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online respondents, 111 agreed or strongly agreed that the draft
guidance will help awarding organisations to design and develop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:
- use accessible and appropriate language
- use clear and consistent layout
- use source material, context, images and colour in ways that
do not disadvantage students
- consider how Reasonable Adjustments could be made to the exam
or assessment to make sure disabled students are not
disadvantaged
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:
It’s crucial that assessments in every subject have integrity and
are accessible, to give all students a fair opportunity to
demonstrate what they know and can do, and to achieve results
which reflect this.
Exams and assessments must remain rigorous but must not unfairly
disadvantage any student because of poor design or presentation.
This isn’t about making exams and assessments easier, but about
breaking down the barriers that stop young people achieving their
true potential and making sure that exams actually test the
things they are designed to test.
If an exam is intended to assess understanding of complex
language, then of course the questions will use complex language.
But if an exam is assessing numerical skills, it does not need to
include complex language which could get in the way of some
students showing those skills.
This will be particularly important for students with SEND, but
actually it matters for all students. If students know their
subject matter and are well-prepared, they should be able to get
on and demonstrate what they know and can do in their
assessments, so that the examiner can assess it. This requires
questions and tasks in all subjects, however demanding they are,
to be framed clearly and unambiguously.
Geoff Barton, General Secretary of the Association of School and
College Leaders (ASCL), said:
We welcome these decisions which affect the regulation of written
exams. It is right that exams are as accessible as possible for
everyone, and it is therefore good that Ofqual is supporting exam
boards to make papers more accessible. Questions should not rely
on learner’s cultural capital, nor should they be overly wordy,
but should test the knowledge or skill that is being assessed.
This should help to make exam results more valid in the future.
Caireen Sutherland, Royal National Institute of Blind People Head
of Education, said:
It is very important that exams, as a crucial part of the
education system, are fully accessible if all children and young
people with vision impairment are to achieve their full
potential. We work closely with Ofqual and in previous
consultations they have taken on board RNIB advice and reflected
it in their guidance. This included involving Qualified Teachers
of Vision Impairment (QTVIs) in reviewing exam grades. We were
pleased to have the opportunity to provide feedback as part of
their recent consultation.
Paul Simpson and Teresa Quail, co-National Executive Officers
from BATOD (British Association of Teachers of the Deaf), said:
BATOD has for many years had a strong and productive relationship
with Ofqual and has found all colleagues receptive to our
concerns and willing to do what is possible while maintaining the
integrity of the examinations. For this reason we warmly welcome
the publication of the accessibility guidance.
The Autism Education Trust said:
The Autism Education Trust welcomes and supports the Ofqual
Accessibility Guidance to make exams and other written
assessments more accessible for children and young people with
special educational needs.
This is a positive step towards creating a more inclusive
education system that recognises that adjustments must be made to
support the needs of all autistic children and young people to
reach their potential and receive a fair chance to demonstrate
their skills and abilities in exams and assessments.
This new guidance will also support students from other countries
for whom English is an additional language.
