What is an AARA
The QCAA recognises that some students may have disability, impairment and/or medical conditions or experience other circumstances that may affect their ability to read, respond to and participate in assessment. Access arrangements and reasonable adjustments (AARA) are designed to assist these students.
Access arrangements are action/s taken by the school so that a student with an eligible impairment that may not be covered by the definition of disability can access assessment.
Reasonable adjustments are action/s taken by the school so that a student with an eligible impairment as a result of a disability and/or medical condition and experiencing other circumstances creating a barrier to the completion of assessment can be assessed on the same basis as other students.
Eligibility
AARA are provided to minimise barriers for a student whose disability, impairment, medical condition or other circumstances affect their ability to read, respond to or participate in assessment.
These barriers fall into broad categories:
Long-term and chronic conditions
Mental health conditions, such as anxiety and depression
Short-term conditions and temporary injuries
Illness and misadventure.
Disability:- cognitive
- physical
- sensory
- social/emotional
Plus:
| unfamiliarity with the English language teacher absence or other teacher-related difficulties matters that the student could have avoided, e.g. misreading an examination timetable, misreading instructions in examinations timetable clashes matters of the student’s or parent’s/carer’s own choosing, e.g. family holidays, sporting events matters that the school could have avoided, e.g. incorrect enrolment in a subject
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The application of AARA to student assessment is based on the functional impact/s of the condition for which AARA are sought. Students with the same condition may experience highly varied impacts on their education, and their ability to demonstrate their learning, knowledge and skill in assessments. Functional impact/s of the condition may also vary from subject to subject for an individual student.
Possible AARA
The types of AARA possible depend on a student’s individual circumstances and the assessment task.
Some common AARA include:
- alternative exam conditions, e.g. extra time, rest breaks and/or separate seating
- alternative-format papers, e.g. A4 to A3 enlargement, black-and-white materials
- assistive technology, e.g. screen reader, speech recognition, magnification
- a reader and/or scribe
- extensions to due dates
- the opportunity to undertake a comparable assessment for internal examinations missed due to short-term sickness or misadventure.
How to apply for an AARA