Exam Access Arrangements

The term ‘Exam Access Arrangements [EAA]’ refers to pre-arranged changes under which candidates/students may complete formal examinations without compromising the demands or main focus of the exam. Such changes which can include but are not limited to extra time, use of reader, scribe or assistive technology, are based on evidence of need and normal way of working and enable students with special educational needs, disabilities or temporary injuries to complete formal exams such as SAT’s, GCSE’s, A Levels and equivalent courses without being placed at a disadvantage to their peers.

EAA fall into two categories with some delegated to the centre (ie school or educational institution) and others requiring advance approval by the relevant JCQ awarding body. EAA’s are granted by the UK’s Joint Council for Qualifications [JCQ] which sets the criteria and evaluates the evidence for EAA requests. JCQ is a community interest membership company [CIC] comprising the eight largest providers of general and vocational qualifications in the UK, offering GCSE, A Level (ie GCE), Scottish Highers and vocationally-related courses. These include AQA, CCEA, City & Guilds, Pearson EdExcel, OCR, SQA, WJEC and NCFE.

The full list of suitable tests and resources available from Ann Arbor is detailed here.

For an up-to-date guide to the latest JCQ regulations, please see:
 
JCQ Regulations

The criteria and evaluation of evidence pertaining to application for EAA in National Curriculum assessments is the remit of the Standards and Testing Agency. Further information and guidance can be found at:

Standards and Testing Agency

Further useful links:
www.sasc.org
www.patoss-dyslexia.org
www.communicate-ed.org.uk