How to challenge problematic competence standards

Universities tend to confuse competence standards (what students must demonstrate) with how they are assessed. Accurate distinction is crucial, however, because reasonable adjustments for disabled students can be applied to assessment methods but not to competence standards. Many programmes, even those with professional, statutory or regulatory body (PSRB) involvement, are not getting it right.

Because they are so central to assessment in higher education, failing to recognise and challenge competence standards that disadvantage disabled students can not only perpetuate inequality, but also affect National Student Survey scores and pose a significant legal risk.

The pool of staff with the knowledge, confidence and positioning to address competence standards issues is often limited. But this should not stop us from taking action.

How to spot a potentially problematic competence standard

The Equality Act 2010 definition of a competence standard and supplementary Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) technical guidance and sector advice are helpful, but what does it look like in practice? 

It may look like a disabled student seeking support for an assessment type that they just can’t crack, despite using adaptive strategies, reasonable adjustments and engaging well with their course. 

In other cases, the student may report that the adjustment they need cannot be applied to the assessment owing to professional requirements, although it is relatively rare for an assessment method itself to amount to a competence standard. 

 Consider the following scenario, drawn from common examples:

A student with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) struggles to deliver a clinical session within a one-hour time frame, but reasonable adjustments for extra time can’t be applied to clinical sessions. A learning developer could work with the student to establish time management strategies and help them evaluate their success. 

But what if, when the student performed to time, the quality of their session reduced? A key question could become: was this time limit underpinned by a competence standard, or does it need critical review? 

• Spotlight guide: Make learning accessible to all in higher education
• How to guide your students through the process of asking for reasonable adjustments
• Ways to make your learning materials accessible and inclusive

Four ways to support a student to challenge a competence standard

Take a deep dive into the course requirements: identify how they have been set and by whom. In this example, the student could look up guidance from their professional body and, if the time limit is not defined by them, it could be reviewed at course level. If set by the PSRB, academic colleagues would need to liaise on this.

Draw on the expertise around you: experts in inclusive education and disability services and equality, diversity and inclusion staff, for example. Institutions can also contact PSRBs for advice about PSRB-set competence standards. Each programme usually has a contact. 

Empower the student: explain how they can raise their query about competence standards using your university’s processes. It might mean a student approaches their course leader with a rationale or discusses it with a disability liaison officer or through student services. 

Fill the space with trust: competence standards sit at the intersection of equality law and academic standards. Additional tension can often come from ideas about academic tradition or fears about which adjustments would be possible in the workplace. This creates a legally complex and often emotive topic. Trust that staff value the student voice and learner success. It’s much more likely that they simply have not had the time to fully reflect upon competence standards than that they intended to discriminate. 

Correctly identifying the difference between an assessment method and competence standard can allow something as simple as a short amount of extra time to be applied as a reasonable adjustment. This change could be all that a student needs to turn assessment failure into success.

In a squeezed sector where we are constantly required to do more, it may feel like a step too far to ask colleagues to expand into a further area of work. But the impacts of misconceptions around competence standards on disabled students and the university more broadly are impossible to ignore. By carrying out this relatively small act, we can improve equity for current and future disabled students.

Spot the signs, rally expertise, trust colleagues and begin those conversations to champion fair competence standards. 

AI declaration: Microsoft Copilot was used by the authors as a thesaurus and grammar checking tool. 

Jess Jasper is a learning enhancement tutor (specific learning difficulties) and Harriet Crooks is an inclusive education manager, both at the University of East Anglia.

If you would like advice and insight from academics and university staff delivered direct to your inbox each week, sign up for the Campus newsletter.