Assessment Arrangements

SQA Assessment Arrangements

SQA Assessment Arrangements Documents

The SQA (Scottish Qualifications Authority) produced a document in 2011 outlining special arrangements that may be available to pupils with a variety of support needs. The document states that:

“The purpose of assessment arrangements is to provide disabled candidates with an equal opportunity to demonstrate their attainment in an assessment (ie. to show the skills, knowledge and understanding they have achieved) without compromising the integrity of the assessment”,

(SQA Special Arrangements, 2011).

More information can be found on their website here.

Types of Assessment Arrangements

A variety of arrangements for pupils with Hearing Loss are available:

Reader
Scribe
Extra time
Separate accommodation (quiet room)
Questions signed using BSL (British Sign Language)
Use of ICT to write answers

Use of BSL in Assessments

A Deaf candidate may request to answer questions using sign language BSL (British Sign Language), if they use this as their main means of communication.

In any external assessment, a Deaf candidate may have the contents and questions signed to them via a Teacher of the Deaf/Sign Communicator. The signer should be someone who has worked with the pupil and is aware of the course content and subject specific language.

A Deaf candidate may choose to write or sign their responses. In the latter, these are recorded, translated and transcribed before being submitted to SQA.

Extra Time

Processing written information can take a deaf student longer than a hearing student and so additional time ensures that there is equity of access.

Separate Accomodation

Intermittent noise caused by people moving and students' writing causes additional distractions for a hearing aid/cochlear implant user, and this increases cognitive load which puts the deaf student at a disadvantage to their hearing peers. The deaf student requires a room separate from other students.

Listening Exams

Listening to or following recorded sound files is inaccessible to deaf students. The files are compressed and so are inaccessible. Deaf students require to access all aspects of communication (lip reading etc) to access speech.

Invigilator

The deaf student requires to have a clear view of the invigilator. The invigilator needs to be seated with the light on their face (the invigilator must not sit with a window behind them). Deaf students rely on accessing lip reading and so need to be seated near the invigilator.

However, candidates need to be aware that for some qualifications, it may not be possible for adjustments. “It is not possible to make an adjustment to the standard of the qualification where to do so would mean that it did not provide a reliable indication of the knowledge, skills and understanding of the candidate” (SQA Special Arrangements, 2011).

How to Organise Assessment Arrangements

Secondary schools will have an SQA Co-ordinater who will liaise with mainstream class teachers and apply for special arrangements on behalf of individual candidates. The SQA require evidence that candidates require special arrangements, eg. examples of assessments/end of topic tests undertaken by the pupil using extra time, separate accommodation and the questions signed using BSL . Ideally, candidates will have practised using special arrangements throughout S1 - S4 and will be familiar with them.

The Teacher of the Deaf who works with the candidate, can liaise with the SQA Co-ordinator and mainstream staff to find out if special arrangements have been planned and that the candidate is happy with the arrangements set in place.

Mainstream staff are not always aware that a Deaf pupil can complete assessments using special arrangements. The pupil's Teacher of the Deaf can discuss this with staff during support visits and Deaf Awareness training sessions.

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