Strong support in consultation for guidance published today to benefit students with SEND
Students are to benefit from updated Ofqual guidance on how to make exams and other assessments as accessible as possible to all.
The new guidance is published today following a 12-week consultation, in which there was strong support from respondents, students and their representatives, including those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
A range of SEND groups responded to this consultation. They include the Autism Education Trust, British Dyslexia Association, National Deaf Children’s Society, National Autistic Society and the Royal National Institute of Blind People.
Ofqual received 163 responses to this consultation. Of the 125 online respondents, 111 agreed or strongly agreed that the draft guidance will help awarding organisations to design and develop assessments that are as accessible as possible for learners.
The guidance supports awarding organisations to design assessments to meet rules on accessibility.
The guidance published today explains that, in their exams and assessments, awarding organisations should:
Today, the decisions following consultation are published. These explain that a qualification that requires candidates to have a command of complex language must continue to test students on this. For example, an English exam might test use of complex sentence structures, or analogy, inference and allusion. Conversely, maths papers testing numeracy should not contain overly complex text.
Ofqual Chief Regulator Dr Jo Saxton said:
Geoff Barton, General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said:
Caireen Sutherland, Royal National Institute of Blind People Head of Education, said:
Paul Simpson and Teresa Quail, co-National Executive Officers from BATOD (British Association of Teachers of the Deaf), said:
The Autism Education Trust said:
This new guidance will also support students, including those from other countries, for whom English is an additional language.