Reasonable adjustments of general qualifications (Saesneg yn unig)

Date of decision / Dyddiad y penderfyniad:

5 March 2012

Statement of information / Datganiad gwybodaeth:

The Equality Act 2010 (the 2010 Act) has two main purposes - to harmonise discrimination law and to strengthen the law to support progress on equality.  Part 6 of the 2010 Act concerns education and sections 96 and 97 relate to “qualifications bodies”.

Section 96 of the 2010 Act places a duty upon a qualifications body to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people taking general qualifications, such as GCSEs, A levels and Essential Skills Wales qualifications.

The same section confers a power on Welsh Ministers (as the appropriate regulator for Wales) to specify where a qualifications body is not subject to the duty and where, when the body is subject to the duty, reasonable adjustments should not be made.

Welsh Government officials have worked with officials from the qualifications regulator in England to formulate specifications regarding the use of reasonable adjustments in general qualifications. A twelve-week consultation on the Welsh Government website provided valuable responses which have informed development of the final specifications.  

We want to ensure that where reasonable adjustments are made, these are based on evidence of need and do not compromise the assessment objectives of the qualification.

The specifications relate to reasonable adjustments in the following contexts:

• exemptions from parts of qualifications;
• pass marks and grade boundaries;
• the use of readers in examinations;
• the use of scribes and voice recognition technologies;
• British Sign Language (BSL);
• the use of practical assistants;
• the Welsh Baccalaureate Qualification (WBQ).

The Deputy Minister for Skills has been asked to approve publication of:

• the responses to the consultation, in their original form;
• a summary report on the responses and outcomes of consultation;
• specifications in relation to the reasonable adjustment of general qualifications.

The appropriate powers are section 96(7), (8) and (9) of the Equality Act 2010 and regulation 2 of the Equality Act 2010 (General Qualifications Bodies) (Appropriate Regulator and Relevant Qualifications) Regulations 2010 (SI 2010/2245).