What are Special Assessment Conditions and what's available?
Students may be eligible for Special Assessment Conditions (SAC) if they have a permanent or long-term sensory, physical, medical or learning difficulty that stops them being fairly assessed for national qualifications.
SAC provision supports students so they can complete internal and external assessments (exams).
Find out more about SAC:
Find out what SAC is available:
On this page
Who to talk to at school about SAC
Let the school know immediately if you have any concerns about learning or assessment. The best time to do this is when the student is enrolled.
Please provide the school with copies of any medical or other reports that might help them apply for SAC for the student.
People at school you can contact include:
- the school office
- your Form Teacher
- the year level Dean
- the Head of Learning Support
- the Special Education Needs Coordinator
- the Learning Support Coordinator
- the school Guidance Counsellor
- the School Nurse.
How parents and whānau can support students
There are a few ways you can support your child.
Talk with your child about SAC options
Discuss with your child which SAC would help them the most in NCEA assessments. Students can use different SAC support for different assessments.
Your child’s school will tell NZQA which type of SAC support your child wants for each assessment.
Talk to the school about concerns or changes
Talk to the school about any concerns you have.
Keep the school informed of any:
- progress
- medication changes or
- behaviour or a condition becoming worse.
Encourage your child to talk to their teachers
Encourage your child to discuss the support they need with their subject teachers.
Work on exercises at home
The school, specialists or psychologists may recommend specific activities, procedures or exercises for your child. Try these at home.
For example, if your child will be using a computer, try improving keyboard skills so they're better at doing this by themselves.
How to apply for SAC
Schools apply to NZQA for SAC on behalf of students. This is free for schools and students.
Students must give permission before the school sends the application to NZQA.
When a school applies for SAC, the school confirms they believe the student can achieve an NCEA qualification using appropriate SAC support.
Literacy and Numeracy or Te Reo Matatini me te Pāngarau Common Assessment Activities
Schools don’t need to apply for SAC support for students who are only completing the Literacy and Numeracy or Te Reo Matatini me te Pāngarau Common Assessment Activities in that year.
The school decides the type and level of support that a student will get, based on the student’s needs and the school's professional judgement.
Ask for different standard options for your child
A standard measures what a student knows about a certain topic and what they can do. Standards contribute to achieving the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA).
Your child might not be able to achieve some NCEA standards because of what the standard needs the student to do.
For example, a student may have to:
- read themselves, not listen to a reader or
- do something themselves, not instruct someone else how to do it.
Some other standards allow some SAC support but exclude certain support (i.e. a partial exclusion). For example, a writer may not be allowed to draw maps or graphs, or a reader may not be allowed to speak in a specific language if that skill is what the standard assesses.
If your child can't use their SAC provision for some standards, check with your school for possible alternative standards your child might be able to do instead.
Find out more about exclusions and partial exclusions at:
When you can't apply SAC to assessments
Evidence to support SAC applications
For most SAC applications, NZQA doesn’t need independent reports from professionals. However, if you already have these reports, schools can use them when they apply for SAC.
The school must have suitable evidence to support a SAC application. The school either supplies this evidence when they apply for SAC or NZQA may request this evidence as part of a monitoring process.
Evidence can come from different sources, including:
- the student’s history of the learning support they've had at school
- comments and observations from teachers, the student and their parents or whānau
- medical or other reports provided by the student or their parents or whānau
- test results done by the school, for example, reading and writing tests
- results of any trials of SAC.
NZQA may approve, amend or decline all or any of the SAC provisions the school requests. This decision is based on the information in the application. Schools can appeal NZQA’s decision to decline an application.
Once NZQA approves the SAC, students can use the SAC for internal and external assessment for that year.
Continuing SAC each year
Schools don’t need to make a new application for SAC each year.
The SAC provisions last for the full period that a student is at school.
At the start of each new year, the school decides if the current SAC provisions are still appropriate.
If they are, then the school rolls over the SAC provisions so the student can use the same SAC in the new year. Schools can also request changes to SAC provisions.
A student can choose to stop using the ongoing SAC provisions.
Transfer to a new school
If a student transfers schools, tell the new school at enrolment that the student has a SAC provision.
The school will then ask NZQA to transfer the SAC provision to the new school’s SAC list.
NZQA's rules for SAC
We publish our rules about providing Special Assessment Conditions annually.
Read the SAC Rules in the Assessment and Examination for NCEA and New Zealand Scholarship Rules:
Schedule 3: Candidate Special Assessment Conditions Processes