Patterns of special consideration requests at a UK university: reasons given and associations with demographic factors

Abstract

Students who are unable to complete an assessment due to circumstances beyond their control (e.g. illness) are often asked to submit a request for special consideration. However, few studies have looked at the reasons why these requests are made, or whether certain students are more likely to submit requests than others. The current study looked at 2126 such requests submitted by 461 students over one academic year and compared students who submitted requests with those who did not on several variables, including gender, full-time/part-time status and undergraduate/postgraduate courses. Distribution of these requests by type (e.g. physical health, bereavement) was examined, in addition to how many students submitted more than one request. The study found that around one-quarter of students submitted requests, with more than half of these related to mental or physical health issues. Full-time students were more likely to submit requests than part-time students although few other demographic differences emerged. The results suggest that some groups may be unevenly affected by special circumstances related to assessment although further work is needed to inform policies regarding special consideration.

Keywords:

• Special consideration
• assessment
• illness
• academic performance

Acknowledgements

The author is very grateful to several individuals who helped provide the data and approval for the study, particularly Rachel Crabtree, Rebecca Daniells and Steve Dillamore.

Disclosure statement

No potential competing interest is reported by the author.

Data availability statement

Due to the nature of this research, participants of this study did not agree for their data to be shared publicly, so supporting data is not available.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Paul Jenkins

Paul Jenkins is an Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Reading. He has a background in Clinical Psychology and is interested in improving the experience of individuals with health problems at university.