Reasons and documentation
Special Consideration is one of several possible adjustments to assessments available at La Trobe University. It is specifically intended to support students who experience serious short-term, unforeseen, or exceptional life events or circumstances that substantially affect their ability to complete an assessment task to the best of their potential.
Documentation
Official and verifiable supporting documentation must be provided and must be official and verifiable.
Documentation must indicate the date of the exceptional or unforeseen circumstances and the duration/dates of impact.
Documents in languages other than English must be translated by a NAATI-accredited translator or a La Trobe University staff member.
Examples of acceptable grounds for Special Consideration and documentation include:
Category | Circumstance | Required supporting documentation |
|---|
Students registered with
AccessAbility and Inclusion | - if you have a Learning Access Plan (LAP) you may apply for Special Consideration where you experience an exacerbation of your condition or are affected by a different serious and acute circumstance.
| - your current Learning Access Plan (LAP) together with a Personal Statement that explains how your current circumstances have impacted the completion of an assessment task
|
| Medical, including serious illness or injury | - emergency surgery
- any serious illness or conditions requiring medical treatment and/or recovery from such treatment
- broken limb impacting on the ability to undertake assessment task
- primary carer responsibilities for a dependent family member who is seriously ill or injured
| - La Trobe Medical Impact Statement. A medical certificate will not suffice and your application will be delayed if additional documentation needs to be provided
- hospital admission/discharge summary
- carer’s certificate
|
Emotional distress | - family or relationship breakdown
- personal or family hardship as a result of a natural disaster
- sudden loss of income or employment
- abuse (e.g. incident of domestic violence, flight from an abusive situation)
- emergency travel as a result of major political upheaval in your home country
- traumatic experience (e.g. witnessing or being involved in a serious accident, witnessing or being a victim of a serious crime
| - Community Letter
- letter from employer or notice of unexpected cessation of employment
- police or incident report
- La Trobe Medical Impact Statement completed by your treating psychologist or counsellor. A certificate will not suffice, and your application will be delayed if additional documentation needs to be provided
|
Misadventure | - transport breakdown causing the student to miss or to be significantly late for an examination or other assessment task
- power or internet outage
| - police or incident report
- insurance incident claim
- written confirmation of the outage and duration that includes your listed street address in student online. Eg. text message received regarding the outage from your power or internet provider
|
| Bereavement | - death of a close family member
| - obituary, death or funeral notice as advertised in newspaper/internet/funeral director’s website
- documentation such as birth or marriage certificate or a Statutory Declaration where required to confirm family relationship
- Where the matter is Sorry Business, First Nation/Indigenous students are invited to submit a Statutory Declaration outlining circumstances.
|
| COVID-19 Infection | - you have tested positive for COVID-19 and are either required to isolate or are hospitalised
| - confirmation of test results from the Department of Health e.g. text message/email notification received when you reported your positive RAT result or notification of your positive PCR result
or - other medical documentation such as a Medical Impact Statement demonstrating the impact on your ability to undertake, prepare for and/or complete an assessment task or a written letter from doctor or hospital, as appropriate, advising the impact
|
| COVID-19 Caretaking/Close Contact | - you are caring for someone who has been diagnosed with COVID-19 or you are required to isolate due to being a close contact
| - written evidence from the Department of Health verifying the diagnosis and evidence of a relationship or residential address. e.g. text message/email notification received when your close contact or the person you are caring for reported your positive RAT result or notification of your positive PCR result
|
As always, where there are special circumstances, these will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
If you are having difficulties around placements, contact your placements office in the first instance who will be able to assist you.
If you are having difficulties with your studies or don’t think that you can submit your assessment task by the due date, speak to your subject coordinator in the first instance. They are here to help you and understand that this is a challenging time for us all.
The University's FAQs on the COVID-19 situation are updated regularly, please visit the FAQ webpage for the latest information.
Unavoidable commitments known in advance are not handled via Special Consideration, and are managed instead through an application for an Alternative Exam Arrangement. For example:
- Armed services duty
- Artistic commitments
- Elite athlete commitments
- Exam or assessment clash at other institution
- Jury duty or court appearance
- Emergency services employee or volunteer
- Religious or cultural obligations
Read about alternative arrangements for the above circumstances.
Privacy statementLa Trobe University respects the privacy of your personal information. We collect personal information in order to assess your eligibility for special consideration. Documentation that you provide as part of a special consideration application is strictly confidential and is subject to the protections of relevant privacy laws. Your confidential information is only made available to authorised staff as part of the special consideration process. You may have the right to access the personal information that we hold about you subject to any exemptions in relevant laws, by contacting us at special-consideration@latrobe.edu.au. |
