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Student course guide

The Royal Academy of Dance offers a wide range of courses, classes and workshops for young people

Diversity & equality

The Royal Academy of Dance Examinations Board prides itself on its commitment to diversity, and takes steps at all times and with respect to all its functions, policies and procedures to ensure that no learner is discriminated against on grounds of race, disability, gender, religion, sexual orientation or for any other reason. This includes ensuring that no unnecessary barriers are present which deny access to candidates who could otherwise enter for examinations and achieve credit and/or qualifications.

The Royal Academy of Dance has a corporate, over-arching Equal Opportunities and Diversity Policy which forms the starting point for the Examinations Board’s own policies. The present document describes in more detail the ways in which regard for diversity and absence of discrimination are built into the Examinations Board’s work in developing units and rules of combination, as well as in administering and awarding credit and qualifications on the Qualifications and Credit Framework.

For further information please see our Diversity and Equality Policies and Procedures document.

Reasonable Adjustments

Candidates who feel unable to enter for an examination due to the presence of a barrier, such as a permanent or temporary disability or condition, may wish to request for special arrangements or aids to be put in place to enable them to enter. In these cases, the Royal Academy of Dance will make adjustments to administrative and/or examination procedures if such adjustments are judged to be reasonable, necessary and practicable. In order to safeguard the integrity of the award, all candidates will be assessed against the same criteria and no concessions will be made in this respect.

Katie and Amelia at their Grade 1 presentation

Full details regarding Reasonable Adjustments can be found in the Reasonable adjustments and special consideration policy and procedure document. Any requests for Reasonable Adjustments should be made by completing a Notification of a Candidate with a Permanent or Temporary Disability / Condition and Request for Reasonable Adjustments form (VEF/GEF12).

Applications should be made by the closing date for examination entry, to enable the Academy to make any special arrangements that may be necessary to ensure that the candidate’s particular requirements are met.

Reasonable Adjustments Notification application form

Special Considerations

Special consideration is a post examination adjustment to the mark of an assessment for a candidate who was prepared for and present at an examination but who may have been disadvantaged by adverse circumstances that arose immediately prior to or at the time of the examination.

Special consideration cannot give the candidate an unfair advantage. Additionally, the application of special consideration must not cause the user of a certificate to be misled regarding a candidate’s achievements. Examinations and assessments are a measure of what a candidate can do at one moment in time. Only minor adjustments can, therefore, be made to the mark awarded because to do more than this would jeopardise the integrity of the award.

A decision to award special consideration will be based on a number of factors, which may vary from candidate to candidate and from one examination to another. These factors may include the nature and severity of the circumstances and the date of the examination in relation to the circumstances. Each case is assessed and the outcome determined on an individual basis.

Special consideration will normally be given by applying an allowance of marks to each component affected in a particular scheme of assessment. The size of the allowance will depend on the timing, nature and extent of the circumstances. The maximum allowance given will be 5 marks of the total raw marks available.

Full details regarding Special Consideration can be found in the Reasonable adjustment and special consideration policy and procedure document. Any applications for Special Consideration should be made within 5 working days of the examination by completing a Special Consideration application form (V/GEF13)

Special Consideration application form

PDF File Equality and Diversity Policy (47 KB)