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WQ.155/2019
WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR EDUCATION BY DEPUTY R.J. WARD OF ST. HELIER
ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON TUESDAY 26th MARCH 2019
Question
Will the Minister advise whether students on courses at Highlands Colleges (other than any full-time students where charges are included in the course) are charged for additional help for formal exams (e.g. for a reader, if diagnosed with a learning need or for an amanuensis); and, if so, will the Minister provide a breakdown of any such charges and explain the rationale for them?
Answer
Students who have exams as a part of their course are currently assessed by the College free of charge. This is the same for full and part-time students. Students are not charged for the invigilation costs or support during the exam, if this is a part of their course with the College.
The public may choose to enter for exams as a private candidate, via the Highlands College Exams Centre. There is, currently, a set rate of £81 for all GCE and GCSE exams regardless of how long these take. Exams for other awarding bodies are charged between £81 for 1 hr exams, up to £114 if an exam lasts for three hours, to cover administration and invigilation. There is no additional charge should candidates need a reader, scribe etc.
Private candidates are not enrolled at the college for tuition and therefore not publicly funded – each year the College has approx. 6500 exam candidates, most of which are private, external users. If private candidates request to be assessed for access arrangements the college can assess for these, if evidence of need is available. These candidates are made aware that access arrangements are chargeable and that external rules and deadlines apply when they enter for their exam, as this information is on the application form. The college currently charges £75 an hour for these assessments. This is calculated to cover the specialist teacher's time, application to the awarding body, administration, resources and on-costs (social security etc).
There are occasions when students of the College choose to enter themselves privately for additional qualifications, alongside their course. For example, a part-time student may use the college exam centre to sit an A Level, which the college does not run as a course. In this case, the candidate is a customer of the exams centre, rather than an A level student of the College. If private entry in additional qualifications means that they now require assessments that are not required for their course with the college, these would be chargeable as above.