Guidance

Summary of special consideration policies for Applied Generals, Tech Awards, Tech Certs and Tech Levels in England

Published 3 February 2022

This guidance was withdrawn on 2 November 2023

This page has been withdrawn. It contained a summary of the special consideration policies of specific awarding organisations offering Applied Generals, Tech Awards, Tech Certs and Tech Levels in England. These policies related to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Awarding organisations host their special consideration policies on their own websites.

Applies to England

Special consideration may apply where a student has temporarily experienced an illness or injury, or other event outside their control, which is likely to have affected their ability to show their knowledge and understanding in an assessment. It allows the student to receive a result despite the disadvantage.

Special consideration could include, but is not limited to:

• an adjustment to a student’s mark where their assessment performance has been affected
• an adjustment to assessment arrangements for a student who is not disabled, but whose ability to access the assessment has been affected by an injury or illness
• allowing the student to take a later assessment and carrying the fee over so they don’t need to pay twice

A summary of information on special consideration is set out below. The information was gathered from awarding organisations who offer Applied Generals, Tech Awards, Tech Certs and Tech Levels in England and is correct at the time of publication.

There are different scenarios that may lead to the use of special conditions being granted by an awarding organisation. The details in this document look at 2 scenarios.

1. Absence with good reason is where a student was not able to take an assessment due to events outside of their control.
2. Present but disadvantaged is where a student took the assessment, but their performance was materially affected due to events outside of their control at the time of the assessment.

AQA

Key points

1. Applications must be made by the school or college.
2. Applications must be made by the deadline published by AQA.
3. The usual criteria for infectious diseases apply for the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Read the JCQ guide to the special consideration process.

Absence with good reason

• special consideration is permitted for students who were absent with good reason, depending on the qualification structure
• evidence is required to support the application – as a minimum the school or college must support the application
• an awarding organisation-determined grade is available as a mitigation in very rare and exceptional circumstances and on a case-by-case basis
• an awarding organisation-determined grade is not available to non-certificating students
• non-certificating students should take the assessment at the next available opportunity
• at least 25 per cent of the assessment evidence must be complete before a qualification can be awarded

Present but disadvantaged

• special consideration is permitted for students who were present but disadvantaged
• evidence is required to support the application – as a minimum the school or college must support the application
• an adjustment to the assessment marks is available as a mitigation

The London Institute of Banking and Finance (LIBF)

Key points

1. Applications must be made by the school or college.
2. Applications must be within 5 working days after the exam.

Read the LIBF special consideration policy.

Absence with good reason

• special consideration is permitted for students who were absent with good reason
• evidence is required to support the application
• an awarding organisation-determined grade is available as a mitigation
• an awarding organisation-determined grade is available to non-certificating students as an exception
• non-certificating students should take the assessment at the next available opportunity
• at least 50 per cent of the assessment evidence must be complete before a qualification can be awarded

Present but disadvantaged

• special consideration is permitted for students who were present but disadvantaged
• evidence is required to support the application
• an adjustment to the assessment marks is available as a mitigation

NCFE

Key points

1. Applications must be made by the school or college.
2. Applications must be made within 5 working days after the assessment or last day of the assessment window.
3. There are no specific amendments in place for the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Read the NCFE special consideration policy.

Absence with good reason

• special consideration is permitted for students who were absent with good reason
• evidence is required to support the application – the school or college must retain this evidence
• an awarding organisation-determined grade is available as a mitigation
• an awarding organisation-determined grade is available to non-certificating students as an exception
• non-certificating students should take the assessment at the next available opportunity
• at least 25 per cent of the assessment evidence must be complete before a qualification can be awarded

Present but disadvantaged

• special consideration is permitted for students who were present but disadvantaged
• evidence is required to support the application – the school or college must retain this evidence
• an adjustment to the assessment marks is available as a mitigation

OCR

Key points

1. Applications must be made by the school or college.
2. Applications must be made by the deadline show in the special consideration online portal and published in OCR key dates documents.
3. In Cambridge Technicals it is only possible to grant special consideration to timetabled examined units due to the way moderated units are assessed (i.e. there are no numerical marks) and they are not tied to an examination series.
4. In both Cambridge Nationals and Cambridge Technicals a special consideration absence can only be awarded for an examined unit, and normally only when certificating in the same series as the absence – although an exception has been made for January 2022 allowing students certificating in June 2022 to be awarded a special consideration absence for a missed January 2022 exam.

Read the OCR special consideration information for Cambridge Technicals, OCR special consideration information for Cambridge Nationals and JCQ guide to the special consideration process.

Absence with good reason

• special consideration is permitted for students who were absent with good reason
• evidence is required to support the application
• an awarding organisation-determined grade is available as a mitigation
• an awarding organisation-determined grade is available to non-certificating students as an exception
• non-certificating students should take the assessment at the next available opportunity
• at least 25 per cent of the assessment evidence must be complete before a qualification can be awarded

Present but disadvantaged

• special consideration is permitted for students who were present but disadvantaged
• evidence is required to support the application
• an adjustment to the assessment marks is available as a mitigation

Pearson

Key points

1. Applications must be made by the school or college.
2. Applications must be made within 7 days after the last assessment of the series.

Read the Pearson information on special consideration.

Absence with good reason

• special consideration is permitted for students who were absent with good reason
• evidence is required to support the application
• an awarding organisation-determined grade is available as a mitigation
• an awarding organisation-determined grade is available to non-certificating students as an exception
• non-certificating students should take the assessment at the next available opportunity
• at least 25 per cent of the assessment evidence must be complete before a qualification can be awarded

Present but disadvantaged

• special consideration is permitted for students who were present but disadvantaged
• evidence is required to support the application
• an adjustment to the assessment marks is available as a mitigation

VTCT

Key points

1. Applications must be made by the school or college.
2. Applications must be made within 7 days of the last exam in that specification.
3. Key dates for performance table qualifications.

Read the VTCT special consideration policy.

Absence with good reason

• special consideration is permitted for students who were absent with good reason
• evidence is required to support the application
• an awarding organisation-determined grade is available as a exceptional mitigation
• an awarding organisation-determined grade is available to non-certificating students as an exception
• non-certificating students should take the assessment at the next available opportunity
• at least 25 per cent of the assessment evidence must be complete before a qualification can be awarded

Present but disadvantaged

• special consideration is permitted for students who were present but disadvantaged
• evidence is required to support the application
• an adjustment to the assessment marks is available as a mitigation

WJEC

Key points

1. Applications must be made by the school or college.
2. Applications must be made within 7 days of the last assessment of the series.

Read the WJEC information on special consideration.

Absence with good reason

• special consideration is permitted for students who were absent with good reason
• evidence is required to support the application
• an awarding organisation-determined grade is available as a mitigation
• an awarding organisation-determined grade is not available to non-certificating students
• non-certificating students should take the assessment at the next available opportunity
• at least 25 per cent of the assessment evidence must be complete before a qualification can be awarded

Present but disadvantaged

• special consideration is permitted for students who were present but disadvantaged
• evidence is required to support the application
• an adjustment to the assessment marks is available as a mitigation