Print version Recommend this page Press release
28/ 2004
Bonn, 05.08.2004
Making it possible for disabled persons to obtain vocational qualification - By compensating for disadvantages during exams
- BIBB publishes handbook with case studies for use in examinations -
In Germany, disabled individuals are constitutionally entitled to special consideration for their particular disablement when sitting intermediate or final vocational examinations. 01
Examinations held for new or updated occupational profiles must therefore be adjusted to account for the trainee's particular disablement - just like examinations for traditional occupational profiles are. Allowing more time for completing various parts of the examination, holding the examination where the individual works, having a "guidance person" provide emotional support during the exam, offering frequent breaks and even the use of reading/writing aids or a computer all have a compensatory effect and can help make up for disadvantages that an individual may face during an examination due to his or her disablement.
This was the conclusion arrived at by the Analysis of Examination Procedures for Persons with a Disablement pilot project conducted by the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training ("BIBB"). The BIBB Steering Committee issued a fundamental recommendation in 1985 to "give consideration to the special interests of disabled persons during intermediate, final or journeyman's examinations". This research project examined the question how this recommendation is presently being put into practice. This involved studying the effects that new and updated occupational profiles - as well as changing occupational requirements and new practice-oriented examination regulations - have on the modifications made in these examinations and which routes are taken in actual practice to compensate for disadvantages when designing examinations for persons with various types of disablement.
For this study - which included all vocational training centres for disabled juveniles and vocational retraining centres for adults with disabilities - the participating institutions were asked for examples of the ways they modified their examinations and for descriptions of actual cases at their facility. 02 The recent German-language BIBB publication Nachteilsausgleich für behinderte Prüfungsteilnehmerinnen und Prüfungsteilnehmer. Handbuch mit Fallbeispielen und Erläuterungen für die Prüfungspraxis ("Compensating for disadvantages of disabled exam participants. A guidebook with sample cases and explanations for exam situations")
- uses some 90 individual case studies from actual practice to show how examinations can be modified for persons with physical disabilities, learning disabilities, multiple disabilities, psychological disabilities (including autism) or sensory disabilities (hearing/speech impairment, visual impairment). The spectrum of occupations in which disabled persons sat examinations ranged from draughtsman to office clerk, carpenter all the way to interior decorator, gardener and information electronics technician.
- The handbook categorizes the case studies according to type of modification and then assigns them to the various types of disability where they were applied,
- offers general information on modifications for blind, visually impaired or hearing impaired individuals,
- provides application forms for special aids, and details comprehensive information on the findings of the Analysis of Examination Procedures for Persons with Disabilities research project.
This extensive handbook aims at adding the large spectrum of possible modifications in examination procedures to the existing reservoir of knowledge among training providers, advice centres, "on the ground" - in other words, the practice of conducting examinations - and, most importantly, persons with disabilities. The handbook also outlines tested methods for compensating for disadvantages that individuals might experience during the examination procedure due to a disability.
The German-language handbook Nachteilsausgleich für behinderte Prüfungsteilnehmerinnen und Prüfungsteilnehmer. Handbuch mit Fallbeispielen und Erläuterungen für die Prüfungspraxis by Saskia Keune und Claudia Frohnenberg can be ordered for € 19.90 from W. Bertelsmann Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, Postfach 10 06 33, 33506 Bielefeld, Germany; Tel. +49 521 - 9110 111, Fax: + 49 521 -9110 119, E-mail: service@wbv.de
Point of contact at BIBB for further information on this subject: Saskia Keune, Tel.: +49 228 - 1072 329, E-mail: keune@bibb.de, or Claudia Frohnenberg, Tel.: +49 228 -1072 325, E-mail: frohnenberg@bibb.de
