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The policy on extenuating circumstances at City College Plymouth, including definitions, recognized situations, and the claim process for students affected by disability, long-term health conditions, or temporary acute conditions. It covers topics such as timing and retrospective claims, corroborating evidence, and the impact on assessments.
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Policy Title: Extenuating circumstances policy and procedures - Pearson Issuing Authority: Senior Management Team Issuing Officer: Head of HE Monitoring Authority: Senior Management Team Monitoring Officer: Vice Principal, Delivery Monitoring, Review and Evaluation: This policy will be monitored and reviewed through: Reports to Senior Management Team Dates of review: Issue Date September 2018 First Review September 2019 Second Review September 2020 Third Review September 2021 Fourth Review September 2022 Full review and reissue September 2023
The aim of this policy is to ensure you are not disadvantaged in your studies by serious, significant circumstances beyond your control. We encourage you to become a resilient and thriving individual and a competent and confident professional. This means that, while studying with us, we expect you to be able to deal with the inevitable ups and downs of life, including minor illnesses or personal issues, so that they don’t affect your studies and, in particular, your ability to attend or complete assessments. Sometimes, however, you’ll face a serious situation which has a significant impact on your ability to attend or complete assessments. The College calls such situations ‘extenuating circumstances’ (ECs). This extenuating circumstances policy describes how we can support you by taking such situations into account. We define ‘extenuating circumstances’ as circumstances that: have a significant impact on your ability to attend or complete assessment(s), and are exceptional, and are outside your control, and occurred during or shortly before the assessment in question. Section 2 of this document gives more detail on the kinds of situations that are, and are not, recognised by City College Plymouth as extenuating circumstances. If you are experiencing extenuating circumstances, City College Plymouth can take these into account by allowing you to, for example, submit assessment slightly later than the published deadline, or not submit assessment now, but have an opportunity for re-assessment at the next opportunity, without penalty, or not attend a time specific assessment, such as an examination, test, presentation or performance, or field class, but have an opportunity for re- assessment at the next opportunity, without penalty. The exact outcome of a valid extenuating circumstances claim depends on the nature of the assessment to which the claim applies and, in some cases, the decision of your Award Assessment Board (which will take account of your whole academic profile). It is not possible, therefore, for this document to be definitive about your specific situation. Please note that opportunities for re- assessment usually occur in the summer referral period or as an opportunity to undertake modules in the following academic year. There is a limit to the amount of reassessment allowed in the summer referral period; a module that is not achieved because of extenuating circumstances will count towards this limit.
City College Plymouth operates a ‘fit-to-sit’ policy. If you think that your ability to attend or complete assessment is being affected by extenuating circumstances, you must not sit the exam or test, or complete, attend or submit any other type of assessment, and must submit an Extenuating Circumstances form. If you sit an exam or test, or complete, attend or submit an assessment, this is normally taken as your declaration that you consider yourself fit to do so. Section 3 of this document tells you how to submit an extenuating circumstances claim and section 4 tells you what will happen if your circumstances are accepted as valid. 1.1 Extenuating circumstances and groupwork You may need to prepare assessments as a group with students whose ability to fulfil their role in the group is affected by their own extenuating circumstances. We expect a group to have contingency plans to manage members’ absence, but sometimes the impact means it is impossible for the group to attend or complete its group assessment task. In this case the member of the group affected by extenuating circumstances should submit an extenuating circumstances claim, as described in this document. Other members of the group should also each submit a claim, citing their group member’s absence, through extenuating circumstances, on their own claim. Please discuss, with the module leader or appropriate member of teaching staff, whether the group may be able to carry on in this situation, to avoid unnecessary re-assessment.
2.1 What is an extenuating circumstance? We define ‘extenuating circumstances’ as circumstances that have a significant impact on your ability to attend or complete assessment(s), and are exceptional, and are outside your control, and occurred during or shortly before the assessment in question. 2.2 What might be considered valid extenuating circumstances? People are affected differently by different circumstances, so it is difficult to provide a definitive list of valid extenuating circumstances. However, examples of serious, significant situations that City College Plymouth is likely to consider valid extenuating circumstances include:
Unspecified short-term anxiety from all sources, mild depression or examination stress Minor illness, such as a cough/cold/sore throat or minor viral infection, unless the illness is incapacitating and at its peak at the time of a time-specific assessment such as an exam or test Accidents or illness affecting relatives or friends, unless serious, or you are a sole carer Financial problems, including debt sanctions imposed by City College Plymouth, but excluding cases of exceptional hardship or significant changes in financial circumstances since enrolment Family celebrations, holidays, house moves, or similar events, in which you have input to, or control over, the date or may choose not to participate Computing problems, such as corrupt data or media, poor internet connectivity, printer failure, or e-submission of an assessment file in an incorrect format, or lack of access to IT facilities because of debt sanctions imposed by City College Plymouth Problems with postal or other third party delivery of work Misreading timetables of any kind, or time management problems, such as assessment deadlines close to each other Appointments of any kind, including legal or medical appointments, which could be rearranged Sporting, recreational or voluntary commitments, unless you are representing City College Plymouth at national level or your country at international level, or participating in an event that is of benefit to City College Plymouth’s national or international reputation For full-time students, normal pressures of employment, because, by enrolling as a student, you have made a commitment to make time available to study. 2.4 Disability and long-term health conditions 2.4.1 Disability If you have a disability, please contact Learner Services. They will normally be able to identify, provide or arrange ‘reasonable adjustment’ for your situation, in the form of specific teaching and learning support, which is detailed in a Student Support Document. This document is shared with Module Leaders, relevant research degree supervisors and related staff and also the Examinations Office to ensure that the appropriate adjustments are made. Because these adjustments have been made before assessment, you should not need to use the extenuating circumstance provision in relation to your disability. However, exceptional issues may arise, related to your condition, which mean you require consideration beyond the adjustments already made. In this case, the Student Support Document may be used as evidence to support a claim for extenuating circumstances. For extenuating circumstances unrelated to your disability, this Extenuating Circumstance policy will apply in its entirety. We will refer you to the Student at Risk procedure if you submit three extenuating circumstances claims in a six-month period, or if the number or pattern of your extenuating circumstances claims causes concern at any time. If your programme has a ‘Fitness to Practise’ requirement, we will also refer you to the Fitness to Practise procedure. The academic offences procedure will be invoked if an extenuating circumstances claim is thought to be fraudulent.
2.4.2 Long-term health condition A long term health condition is a mental or physical condition that: is persistent, typically lasting for more than three months and is often life- long cannot be resolved in a short time, or which will recur regardless of action, or which needs to be managed on a long-term basis may require you to seek help with some activities but is not otherwise disabling can be managed but can ‘flare-up’. If you have a significant ‘flare-up’ of your condition that affects your ability to attend or complete an assessment you must submit an extenuating circumstances claim for the specific assessment(s). However, rather than asking you to provide evidence, if required, for every claim, you can tell us about your long-term health condition once a year, on a form available from the HE Department. You should return the form to the HE Department for consideration, accompanied by a statement from your GP, hospital consultant or appropriate specialist responsible for your treatment, which provides clear confirmation of the nature, severity, duration and effect of your condition. If you have a long-term health condition, please also consider contacting Learner Services, who may be able to provide further support for your learning. Once the Long-Term Health Condition is form is authorised by City College Plymouth, you will still need to submit an extenuating circumstances claim for any assessment you cannot attend or complete because of a significant flare-up of your condition, but you will not need to resubmit evidence. You must inform the HE Department of any change in your condition, whether improvement or deterioration, so that your claim can be reassessed. They may require further evidence from time to time and you will be contacted at the start of each academic year to review your case. We will refer you to the Student at Risk procedure if you submit three extenuating circumstances claims in a six-month period, or if the number or pattern of your extenuating circumstances claims causes concern at any time. If your programme has a ‘Fitness to Practise’ requirement, we will also refer you to the Fitness to Practise procedure. The academic offences procedure will be invoked if an extenuating circumstances claim is thought to be fraudulent. 2.4.3 Temporary, acute conditions If you have a temporary, acute condition, such as a broken wrist, you should contact your Tutor/Programme Leader, as soon as possible, so that they can provide additional support for study and put in place arrangements for assessments. You should not need to use the extenuating
You may self-certify extenuating circumstances that affect you for five working days or fewer. This timeframe means that you consider yourself ‘fit-to-sit’ and complete or attend assessments within five working days of the start of the circumstances. Self- certifying means that you must state what your extenuating circumstances are, but you do not need to provide further evidence of the circumstances themselves. As well as describing the circumstances, we will ask you to tell us, in your claim, how they have impacted your ability to attend and complete assessments. Remember that, to be considered valid, extenuating circumstances must meet the definition that they: have a significant impact on your ability to attend or complete assessment(s), and are exceptional, and are outside your control, and occurred during or shortly before the assessment in question. Claims that do not meet this definition (and described further in section 2 of this document) will be considered invalid. If considered valid, your self-certified extenuating circumstances claim is likely to result in you having an extension of no more than five working days for coursework assessment in a taught module, or for any other type of assessment, an opportunity for re-assessment at the next opportunity, without penalty, depending on the decision of the Award Assessment Board. A self-certified extenuating circumstances claim will never let you avoid submitting any assessment, even if this accounts for a small proportion of a module’s grade. Please see further details in section 5 about the outcomes of an extenuating circumstances claim. Exactly what opportunities for re-assessment you have, following a claim for extenuating circumstances, depends on the extent of their impact on your academic profile, and your performance in other modules, and is decided by the Award Assessment Board. Please note that opportunities for re- assessment usually occur in the summer referral period or as an opportunity to undertake modules in the following academic year. There is a limit to the amount of reassessment allowed in the summer referral period. We will refer you to the Student at Risk procedure if you submit three extenuating circumstances claims in a six-month period, or if the number or pattern of your extenuating circumstances claims causes concern at any time. If your programme has a ‘Fitness to Practise’ requirement, we will also refer you to the Fitness to Practise procedure. The academic offences procedure will be invoked if an extenuating circumstances claim is thought to be fraudulent.
3.2.2 Extenuating circumstances that affect you for more than five working days Unless a Long-Term Ill Health form has been validated (see paragraph 2.4.2 above) all claims for extenuating circumstances that affect you for more than five working days must be supported by independent, reliable documentary evidence that confirms the nature and timing of the circumstances. We will also ask you to tell us, in your claim, how the circumstances have impacted your ability to attend or complete assessments. City College Plymouth reserves the right to take any steps it considers necessary to verify any evidence submitted, without notifying you beforehand. If City College Plymouth is unable to authenticate the material to its satisfaction, the claim may not be accepted. Independent evidence used to corroborate extenuating circumstances should meet the following standards. The evidence should: be written by appropriately qualified professionals who are independent to the student. Evidence from family and/or friends will not normally be accepted. be on headed paper and signed and dated by the author. Evidence presented by email is acceptable if the email has been sent by the author from the official domain name of the author's organisation confirm specifically that the circumstances were witnessed on the relevant date as opposed to being reported retrospectively be in English. It is the student's responsibility to provide supporting documentation and any translation should be undertaken by an accredited translator (eg be a member of the Association of Translation Companies http://www.atc.org.uk/index.html) and be unaltered by the student. Documentation that has been amended for any reason will be deemed inadmissible by City College Plymouth and may be considered under City College Plymouth’s Examination and Academic Offences regulations. be original – copies of supporting evidence will be accepted only in exceptional circumstances. Documents should be scanned and attached to the on-line form. City College Plymouth reserves the right to see the original documents before validating a claim. Exceptionally, City College Plymouth may accept evidence provided by College staff, such as your personal tutor, academic staff closely involved in your pastoral care, staff in Student Support Services, the Examinations Office or the Programme / Module Lead. The College will consider upholding a student's claim of extenuating circumstances of five or more days when, in their opinion, all of the above conditions are fully satisfied.
Each extenuating circumstance claim will be considered individually and all students will be treated fairly and equitably. The decision will take into consideration the nature, timing and severity of the problem and the impact it has had on assessment. Forms are considered as a matter of priority, and the majority are considered soon after submission. However, occasionally some forms can take a little longer to assess. You will be informed of the outcome by email (sent to your college email address). If the claim is deemed invalid you will receive an explanation for this decision.
Valid extenuating circumstances do not change your grade, but allow you to complete or attend assessments at a time when you are not affected by the extenuating circumstances. Most often they allow you to, for example, submit assessment slightly later than the published deadline, or not submit assessment now, but have an opportunity for re-assessment at the next opportunity, without penalty, or not attend a time specific assessment, such as an examination, test, presentation or performance, or field class, but have an opportunity for re- assessment at the next opportunity, without penalty Exactly what opportunities for re-assessment you have, following a claim for extenuating circumstances, depends on the extent of their impact on your academic profile, and your performance in other modules, and is decided by the Award Assessment Board. Please note that opportunities for re-assessment usually occur in the summer referral period or as an opportunity to undertake modules in the following academic year. There is a limit to the amount of reassessment allowed in the summer referral period; a module that is not achieved because of extenuating circumstances will count towards this limit. 5.1 ….. for late submission of work. If you are making an extenuating circumstances claim about coursework, do not wait for a decision on your claim before submitting your work. Please submit the final version of your work within 5 working days of the original deadline (for self-certified extenuating circumstances) or 10 working days of the original deadline (for all other extenuating circumstances). For valid, self-certified extenuating circumstances for taught modules, you will normally be allowed a maximum of 5 days working days from the original deadline to submit your assessment.
For valid, evidenced extenuating circumstances for taught modules, you will normally be allowed a maximum of 10 working days from the original deadline to submit your assessment. A working day is defined as a day on which City College Plymouth is open, so includes student vacation periods but excludes weekends, Bank Holidays and other times that City College Plymouth is closed, such as the period between Christmas and New Year. An extended deadline may, therefore, fall in the vacation period. Please check with the HE Department which days City College Plymouth is closed this year. If you have already submitted work, a penalty for late submission may be waived, or you may submit another version of your work. Pearson Regulations on Late submission of Coursework are available from this link and the regulations should be read alongside with these procedures. The extended deadline may vary with the period that academic staff teaching on the module allow for return of work and/or feedback to students, or because there is insufficient time to mark the work before a Subject Assessment Panel or Award Assessment Board. In particular, an extended deadline in the summer referral period will be no more than five days. You will be advised of the extended deadline by email. You can submit your coursework earlier than the date indicated by your extended submission deadline. If the extended deadline is in term-time and you have been unable to meet the extended deadline due to Extenuating Circumstances, you must submit a further Extenuating Circumstances claim. If the extended deadline, for taught modules, is in the vacation period and you are unable to meet the extended deadline, for any reason, you do not need to submit further extenuating circumstances claims and your claim will be made valid for non- submission, as described in section 5.2 below. The difference in treatment of extended deadlines that fall in vacation periods is because we do not require students to do academic work in vacations. However, as described in section 5. below, deciding not to meet an extended deadline that falls in the vacation period may have implications for your progression or graduation and you should seek advice about this from the HE Department. 5.2 ….. for non-submission of work If an extension is not possible, or if you are not able to submit work within the extended deadline, for valid extenuating circumstances or because the extended deadline falls in the vacation period and you are unable to meet it, your claim may be made valid for non-submission of work. In this case, a zero mark will be included in your profile and your extenuating circumstances will be forwarded to the Award Assessment Board, which will make a decision on what action to take. Normally the Board will allow re-assessment at the next opportunity as the same attempt as the
Appeals will not be considered on the following grounds: Dissatisfaction with the reasonable judgment of the College in its consideration of the extenuating circumstances claim, Late submission of an application for extenuating circumstances or late submission of evidence to support an application where there are no compelling grounds why the application was late. Appeals against the College’s decision on whether or not to accept an Extenuating Circumstances claim must be made within ten working days of the decision as set out above, and will not normally be accepted during the main summer or referral appeal periods. Appeals will be considered through City College Plymouth’s appeals process. The outcome of any appeal in relation to Extenuating Circumstances is final and will not be considered subsequently as an appeal against the decision of the Award Assessment Board.
What do I do if I feel that my performance in coursework will be affected by extenuating circumstances? City College Plymouth operates a ‘fit-to-sit’ policy. If you feel that your performance is likely to be affected because of extenuating circumstances, as described in this document, you should not submit coursework. However, for taught modules, City College Plymouth permits students to submit improved versions of coursework up to the submission deadline. If you do not submit the final version of your work, and your extenuating circumstances are not deemed valid, the version of your work submitted most recently will be treated as the submission. If your extenuating circumstances are deemed valid, you will have an opportunity for re-submission or re-assessment, as described in paragraphs 5. and 5.2. What do I do if I feel my performance in an exam, test or time-specific assessment will be affected by extenuating circumstances? City College Plymouth operates a fit-to-sit policy. If you feel unwell or that your performance is likely to be affected because of extenuating circumstances, as described in this document, you should not sit an exam, test or time-specific assessment. If you take a time-specific assessment knowing you are unwell, you will not normally be able to successfully claim extenuating circumstances. What do I do if I become unwell during an exam, test or time-specific assessment? If you are well and sit a time-specific assessment but you unexpectedly become ill during it and are unable to continue, you will be able to submit an extenuating circumstance claim for non-attendance as above. You should report your illness to the invigilator in a formal exam, before leaving the exam room, so that the
invigilator’s report can be used to corroborate any subsequent extenuating circumstances claim. What do I do if I am affected by extenuating circumstances during the Referral period? If you are required to undertake referred assessments during the summer period and are affected by extenuating circumstances during this time, you must submit a new claim form to cover this period. In this case you should be prepared for the Referred Award Assessment Board to decide that referred modules not achieved by the end of the academic year must be retaken during the next academic year. This may mean you do not progress to the next stage of your programme or graduate until the end of the next academic year. Each case will be considered on an individual basis.
