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Gateways to the Professions

14.1 Assessment

Assessment is one of the educational components subject to DDA requirements. Schools should set out the rules for student progress, in such terms as attainment, experience, time frames, performance and behaviour. These should all be reviewed in terms of the DDA and reasonable adjustments made where appropriate.

All assessments should be based on defined competence standards which, in any case, may be part of the process of mapping tests onto the curriculum (‘blueprinting’) during test development.

The DRC post-16 Code of Practice (paragraph 9.16) lists some possible adjustments (included in the list of reasonable adjustments in the Appendix).

The Code (paragraph 5.75) acknowledges that:

‘Sometimes …the passing of an assessment may be conditional upon having a practical skill or ability which must be demonstrated by completing a practical test. Therefore, in relatively rare circumstances, the ability to take the test may itself amount to a competence standard.’

It would be appropriate to:

• determine before the examination, through personal discussion, whether disabled students need reasonable adjustments
• offer disabled students a contact with whom they can discuss their requirements
• decide with individual students what adjustments should be made, notify the student and officers, and discuss with them how the adjustments will be implemented.

Whatever adjustments are made, it should be shown that these do not affect the reliability and validity of the outcome of the assessment process.

It would be wise to invite the university or medical school disability officer to inspect assessments such as OSCEs to ensure that there is no inherent discrimination.

‘The exam paper was enlarged and someone transferred the true/false answers onto the computer paper. With OSCEs the school enlarged the pictures and text.’

Trainee

‘I was allowed to sit at the front of the exam halls to hear the announcements.‘

Medical student