Teaching and Assessing Learners with Dyslexia/Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLD): Centre guidance on adaptations for Summer 2020

We have prepared this guidance to support centres in the delivery and verification of our Teaching Learners with Dyslexia/Specific Learning Difficulties qualifications.

For qualifications that support progression into or through employment, Ofqual has agreed that, for candidates who expected to complete assessments between 20 March and 31 July but have had this disrupted, assessment should be adapted where possible to support their progression. We have set out here our arrangements for adaptation.

Throughout this guidance we use the term ‘learner’ to mean the individual who is being assessed for or receiving specialist teaching for dyslexia/specific learning difficulties. ‘Candidate’ refers to the person taking the OCR qualification. 

OCR quality assurance processes

Given the current circumstances, we are reviewing how we can ensure our processes continue to maintain standards while remaining accessible for as many centres and candidates as possible.

For verified qualifications, the ‘normal’ EQA visits will not be possible under the current circumstances, so External Quality Assurers (EQAs) will be conducting their processes remotely with you.

EQAs may take slightly different approaches to sampling and requesting evidence from you depending on the range of units being assessed, for example asking for less up-front and then requesting more if it is needed rather than asking you to provide a greater amount which they then sample from. They will clarify this with you when making verification arrangements.

Equalities and Objectivity

It is important that any adaptations to assessment consider the ability of some groups of candidates to access them and, as far as possible, ensure that any adaptations do not advantage or disadvantage any candidate.

For candidates with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), centres will be best placed to accommodate this when making adapted assessments available for their candidates. Reasonable adjustments and access arrangements must be made available and recognised wherever possible.

If you require any guidance or support about making reasonable adjustments for your candidates, please contact the OCR Special Requirements Team on srteam@ocr.org.uk.

Professional discussions and witness testimonies need to be fair and evidence-based to reflect what the candidate has achieved.  When leading conversations, writing testimonies or reviewing evidence you should continue to be aware of the potential effects of candidates’ characteristics (including protected characteristics) on assessment judgements and ensure that they are not affecting your judgements. Protected characteristics are legally defined and include a candidate’s sex, race, religion/belief, disability, gender reassignment or sexual orientation.

Guidance on the importance of objectivity and avoiding unconscious bias can be taken from the section in Ofqual’s publication for schools and colleges who are providing centre assessment grades for candidates taking GCSEs, A levels and other performance tables qualifications. The section ‘Unconscious effects on objectivity’ is applicable to centre assessment in general. 

Permitted adaptations

The rationale for the types of adaptations for these qualifications is that the candidate may not be able to access the normal setting to carry out the activities needed to generate evidence of their skills, knowledge and understanding.  A normal setting could be the school as a workplace or higher education institution.

Normally, direct (face-to-face) observation of practical activities carried out in a real work setting is used to evidence competency.  Simulated activities are not permitted to demonstrate competency.  Evidence of knowledge requirements is normally produced from written work supported with real work examples/activity as a context and centres use sufficient levels of supervision to authenticate the work of the candidate. 

For candidates who have been unable to complete their assessment due to the current extraordinary circumstances brought about by the Coronavirus, they and their centre are permitted to:

• Use witness testimonies or professional discussion as an alternative to gathering further written evidence from candidates.
• Cross-referencing to previous achievements in other units
• Use video-meeting technologies to carry out learner assessments and teaching practice remotely
• Use video-meeting or audio-only technologies to observe teaching practice taking place remotely
• Use cases study material on which to base analyses and evaluations

Please note that in the case of witness testimonies, the witness must be someone who works directly with the candidate and therefore understands and knows the candidate’s work role and performance and is in a position to comment on the candidate’s skills and observe the candidate’s work activities. Statements/testimonies from others (e.g. parents of a learner the candidate has worked with) may be included but cannot be considered as primary evidence for assessment purposes.

Where candidates are undertaking practical activities using video-meeting technologies and these need to be watched by a centre assessor in order to meet the observation requirements of a unit, then either the centre assessor must be able to watch them remotely in real-time and complete an observation record and authenticate them, or they must be recorded (ideally an audio-visual recording; but audio only is acceptable as long as clear and candidate can be identified) for the centre assessor to then observe and authenticate.

Where candidates are completing practical activities using video-meeting technologies so that they have met the required number of hours teaching/delivery but they have already been observed by centre assessors, these activities do not require audio-visual or audio recordings.

If for any reason you cannot adapt the assessments in the ways described whilst ensuring the required level of supervision and checks to authenticate the evidence that is being produced, the assessments will have to be delayed until it is safe to continue with them as normal.  Given the last certification date for these qualifications is 30 September 2020, if any of your candidates will not be able to complete their remaining assessments by this date please contact us on 02476 851509 or support@ocr.org.uk as soon as possible to alert us.

Permissible adaptations - Knowledge requirements

It is anticipated that knowledge-based evidence should be possible to provide in the normal way in many cases.

The following units require knowledge/understanding-based evidence only, though they still have some reliance on more hands-on activity having taken place through other units in order to produce the written evidence:

• Level 5 (10218) Unit 1
• Level 7 (10219) Units 1 and 2

Where some evidence still needs to be generated then alternative methods should be considered, such as:

• Witness testimonies or professional discussion as an alternative to gathering further written evidence from candidates.
• Cross-referencing to previous achievements in other units.

Alternative forms of evidence must meet the assessment requirements and criteria and this needs to be clearly referenced.  Please refer to the section ‘Guidance on adapted methods and forms of evidence’.

Permissible adaptations - Competence requirements

Valid and reliable evidence of competence is required for units with competence-based assessment criteria and, where possible, assessor observation should continue to be the primary source of evidence to determine if the requirements of the OCR units have been met. 

Measures for social/physical distancing could make completion of units which require working alongside other people and using certain types of equipment more challenging.  Technology can support the assessment process, through remote working, for example.  Centres and candidates must give consideration to Safeguarding and the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) and get consent from all relevant parties when using technology to support any part of the assessment process that is taking place remotely.  Secure technologies and not social media must be used.

Alternative forms of evidence must meet the assessment requirements and criteria and this needs to be clearly referenced. Please refer to the section ‘Guidance on adapted methods and forms of evidence’.

Ultimately, the Internal Quality Assurer at the centre must take into consideration adaptations used to ensure the validity, authenticity, currency, reliability and sufficiency of evidence overall. 

Conducting client consultations, diagnostic assessments and teaching activities when following guidelines on physical distancing

Much of the content of these qualifications relies on candidates conducting diagnostic assessments and teaching activities. Remote means of doing this may be explored but we advise that you refer to SpLD Assessment Standards Committee (SASC), British Dyslexia Association (BDA) and Professional Association of Teachers of Students with Specific learning difficulties (Patoss) guidance on how to conduct such activities as it emerges and is updated.

The following guidance from SASC around remote online consultations and diagnostic assessments in the context of SpLD may be of particular help:

Physical Distancing and SpLD Assessment 

Guidance on methods and forms of evidence

Video-meeting technologies when carrying out assessment of individuals and teaching practice:

• If learners are receiving 1:1 specialist teaching at home (or at school/a school environment where the school’s own arrangements permit) the centre and candidate can agree to, with the permission of all relevant parties (the school, parents, the individual) conduct teaching practice using secure video-meeting facilities (not social media). Resources/materials can be emailed to the learner/parents.

Video-meeting or audio-only technologies to observe assessments of individuals and teaching practice taking place:

• Providing all relevant parties agree, the centre assessor could observe the candidate carry out assessments and teaching practice remotely in real time by joining the video-meeting conference. Alternatively, provided all relevant parties agree, the candidate could record themselves and upload the recorded evidence to be assessed at a later time.
• Audio-only meetings or recordings are allowed if using video-technologies is not feasible as long as both OCR candidate and the individual learner being assessed/taught are clearly audible.
• Recording(s) must be sent securely to the tutor for evaluation along with the relevant lesson plans and evaluations.

Professional discussion and witness testimony:

• When used as an alternative to an observed practical activity, it needs to be backed up, where possible, with authenticated candidate-generated work outputs/products that clearly indicate what the candidate is able to do to meet the assessment criteria.
• When used as an alternative to gathering further written evidence from candidates, they can refer back to an event or activity retrospectively as long as the event took place during the candidate’s registration period. It still must meet the assessment requirements.
• Witness testimonies must be individual, cannot be generic statements used for two or more candidates and must reflect what was actually observed.
• Professional discussion can be used to confirm product evidence and skills-based evidence to test the candidate’s competence/understanding. Where written evidence is weak then a professional discussion can be used to try and draw out further evidence from the candidate. 
• Witness testimonies and discussions with candidates to capture evidence of their knowledge/understanding can be digitally recorded. (Audio-only recordings are suitable)

Cross-referencing to other units

• Gaps in evidence can be filled by cross-referencing to previous relevant achievement in other units. It must be clear that the candidate still meets the assessment requirements of the unit.

Authenticated reflective accounts

• Authenticated reflective accounts are acceptable if the authentication is confirmed by a trained and knowledgeable individual who has no relationship with the candidate (that includes family members even if they provide work experience).
• These have to be signed by a responsible, objective individual and would benefit from being backed up with other evidence such as questions and answers.