Evidence

Do I need to provide a medical certificate?

We do not ask for a medical certificate as supporting evidence for granting assessment arrangements. However, if this has been provided by the candidate or parent/carer, then you can include this in the evidence. Your evidence of need for candidates requiring support should involve detailed records of need for each candidate and part of this evidence would include information and evidence from subject teachers about support needed and given in class. Further information relating to quality assurance can be found on our dedicated Quality Assurance page.

Is there any guidance on collating evidence for putting an assessment arrangement in place?

Guidance on evidence needed to support a request for an assessment arrangement, with examples of good practice and evidence requirements, which should help if SQA carries out a quality assurance visit, can be found on our Quality Assurance page. The Assessment Arrangements Toolkit also contains examples of how to gather evidence.

How often should evidence be reviewed?

The evidence collated for learners who require assessment arrangements should be current and include detailed records of need for each learner. Part of this evidence would include information and evidence from subject teachers about what support is needed and provided in class. However, for learners who have long term records of needs and/or a disability, it is not necessary to gather evidence with and without the support each year. Once your centre has gathered evidence of the need for the assessment arrangement, for example at National 5, you would not need to gather this again for the same subject at Higher. However, because demands change at different levels of each qualification, there should always be current evidence to show that the centre has considered the learner's assessment needs as they progress and that the arrangements put in place are still appropriate. For example, there may be more demanding reading and writing at Higher and the centre must have evidence to show that they have considered this demand for each learner and that their need for a particular assessment arrangement has not changed.

Does it have to be Support for Learning who agrees to the evidence or can the SQA coordinator do this?

The head of centre, or a member of senior management, is responsible for authorising the provision of an assessment arrangement in an internal assessment, or for submitting any request to us for an assessment arrangement in the external exams by the published deadline date.