The Institute of Wellbeing is committed to ensuring that our on-line assessments are fair and do not make barriers for anyone.
Access arrangements allow course participants to show what they know and can do without changing the demand of the assessment. The purpose of access arrangements is to meet the particular needs of course participants without affecting the integrity of the assessment and so comply with the duty under the Equality Act (2010) to make reasonable adjustments.
Reasonable Adjustments
The Equality Act 2010 requires the Institute of Wellbeing to make reasonable adjustments where a course participant, who is disabled within the meaning of the Equality Act 2010, would be at a substantial disadvantage in comparison to someone who is not disabled. The Institute of Wellbeing is required to take reasonable steps to overcome that disadvantage.
A reasonable adjustment may be unique to that individual and may not be included in the list of available access arrangements.
Whether an adjustment will be considered reasonable will depend on a number of factors which will include, but are not limited to:
The needs of the disabled course participant;
The effectiveness of the adjustment;
The cost of the adjustment;
The likely impact of the adjustment upon the course participant.
An adjustment will not be approved if it:
Involves unreasonable costs to the Institute of Wellbeing;
Involves unreasonable timeframes;
or
Affects the security and integrity of the assessment.
This is because the adjustment is not “reasonable”.
Definition of disability
Section 6 of the Equality Act 2010 defines disability as a ‘physical or mental impairment, which has a substantial and long term adverse effect on someone’s ability to carry out normal day to day activities’.
A reasonable adjustment must be agreed at the pre-assessment planning stage and is any action that helps to reduce the effect of a disability or difficulty, which places the course participant at a substantial disadvantage.
Reasonable adjustments must not, however, affect the reliability or validity of assessment outcomes nor must they give the course participant an unfair assessment advantage over other course participants undertaking the same or similar assessments.
Course participants should be fully involved in any decisions about adjustments/adaptations. This will ensure that individual needs can be met.
Bilingual dictionary and up to a maximum of 25% extra time
Coloured / enlarged unmodified paper
Extra time up to a maximum of 25%
Extra time above 25% (In exceptional circumstances)
Practical assistant
Reader / computer reader
Scribe (including voice activated computer system / voice input system)
General guidance
The Institute of Wellbeing will make sure access arrangements are suitable for the assessment before the course participant starts working on the course material.
A candidate must not receive an award for something somebody else has done.
Health and Safety may be a concern for some awards and this should be taken into consideration when agreeing suitable access arrangements.
Where an access arrangement has been put in place, the Institute of Wellbeing must ensure that records are kept for quality assurance purposes.
Candidates with learning difficulties
Diagnostic assessments of reading, comprehension, writing, spelling or cognitive processing, as appropriate, should have been given.
Candidates with physical or visual impairments
The centre should keep some evidence on file, such as a short note or letter.
Ideally access arrangements should be agreed before any training course begins. The particular needs of any course participant should be made known to the organisation/training co-ordinator at the confirmation of course booking to enable reasonable adjustments to the planned and agreed.