Assessment arrangements can be adapted at any time that a learner in participant within a learning programme. At initial assessment specific needs of an individual learner can be identified, discussed, noted, and adapted as mentioned, at any time during the assessment process. Assessments should cater for all individual learning styles and should not constrain the learning process. Awarding organisations have their own inbuilt procedures for supporting any special requirements that maybe required. In any assessment planning that is undertaken, specific learning and assessments methods can be put in place to support the individual needs of the learner. Some learners may suffer with a learning disability e.
g. dyslexia, and may need to answer questions verbally instead of the manually. This can be supported by having specific methods in place that support this e.g.
audio recording or scribes. It must be remembered though that additional elements may have to be in place, in that any adaptations and processes put in place would need agreeing with the learner, and documenting within any assessment plan for audit, and any internal compliance policies.A number of different assessment methods exist and whatever method is chosen, this must ensure equality of opportunity. When using written assessment tests, it must be a consideration that some learners may not be unaccustomed to taking examinations, or do not enjoy this experience at all. Poor performance in these assessment types could be due to poor literacy skills, or language barriers.
All assessments must be valid, reliable and free from any bias. To this end it maybe possibly to select a different assessment method or use audio equipment to measure the required levels of competency.Learners may work different shift patterns, so it is important that any assessment is carried out within a ‘working’ day, so normal shift patterns are not interrupted. It may also be necessary to make sure that any assessments are supported within specific timeframes that the current assessor may not be able to support. In these instances, and to support the learner, a different assessor may have to be used to support the assessment criteria, in the time, place and method required to meet the requirements of any achievement of learning.
