When must an education provider make adjustments to its selection, assessment and interview arrangements?
8.26 An education provider is required to make changes in anticipation of applications from disabled people in general. When an education provider becomes aware of an individual disabled person’s need for reasonable adjustments, these should be put in place in the admissions process.
When should an education provider offer a disabled person a pre-course assessment?
8.27 An education provider that uses pre-course
assessments such as interviews or auditions will need to consider whether it should make
reasonable adjustments when deciding to whom to offer a pre-course assessment. This will be the case if an education provider knows or ought to know that an applicant has a disability and is likely to be at a substantial disadvantage because of its recruitment arrangements or the premises in which any pre-course assessments are held. In these circumstances, the education provider should consider whether there is any reasonable adjustment which would remove the
disadvantage. Any such adjustment should be taken into account when shortlisting applicants. If the education provider cannot make this
judgement without more information it would be discriminatory for it not to put the disabled person on the shortlist for pre-course assessment if that is how it would normally seek additional information about applicants.
What adjustments might an education provider have to make when arranging or conducting pre- course assessments?
8.28 Education providers should think ahead for pre- course assessments. Depending upon the
circumstances, changes may need to be made to arrangements for the assessments or to the way in which assessments are carried out.
An applicant with a hearing impairment informs the university who has asked him to interview that he lip-reads and will need to be able to see the interviewer’s face clearly. The interviewer ensures that her face is well lit, that she faces the applicant when speaking, that she speaks clearly and is prepared to repeat questions if the
candidate does not understand her. These are likely to be reasonable adjustments for the university to make.
A further education college arranges a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter to attend a
portfolio session with a deaf candidate who uses BSL to communicate. This is likely to be a
reasonable adjustment for the education provider to make.
A college allows a person with autism to bring a supporter with him to facilitate the dialogue at the interview by rephrasing questions where necessary to make them clearer and to help the applicant understand what the interviewer wants to know.
8.29 It is a good idea to give applicants the opportunity to indicate any relevant effects of a disability and to suggest adjustments to help overcome any disadvantage the disability may cause at an assessment. This could help the education
provider avoid discrimination in the assessment and in considering the application, by clarifying whether any reasonable adjustments may be required. However, an education provider must not assume that no adjustments need to be made simply because the applicant has not requested any (see paragraph 5.11).
8.30 The practical effects of an education provider’s duties may be different if a person whom the education provider previously did not know, and could not reasonably be expected to have known, to be disabled arrives for an assessment and is substantially disadvantaged because of the arrangements. The education provider should have anticipated reasonable adjustments that might be required by disabled people in general and therefore should be able to put them in place very quickly if necessary. The education provider will still be under a duty to make a reasonable adjustment from the time that it first learns of the disability and the disadvantage. However, the education provider might not be required to do as much as might have been the case if it had known (or if it ought to have known) in advance about the disability and its effects.
An applicant for a course at a university does not tell the university in advance that she uses a wheelchair and the university does not know of her disability. On arriving for interview she discovers that the room is not accessible. Although the university could not have been expected to make the necessary changes in
advance, it would be a reasonable adjustment to hold the interview in an alternative, accessible room if one was available. In order to comply with the anticipatory duty the university should always use accessible rooms for interviews.
What about tests in the admissions process?
8.31 The Act does not prevent education providers carrying out tests. However, routine testing of all applicants may still discriminate against particular individuals or substantially disadvantage them. In those cases, the education provider would need to revise the tests – or the way the results are
assessed – to take account of a disabled applicant. This does not apply, however, where the nature and form of the test is necessary to assess a
competence standard. The following are examples of adjustments which may be reasonable:
■ allowing a disabled person extra time to
complete the test
■ permitting a disabled person the assistance of
a reader or scribe during the test
■ assessing a disabled person by a different
method.
The extent to which such adjustments might be required would depend on how closely the test is related to the course in question and what
adjustments the education provider might have to make if the person was on the course.
A college sets applicants for a higher level
language course a short oral exercise. A person with a speech impairment is given additional time to complete the exercise. This is likely to be a reasonable adjustment.
8.32 Where education providers rely on the results of tests conducted by external bodies, they should discuss with the external body the need to make reasonable adjustments for disabled students. Refusing a place to a disabled applicant who performed badly on tests that were conducted without any necessary reasonable adjustments required is likely to be unlawful.