Competence Standards

The Equality Act 2010, defines a “competence standard” as an ‘academic, medical, or other standard applied for the purpose of determining whether or not a person has a particular level of competence or ability’. As long as the competence standards of a programme are robust and non-discriminatory, then these standards are NOT subject to adjustment for disabled students. Although there is no legal duty to alter a competence standard, there may need to be consideration given to the process by which it assesses a competence standard.  

When designing a programme and course unit or making changes to existing offerings, programme leads need to take into account the required competency standards within a subject area, paying attention to the fact that these are not necessarily the same as learning outcomes. Competence standards should cover all essential course criteria at the same time as being as inclusive as is possible.

In practice, this means that if a disabled student seeks and is entitled to support proposed by the Disability Advisory and Support Service, Schools must put that support in place. This may require adjustment to how the student demonstrates that they have achieved the required competence standard. The Faculty of Humanities Attendance and Participation Policy provides the required information on requirements around assessment to meet these obligations.