Special Assessment Conditions (SAC) provide support to otherwise capable students who have barriers to achievement when taking assessments.
SAC helps students fairly demonstrate their knowledge, skills and understanding in an assessment, without providing an unfair advantage over other students.
Students can access their SAC provisions for co-requisite assessments
Students sitting Literacy and Numeracy or Te Reo Matatini me te Pāngarau co-requisite assessments can access all their current SAC provisions, as appropriate.
Co-requisite assessments are designed to be as accessible as possible. All students working at the appropriate level should be able to be assessed.
If a student has a SAC provision for other assessments, this must be available to them for Literacy and Numeracy or Te Reo Matatini me te Pāngarau assessments. The student must not be disadvantaged.
The Special Assessment Conditions available
Education providers don’t need NZQA approval through a formal SAC application to provide SAC for students taking co-requisite assessments. This includes Year 9 and 10 students who may not taken NCEA assessments before.
Education providers can decide the type and level of support based on student needs and the teacher's professional judgement.
On this page
Using Polly text to speech
Students can use Polly, the assessment platform's text-to-speech tool, for Literacy - Writing and Numeracy assessments in English.
Polly is not available for the Literacy - Reading assessment.
A te reo Māori text-to-speech application is not yet available but is being developed.
Deciding whether to provide a Reader, Writer or Typist
Education providers decide if it's appropriate to provide a Reader, Writer or Typist for students taking Literacy and Numeracy or Te Reo Matatini me te Pāngarau co-requisite assessments.
This is based on their professional judgement and what they know about the individual student’s needs.
Co-requisite assessments are design to allow students to demonstrate their skills and knowledge, using their own effort and expression. Providing more support than students need is unfair to them, and it could also affect the validity of their results.
If students have an assessment assistant, the education provider must train the person for the role.
Assessment and exam assistants (Writers, Typists and Readers)
Students who need Reader support
Assistive technology is the preferred support for students who need Reader assistance. The digital assessment platform provides this through Polly, our text-to-speech tool, for some assessments.
Some students who find reading difficult already use assistive technology daily to interact with text and confirm meaning.
Students must practise using assistive technology before taking an assessment. They must use headphones during assessment activities.
If students are not yet confident using assistive technology, you can postpone the assessment to a later opportunity. Postponing means students will be ready for a future assessment.
- If assistive technology is not available or appropriate, providers can provide a Reader to read directly from the screen.
- Providers can also request a PDF version of the assessment from NZQA and give the PDF to the Reader.
- Readers should only provide the level of reading support a student needs. This may mean only reading words or phrases the student identifies as problematic, rather than reading all the text.
- Readers must let the student direct them and ask for targeted support.
- If possible, students should practise with the Reader before the assessment. This gives the best outcome for the student and the Reader.
Students who need Writer or Typist support
When possible, students should complete the assessment themselves using the digital assessment platform. Students who aren't confident typists can request enough time to complete the assessment.
If a student can’t type responses themselves, then providers can provide a trained Typist or Writer.
The best solution is a Typist who will type the student’s spoken responses into the digital assessment platform. Students will need to log in to the assessment before the Typist can input answers.
Providers should only provide a Writer to handwrite on a PDF version of the assessment in exceptional circumstances. In these cases, education providers need to request a PDF of the assessment from NZQA and give it to the Writer. The written assessment is then submitted to NZQA for marking.
If part of an assessment is the appropriate use of writing conventions, Writers and Typists need to make sure that, as far as reasonably possible, the student’s understanding and use of these conventions are reflected in their answers.
Writer and Typist responsibilities
Using assessment assistants (Readers, Writers and Typists) for SAC
Providers are responsible for recruiting and training assessment assistants.
More information on what assessment assistants can and can't do:
Assessment and exam assistants (Writers, Typists and Readers)