Abilities, disabilities and support

All students have strengths and weaknesses, some of which may affect their studies. At Tabor Victoria staff seek to encourage and help all students to develop their gifts and abilities to the fullest possible extent. Students who have disabilities may seek special consideration. Many students with disabilities have studied successfully at Tabor Victoria.

Providing information

While it is never easy to acknowledge a personal disability, unless disabilities are acknowledged, understood and recorded, they cannot be taken into account in relation to College requirements. Students who have a disability that may affect their studies are asked to indicate this in the appropriate place on the Tabor Victoria Application form. The College will take disabilities into account if students make their needs known in the appropriate way and at the appropriate time.

Students who wish to have disabilities taken into account in relation to their studies are responsible for discussing this with their Course Advisor at the earliest possible opportunity. This should be done before the second week of the semester in which the student commences studies and generally is best done at the initial interview prior to enrolment.

Normally, an official certificate must be supplied to provide evidence of the nature and significance of a disability. For example, a student who is seeking to have allowances made for dyslexia will need to provide formal evidence of having this disability.

Confidentiality

Personal information about student disabilities will be kept confidential, as far as possible. However, if a disability is to be taken into account in relation to assessments or learning exercises, the College will need to advise the lecturers/assessors concerned.

Special Considerations

Having a disability will not exempt students from being required to meet certain standards in their work. The College is obliged to require a certain standard of work in all its accredited courses. All students must demonstrate the required knowledge, understanding and skills to pass in any module. Students are expected to seek advice, help or assistance before, rather than after, submitting their assignment work. Generally, the special considerations that may be made for students with disabilities include: additional time for assignments and examinations, and alternative forms of assessment, e.g. oral examinations or multiple-choice examinations.

In the event that a student advises the college of a learning disability (e.g. in the course of a new student interview or at a subsequent interview with a Course Advisor), some additional flexibility with regard to assessment requirements may be permitted. The Course Advisor will propose a strategy (by Special Arrangement) and advise the student concerned that the arrangements will apply only to the Semester in which the issue was brought to the College's attention.

If a student requires the strategy to continue beyond the first semester of study in which it was implemented, then the student should, either
- provide evidence of the diagnosis already in the possession of the student, including, if possible, recommended support strategies for effective learning; or
- at his or her own expense, arrange for a report from an appropriately qualified specialist (e.g. doctor, psychologist, educational psychologist, or psychiatrist) which sets out the nature of the condition, and suggests a recommended learning support strategy, (e.g. additional time for exams, reading or the completion of assessment tasks, additional lighting, special seating, etc.); and
- give written consent (with the agreement of the specialist who provided the report) for a representative of the College to contact the specialist for clarification as needed.
The College will endeavour to implement appropriate intervention strategies in a timely manner.

All strategies will be formalised by the preparation of a Special Arrangement. A pdf copy of the approved Special Arrangement will be provided to the student by email, with an instruction to upload the arrangement with each assessment task to which it applies. The student is responsible to inform their lecturers of the ongoing Special Arrangement beyond the first Semester of implementation. The relevant Lecturer(s) in the initial semester will be informed of the Special Arrangement by email copy.

Facilities

At Tabor Victoria facilities include: access ramps and easily accessible tea/coffee-making facilities.