FoHS: Special Consideration Reminder

The Special Consideration Policy has been in effect since Session 3, 2017. The Faculty of Human Sciences Student Centre have put together this quick reminder for all FoHS Unit Convenors about what you need to do and how it works in practice.

Key features of the Special Consideration policy:

• Applies only to short-term, serious and unavoidable circumstances that arise after a study period has commenced and where specific assessment task/s have been affected.
• For longer term issues impacting their studies, students should be encouraged to contact Campus Wellbeing phone extension 7497
• Students have five (5) working days after the assessment task due date, or examination test date to submit their applications together with suitable supporting document  through AskMQ.
• The student’s attachments (supporting evidence) are hidden from view for privacy reasons.
• Students are required to submit a separate application for each assessment task (e.g. one application for assignment extension and another for tutorial attendance) that will be affected by the serious and unavoidable circumstances. However, the same description written by the student in the “Disruption Details” and “Further Details” will be attached to all the applications for the same unit. 
• Most applications will be approved by the professional staff at the Faculty Student Centre. Cases will only be referred to academic staff as needed.
• The Faculty Student Centre will aim to communicate the outcome of an application to students within five (5) working days of receipt of application and all necessary evidence.
• If application is approved, student will be given only one (1) additional opportunity to demonstrate that they have met the learning outcomes of the unit through the grant of special consideration.
• The University operates under a “Fit to Sit” model. This means that in sitting an examination and/or in –class test or otherwise submitting an assessment, a student is declaring that they are fit to do so unless they can show that they were unfit to make this determination.
  

What Unit Convenors need to do:

• Read the Outcomes Schedule of the policy.
• Refer student enquiries to the Faculty Student Centre.
• Notify the Faculty Student Centre of your due dates of assessment tasks and date of return of marked assessments.
• Notify the Faculty Student Centre if you require reports of approved Special Consideration applications.
• Send feedback to the Faculty of Human Sciences Student Centre on what works and what doesn’t so that these will be fed into the review process. This can be through your usual contact, or email novello.alday@mq.edu.au 

Information provided by Novy Alday and Carmela Paredes from the Faculty of Human Sciences Student Centre.