The Legal Issues, Policies and Procedures Relevant to Assessment, Including Those for Confidentiality, Health, Safety and Welfare

Health and safety, including learner emotional welfare:

• The Health and Safety at Work, etc. Act of 1974 mandates producing a risk assessment for activities likely to cause hazards. This document would be produced for any assessment that would be done in a laboratory environment. This is to ensure hazards have been identified and the appropriate control measures have been put in place to minimise the risk of the activities. Also, there is a policy regarding extenuating circumstances, where students can request a later assessment submission date because of serious and exceptional factors that affected their study.

Transparency, record keeping, and confidentiality:

• The Awarding Organisations require that institutions take all reasonable steps to make sure confidential assessment material/information about assessments is not disclosed. For example, the external exam assessment materials set by Pearson but conducted by the college must not be leaked to the students.

• The Data Protection Act 2018, the UK's implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), ensures that everyone responsible for using personal data has to follow strict rules called 'data protection principles'. They must make sure the information is used fairly, lawfully, and transparently. The policy of the college provides practical guidance on how data can and cannot be handled, stored, or published. For example, assessment information/materials must be stored securely without access by unauthorised persons.

Equal opportunities and diversity:

• Under the Equality Act 2010, it is unlawful for any education provider to discriminate against the protected characteristics of the school provisions: disability, race, sex, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, religion or belief, or sex. This Act also prohibits educational institutions from harassing and victimising students covered by the education provisions. For example, the behaviour policy of an institution must not be discriminatory against autistic students with learning difficulties, students with Tourette syndrome, etc. Also, a risk assessment must be done for any school trip, and staff must decide what reasonable adjustments are needed for disabled pupils to fully participate in the trip.

• An assessor must comply with the relevant assessment strategy if assessing a qualification. For example, the BTEC Level 3 qualification in Construction and the Built Environment requires both standardized external exams set by the Awarding Body, Pearson, and internal assessments set by the institution/assessors. Some of the standardized external exams are for the mandatory units of the qualifications, while some of the internally set assessments are for the optional units of the qualifications.

Reference/Bibliography

• Davies, A. and Stiling, L. (2021) TAQA – training assessment and quality assurance [PowerPoint presentation]. 22 October.

• Equality and Human Rights Commission (2014) What equality law means for you as an education provider: schools. Available at: https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/sites/default/files/what_equality_law_means_for_you_as_an_education_provider_schools.pdf (Accessed: 21 December 2021).

• Fitzpatrick, C. (1999) ‘Students as evaluator in practicum: examining peer-self assessment and self-efficacy’, ACES Conference, New Orleans.

• Lanyon, L. and Hubball, H. (2008) ‘Gender considerations and innovative learning-centred assessment practices’, Transformative Dialogues: Teaching & Learning Journal, 2(1), pp. 1 – 11. Available at: https://www.kpu.ca/sites/default/files/Teaching%20and%20Learning/TD.2.1_Lanyon%26Hubball_Gender_Considerations.pdf (Accessed: 21 December 2021)

• Meadows, M. (2018) Safeguarding the confidentiality of assessment materials & managing conflicts of interest. Available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/683919/Safeguarding_the_confidentiality_of_assessment_materials_and_managing_conflicts_of_interest.pdf (Accessed: 21 December 2021).

• Ofsted (2005) Race equality in education - good practice in schools and local education authorities. Available at: https://dera.ioe.ac.uk/5546/1/Race%20equality%20in%20education%20good%20practice%20in%20schools%20and%20local%20education%20authorities%20(PDF%20format).pdf (Accessed: 22 December 2021).