There are two main pieces of legislation that apply when thinking about support in exams. First, the Additional Support for Learning Act, often called the ASL Act. The ASL Act says any child with additional support needs is entitled to support based on their individual needs. This includes support in exams and assessments. 

Second, the Equality Act 2010. This law means that your child should not be disadvantaged in an exam because of their disability (or any other protected characteristic). This law talks about how ‘reasonable adjustments’ must be made to avoid disabled pupils being significantly disadvantaged. This means that where it is possible, practical, and financially viable, changes can be made to make sure no pupil is at a disadvantage. 

A formal diagnosis is not required for your child to receive support. What matters is that there is evidence of need and that the support reflects your child’s usual way of working in school. 

Advice for parents /

What the law says about additional support for learning

Every child may need extra help with their learning at some point in their lives. Read on to find more about additional support for learning in Scotland.

Advice for parents /

Disability rights

If your child is disabled, it’s important to know all professionals working with your child must work to protect your child’s rights, providing support and reasonable adjustments where needed, so

There are lots of ways that your child might be supported. Their support should be based on their individual needs. This might mean that they receive different support in different subjects. 

Qualifications Scotland provide a list of examples of ways that your child might be supported in their exam or assessment, including: 

The support your child receives should help them to demonstrate their skills, knowledge and understanding of the subject. It should help to remove any disadvantage that they may face due to their additional needs. It should not change the standard or level of what is being assessed. 

Qualifications Scotland has detailed guidance on Assessment arrangements for learners which you can read about on their website. 

If your child is completing a qualification awarded by a different organisation (for example through a college or training provider), that organisation should follow its own assessment arrangement guidance, but the same principles of fairness and removing disadvantage apply. 

Your child’s school is responsible for planning your child’s exam support. You and your child should have the chance to share your views. You should be kept informed of the support in place – it should not be a surprise on exam day.

Your child’s school should have an exam co-ordinator who is responsible for the external exams and assessments. You can find out more about the role of exam co-ordinators on our Who’s who: Education Staff page. They should be able to tell you about the plans for your child’s support in their exams.

For external assessments, evidence is needed to show Qualifications Scotland that your child needs the support being provided. This is because Qualifications Scotland must approve the support arrangements to make sure that it does not affect the integrity of the qualification. To collect this evidence, your child’s school should be planning and trialling your child’s support as soon as they can. They can do this in class and during internal assessments.

Evidence might include: 
• classwork showing regular use of the support 
• internal assessments completed using the arrangement 
• observations from teachers or support staff 
• records from staged intervention or support plans 
• naturally occurring classroom evidence 

Schools do not usually need to carry out separate assessments purely to ‘prove’ the need if everyday classroom evidence already demonstrates it. 

Advice for parents /

Who’s who: Education Staff

Your child might have many different people involved in their support and care. Find out more about the roles of those education staff here.

Your child’s school should help you and your child to work out what support they need in their exams. They should listen to your views and your child’s views when planning their support. The support they receive in their exams should be based on their individual needs. 

The support your child receives in their exams should be similar, where possible, to the support they normally receive at school. This is often referred to as your child’s ‘usual way of working’. For example, if your child uses a laptop in class, then it is likely to be appropriate for them to use one in their exam, too. Support should not be introduced for the first time in the final exam. 

Remember, support can be different for different subjects. For example, your child may need support with reading large amounts of text. Using an electronic reader for their English exam would be helpful, but this might not be needed in a Maths exam where there is much less to read. 

If your child’s school are not sure what support will work, they should seek advice from other professionals or your local authority.

Advice for parents /

Identifying and assessing your child’s needs

If you think your child may need more or different support at school, this section covers all you need to know about identifying and assessing additional support needs.

Advice for parents /

How support is planned

A useful summary of how schools and local authorities plan children’s learning and support.

You should first talk to the person responsible for exam arrangements at your child’s school. This is the ‘exam co-ordinator’. It may also be helpful to talk to the person responsible for additional support for learning at your child’s school. You could ask for a meeting to discuss your child’s exam support.

At the meeting, you could:

You can find out more on our page Getting the most from meetings. 

If the school is not addressing your concerns about the lack of assessment arrangements, there are further steps you can take. You can find examples of these further steps on our page Solving problems with school. 

If your child is disabled, you may be able to follow the more specific routes   explained on our page Disability rights. 

Advice for parents /

Solving problems with school

Sometimes relationships between schools and families can become difficult or breakdown completely. This section explains some of the different steps you can take if problems arise.

Advice for parents /

Getting the most from meetings

Meetings with your child’s school are a good way to hear about how your child is doing at school. Read on for helpful tips about how you can help to make meetings with your child’s school a positive experience.

Your child has the right to an education and to the support they need, even if they are not attending school. Your child’s school should support their learning in a way that meets their needs. This might mean sending work home, accessing online learning, or learning in a different setting. See our pages on Attendance and exclusion to learn more about their rights to still learn when absent from school.

Schools should work to meet your child’s needs as far as possible and help them to reach their potential. This can include support taking exams even if your child is not able to attend school. Your child’s school should work with you, and perhaps the local authority, to help your child sit their exams if they want to. You can discuss what setting they might be able to sit them in, and what support they’ll need with learning to help them prepare.

If your child is unwell, close to or during exams, you can ask the school about special consideration procedures and what options may be available. 

Advice for parents /

Attendance and exclusion

In this section, find out what you can do if your child is missing school due to physical or mental health issues or other reasons such as exclusions and part-time timetables.

There isn’t an option to re-sit an exam within the same school year. However, Qualifications Scotland offers the Exam Exceptional Circumstances Consideration Service (EECCS), which may be available in certain situations.  

The EECCS may be considered if your child has: 

It’s worth noting that exam nerves, distraction, or loss of concentration are not considered valid reasons for using this service. 

Any request to access the EECCS must be submitted by the school on behalf of your child and must be made within 10 days of the relevant exam. 

If the school agrees to submit a request, they will need to provide alternative evidence of your child’s work from throughout the year. This may include prelim results, class tests, coursework, or other assessment evidence. Qualifications Scotland examiners will then review this evidence, alongside any parts of the exam your child was able to complete, before determining the final grade. 

Please also be aware that if your child is awarded a grade through the EECCS, they will not be able to use the standard appeals service afterwards. This is because their final grade will have been based on alternative evidence rather than the exam alone. You can find out more about the Qualification Scotland’s appeals process on their page Appeals. 

If your child is unhappy with an exam result and wants to appeal, the next steps depend on the reason for appeal. 

If your child thinks the exam has been marked incorrectly, they may be able to use the Qualifications Scotland’s Appeals Service. 

There are dates by which appeals need to be made. Check the Qualification Scotlands Appeals page for dates information. 

If the concern is that your child did not receive the assessment arrangements they needed, for example extra time, a reader, or assistive technology, then it’s best to speak to the school as soon as possible. This is different from appealing the marking of the exam. 

If your child’s school does not appear to agree with your concern, you can go to your local authority and take some further steps to try to resolve the issue. These steps can be found on our pages Solving problems with school. 

If your child has additional support needs and you are unsure which process applies, our Enquire helpline can help you understand your options.