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How does one "unenter" someone for an exam? Aren't they just absent? Not aware of many AOs who will give you your money back that close to the date (which, if they've done all of the classes, I guess would be pretty close?), so they'd still be on the entries list, so you could show it to an auditor?
By which I mean, I'd complete and fail someone in this scenario.
Steve Hewitt I have no idea! I don't deal with Exams, it was something Exams said to me. Maybe it's more of an internal thing, where we remove from seating plans etc.
I do feel that, if we fully expected them to show up, and they're just absent, that's a fail. A student who pulls out of exams before they were happening, seems more legitimate as a withdrawal, but it's a fine distinction.
I also don't fully understand the implications, as I don't deal with achievement/retention data either.
Yeah, that sounds about right, but they'll likely still be on the list of entries to the AO.
Potentially minor monetary implications for AEB if they don't cross the last month end (eg exam on 10 June, last attendance 28 May) and are withdrawn rather than completed. No impact on *achievement* because they'll be a start, would impact on retention if you've always done it the other way...
I am talking very small numbers, it just happened to have come up recently. A couple were actually early fails, which made me question whether they really were fails, or should be withdrawals. I'm told they did have exams scheduled earlier than planned (these are adult courses with no fixed cohort end), and they attended some, but not all, exams. We were debating if that should stay as a fail, or be switched to a withdrawal.
So you're right, if they're withdrawals, we could lose some payments that I'd argue we are due, as they basically did finish everything.
Kelly Knights Yes, I think if we can evidence the fail (registered for exams, record of non-attendance), then I can't see that we'd be questioned.
It wasn't a daft question though, as clearly not everyone has the same understanding!
Ruth Canham-James
Withdrawal or Fail
Created
This relates to individual learning aims with exams, for any funding stream.
What's the distinction between a fail and a withdrawal? Both have the Outcome “Did not achieve”, so the distinction is simply the Completion Status;
Completed - The learner has completed the learning activities leading to the learning aim
Withdrawn - The learner has withdrawn from the learning activities leading to the learning aim
The question then is, does an exam count as a learning activity? Logically, I’d say no, but we know that exams can be counted when determining Actual End Date (16-19 funding rules, page 68, Q7), and the definition of Actual End Date is “The date that the learner completed the learning activities necessary to achieve the learning aim or the date the learner withdrew from the learning activities”. If an exam can count for the AED, then the logic appears to be that an exam is “Learning Activity”, so to be a fail, you need to have done the exams.
Also for consideration, auditors do sometimes ask for evidence of a fail, which we can only do if they were actually signed up for the exam.
What about a student who was entered for all the exams, and just doesn't show up to any of them? What if they attend all classes, but then is unentered for the exams before they are due? Does it make a difference to which Completion Status you'd use? I'm interested to know where other providers draw the line, as I don't think the rules are crystal clear on this.