC members work to agreed standards of practice, established collaboratively by the organisation.
SASC was first established in 2005 when a working group comprising SpLD practitioners and Department for Education representatives met to consider what would constitute acceptable evidence of SpLD for a student to qualify for the Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA). Since 2005 SASC has extended its remit to become an advisory and regulatory body for practitioner assessors of SpLD.
Patoss is the professional association of teachers of students with specific learning difficulties, for all those concerned with the teaching and support of pupils with SpLD, for example: dyslexic, dyspraxic, dyscalculic, ADHD. Membership is open to qualified teachers in SpLD and those studying for either the certificate or the diploma in SpLD. We also offer supporting and corporate memberships.
The British Dyslexia Association (BDA) has been the voice of dyslexic people since 1972. We are a membership organisation working to achieve a dyslexia-friendly society for all.
What is diagnostic assessment?
In some respects diagnostic assessment is similar to formative assessment in that it examines the knowledge and skills that a pupil has already learnt.
Exam Access Arrangements
Exams can be challenging, but for students with special educational needs and disabilities, they can present additional barriers. To ensure that everyone has a fair chance to succeed, access arrangements are available. These are adjustments made before or during exams to help reduce any disadvantage you might face.
Dyslexia, previously known as word blindness, is a learning disability that affects either reading or writing. Different people are affected to different degrees. Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, reading quickly, writing words, "sounding out" words in the head, pronouncing words when reading aloud and understanding what one reads. Often these difficulties are first noticed at school.