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Help your students succeed by providing alternative assessments. Learn why a student might need an alternative to attendance requirements and what you need to consider.
Why an alternative is needed
An alternative assessment may be requested by a student registered with Accessibility Services if their ongoing health condition/disability impacts their ability to adhere to the attendance requirements of a subject.
For example, a student might not be able to attend classes due to medical appointments or during exacerbations of their condition and managing unpredictable health impacts like symptoms of fatigue.
Alternative assessment process
Find out more about the process in our Alternative assessments resource.
Alternative options
It’s important to keep in mind that each student’s requirements for alternative assessments might be different, but these are some potential options:
- Written task: to demonstrate the student’s knowledge and that they are keeping up with subject content.
- Re-weighting assessments: to move assessment weighting to other assessments.
- Agreed adjustment on the attendance requirement: to consider the student’s circumstances.
- Consideration of participation: to mark based on quality participation when the student is able to attend.
Where possible, Accessibility Consultants work with students to provide strategies on managing the impacts of their disability/health upon attendance, including timetable change requests.
What you need to consider
Alternative assessments need to be reasonable, so there are several key questions to ask when considering a request:
- What is the objective of attendance?
- Does the alternative meet the subject learning outcomes?
- Does it adhere to the inherent requirements of a course?
- Is it feasible to implement?
Other logistical considerations include:
- Requests might be at the beginning of or during session: these requests are unpredictable so the request might be made at the beginning of the session or when the student becomes aware they will be unable to meet an attendance requirement.