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May 2018 Page 1
Terms and Conditions
While we endeavour to be as flexible as possible, it is important that we adhere to certain rules to avoid disappointment and confusion for both parties, BSLcourses.co.uk and the applicants/students. Waiting List Due to a high volume of new enrolments, there is currently a minimum 2-month waiting list. The list will be treated on a ‘first come, first served’ basis. To confirm your place on the waiting list, please select the ‘Invoice’ option on the course’s payment page. The invoice will then be emailed to you with its payment due date 2 months after the invoice is sent. You will be notified when a space on your course becomes available. Therefore, please only pay the invoice when your course is ready to start. Online Course Requirements In order to enrol onto one of our online courses, it is a requirement of students to have a fully functional computer and that the specifications are at a minimum of:
-‐ 1.67GHz processing speed (CPU),
-‐ 512MB RAM,
-‐ or an iPad, iPhone 4 and above, iPod, and most smart devices – all with in-built cameras and a Skype app.
-‐ operating system Mac OS X 10 and above, or Windows XP and above,
-‐ the latest internet browser (e.g., Chrome, FireFox, Safari, Internet Explorer).
We recommend Chrome as this has an in-built Flash player (see below).
-‐ the latest version of Flash – this software is essential to be able to watch the video classes and tutorial/e-assessment/evidence clips. As mentioned, above, the internet browser, Chrome, will have Flash in-built (https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95346?co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop&hl=en-GB)
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-‐ a webcam of no older than three years (a good webcam can be bought for a
small fee (around £20) from any electrical shop),
-‐ have the latest software of Skype and a Skype account (https://www.skype.com/en/download-skype/skype-for-computer/),
-‐ at least a broadband connection (for those who are familiar with broadband
speeds, the minimum speeds for smooth webcam sessions are 2Mbps download and 0.5Mbps upload) – for a rough estimate of your broadband speed, go here: http://www.speedtest.net/
-‐ and please ensure that no other device is using the broadband at the same time as the webcam tutorial as this could seriously affect the pace of conversation.
Free Trial Courses One of the benefits of doing a Free Trial Course is there are absolutely no obligations to do anything, such as complete the free tutorial. However, should a student wish to try the free webcam tutorial and once the student has been booked it, we ask that that student respect their original tutorial booking to complete it -‐ it is, after all, a real tutor waiting on the other side of Skype committing to complete the tutorial with the student. Failure to attend the tutorial, may result in an administration fee for the respective Level (please see Administration fees for missed tutorials/e-assessment planning sessions (including VAT) for those fees), should the student wish to rebook the tutorial. Please see how to Booking Tutorials, below, on how to do this. At the end of the Free Trial Course, the student receives valuable feedback and course recommendations from their allocated tutor on what course they are ready to do, should they wish to do so with BSLcourses.co.uk. Please note, if a tutorial has been recorded, the clip will be available to the student on their student account for one month, after which it will then be removed. Enjoy yourself! Enough said! However, it would be worth reading the whole of this document to ensure smooth progression and completion of your course.
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Yahoo emails If you have an @yahoo email address unfortunately, due to Yahoo’s privacy policy, messages sent from our Contact Us page or via the student dashboard will not be received. If possible, please use an alternative email for your student account that does not include @yahoo in it (there are plenty of other domains that offer free email accounts). Otherwise, if your @yahoo email is your primary address, please email us directly on [email protected]. Course Access and Tutorials/Assessments This course is for you, and YOU only. It is NOT permitted to share your course material with anybody else, NOR is it permitted that anybody, let alone a more experienced signer, sits with you during the tutorials and/or assessments, unless you are under 16 (see below, Students Under 16). If we feel material is shared to any other person than yourself, we reserve the right to suspend your course indefinitely. Level 3, Level 6 and NVQ course interviews Students wishing to enrol on to any course for any of these Levels (for both “BSL Training” and qualification courses) must meet one of our assessors for an informal discussion in BSL. This is required to determine if your signing skills are ready to enrol on to the course. The meeting is arranged via the student’s Free Trial course and completed via Skype (webcam). As it is free, we ask the student to respect their original booking to complete their interview. Failure to attend the tutorial may result in an admin fee of their respective Level (please see Administration fees for missed tutorials/e-assessment planning sessions (including VAT) for those fees) should they wish to rebook the interview. Please note, there is no guarantee the student will be accepted on to these courses. The interview will assess the student’s BSL skills, knowledge and experience at the time of the interview. Any “evidence” clips submitted to BSLcourses.co.uk Ltd prior to the interview will not be accepted as an aid in the interview for acceptance on to the course. Entry requirements for any of the Levels’ qualifications state that students must ALREADY be competent at the Level they wish to qualify for. BSL Coaching sessions / BSL Assessment Preparation sessions
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These are hour-‐long coaching sessions with a tutor and are usually split in to four 15-‐minute sessions. These are completed in the same way as tutorials (Skype webcam), allowing students to practice with the tutor and gain feedback and advice from them on how to improve their BSL skills. For BSL Assessment Preparation sessions, the tutor would give you access to mock assessments and provide feedback on where to improve in order to become ready to do the real assessments. Prices between BSL coaching and BSL Assessment Preparation sessions are the same, only that each Level differs, as follows: Level Price Level 1 and Level 2 £50 plus VAT Level 3 £60 plus VAT Level 4 and Level 6 £75 plus VAT Students under 16 It is the responsibility of the parent/guardian of any student under the age of 16 to initiate each of their child’s webcam tutorials/assessments with their tutor as way of their permission to carry out such sessions. Written consent via email will not be an accepted however if a written consent was printed and signed by the parent/guardian, along with a photocopy of their driving licence showing their signature, was posted to BSLcourses.co.uk Ltd at the beginning of their child’s course, this would be acceptable. Special Consideration / Requirements / Medical History It is the student’s responsibility to disclose to BSLcourses.co.uk Ltd if they consider, or have, any special requirements, disabilities, illnesses or any medical/other condition that may affect their course and, where applicable, in completing assessments for us to consider and facilitate. The latter requires us to inform the Awarding bodies of any condition that may affect the student’s assessments so that they are given reasonable adjustments and be fairly marked (e.g., extended receptive assessment clips). Important note: reasonable adjustments do NOT affect your overall marks and assessments are marked on your competency. All information given to us and IBSL are strictly confidential. In any cases where we need to manually enrol the student on to a course on their behalf, we will email them for confirmation and, if any, details of their disability/conditions for us to consider. We cannot accept responsibility should the student fail to disclose their disability/condition that may have affected/delayed their course progression.
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Price Structuring We endeavour to keep costs down to a minimum and remain competitive, fair and reasonable but course and/or package prices are subject to changes at any time as the Awarding bodies’ assessment registration fees may increase and/or qualification specifications/regulatory requirements becomes more demanding. All our prices are calculated to accommodate all learning material, tutor time for tutorials and/or assessments and their feedback, assessment fees (where applicable) at the time of enrolment and VAT. Therefore, any external influences that occur during your course may be subject to additional charges of which we cannot accept any responsibility for. Additionally, the courses’ teaching materials, their one-‐to-‐one tutorials, tutor feedback/recommendations and homework tasks are deemed more than sufficient for students to finish their courses and assessments. Therefore, whilst we have designed our courses to include technical and learning support to allow students to progress on their courses, requests for additional feedback (such as as a result of being recommended by the tutor to practice ‘outside the classroom’ and produce a video clip of themselves signing), we have the right to charge for the time and feedback give, particularly so if said requests for additional support becomes excessive. Refunds Payments made are non-‐refundable and non-‐transferrable between courses and workshops (coming soon). Refunds are only considered in exceptional circumstances where the person enrolling has contacted us within 14 days of making the enrolment occurring. Any refunds are made at our discretion and are subject to an administration fee of £25 per place enrolled. Replacement Certificates We cannot accept responsibility for losses of Certificates of Completion or Qualification certificates that occur during transit. We record all outgoing posts so in any case when a student does not receive their Certificate of Completion (for a BSL Training course), or their Qualification
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Certificate, and that we do not have a record of it being posted, we will issue and post the Certificate for free. Otherwise, subject to us in possession of the proof of postage of said Certificate, the cost of a replacement Certificate will be as follows: BSLcourses.co.uk’s “BSL Training” Certificate of Completion = £5 plus VAT. IBSL’s/Signature’s Qualification Certificate = £5 plus VAT plus Awarding body’s fee (varies year on year – please refer to their Fees document on their respective websites, http://ibsl.org.uk/administration/#fees and http://www.signature.org.uk/useful-‐documents ). Third Parties We will not, and cannot, accept any responsibility and/or liability of any changes by or influences from third parties involved that may affect your course or qualification. BSL Packages BSL packages consist of more than one course and, collectively, entitled to a discount. However, to benefit from said discount, BSL packages are only valid and all courses completed if it has either been paid in full at the start of the package or if all the instalments have been completed. For example, if a student enrols on to the “Level 1 BSL Training, Level 2 BSL Training and Level 3 BSL Training” package that has 8 monthly instalments and to benefit from its discount, all instalments must be completed over the 8 months it has been set to. If, at any time, instalments are cancelled and has not been rescheduled by the end of the following month it was cancelled, this will deem the BSL package and its discount void and would require the student to pay the remainder of the course(s) at their full prices as per the website. It is the student’s responsibility to inform BSLcourses.co.uk Ltd if they have missed an instalment and to make their own arrangements to reschedule the instalment by the end of the following month it was due. It is to our discretion as to what reason is deemed acceptable for missed instalments and for accepting delayed payments towards discounted packages.
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Completing Assessments Completing assessments is naturally subject to the student’s competence as being ready to do so – we will not pressure students to do their assessments if they are not ready and setting them up to fail. The same applies if the student is aiming to complete their course “as quickly as possible” and that they are not yet competent due to needing further practice, we will not be pressured in to completing assessments against our professional, qualified opinion and subsequently setting the student up for fail, which affects our pass rate and, ultimately, the Awarding bodies’ pass rates. The tutor and our head teacher will confirm the student’s competence approximately 2 weeks before the assessments are scheduled. If the student’s competence is not yet ready to do the assessments, despite completing all the tutorials beforehand, the student can complete some BSL Coaching/BSL Assessment Preparation sessions with their tutor (see BSL Coaching/BSL Assessment Preparation sessions, above, for fees) and may be asked to do further external practice, submit periodic video evidence of their signing to us (e.g., to Dropbox) and, subject to approval of submitted evidence(s), return to their assessments at a later date. Completing receptive assessments and Deaf Culture assessment. Completing assessments 1A1, 2A1, 3A1, 6.1, 6.7 (receptive assessments) and 3.5 (Deaf Culture) require being invigilated by BSLcourses.co.uk Ltd (either with the tutor or an invigilator) and completed via Skype. For these assessments, the tutor/invigilator will “share” their screen during the Skype call with the student. The student must accept the share screen request from the tutor/invigilator. Once accepted, the student will see the tutor’s/invigilator’s screen that will have the receptive assessment clip ready to play. When the student is ready to start the assessment, they will inform the tutor/invigilator via Skype text and the tutor/invigilator will play the receptive clip. The receptive clip will only be played once (unless it is an assessment with exceptional circumstances approved by the Awarding bodies beforehand).
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During the assessment, the student will not see the tutor’s/invigilator’s webcam images and the student must always leave their webcam on for the invigilator to observe. Once the receptive clip is completed, the question paper filled in (please answer ALL questions, even if answers are “guessed”), the student must scan and email the answered paper to the tutor/invigilator within 5 minutes of the clip ending. Failure to do so will require the student to resit the assessment and an admin fee will apply (please see Administration fees for rearranging IBSL assessment sessions (including VAT)). Assessments completed at venues If, for whatever reason that is out of our control, assessments need to be completed physically, at a venue, you would be liable for any additional costs in attending said venue (e.g., travel expenses (yours and the tutor’s) and any overhead costs). Any exceptional circumstances where the tutor is required to attend a venue other than our usual one, you would be liable for all costs involved that may include tutor accommodation on top of your latter liabilities. Change of Tutor It is not recommended, let alone it is very rare, for a student to change tutor throughout any stage of their course. However, should a student feel they need to change tutor, they must provide a sufficient reason as to why. Failing to provide a sufficient reason and because BSLcourses.co.uk Limited employ tutors on a freelance basis, a tutor fee would need to be charged for the new tutor. The following are tutor fees per course:
-‐ Level 1 BSL Training, £120.00 -‐ Level 1 Award in BSL Studies, £178.20 -‐ Level 2 BSL Training, £216.00 -‐ Level 2 Certificate in BSL Studies, £283.20 -‐ Level 3 BSL Training, £270.00 -‐ Level 3 Certificate in BSL Studies, £327.00 -‐ Level 4 Certificate in Bi-‐lingual Skills, £475.20 -‐ Level 6 BSL Training, £330.00 -‐ Level 6 Certificate in BSL Studies, £477.20 -‐ Level 6 NVQ Certificate in BSL, £480.00
Viewing Video Classes Video classes cannot be downloaded as they are copyright of Total Communication 4 U, BSLcourses.co.uk Ltd’s sister company.
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Please ensure the Online Course Requirements, above, are met so video classes are accessed correctly – e.g., it would not be possible to view the video classes with devices that do not/can not have the Flash software installed on to it.
Playing back video classes and progressing to the next video class is fairly self-‐explanatory. Previously watched video classes are marked with a green circle with a white tick. Current video classes are highlighted blue and unwatched video classes are greyed out. These greyed-‐out video classes cannot be unlocked until the student has watched the current video class and clicked the green “Next” button. Please note, as the Introduction clip explains, all video classes comprises of two parts: the first part is the class without subtitles (to encourage the student to try understand as much as possible without assistance) and the second part is repeating the first part WITH subtitles. It is the student’s responsibility to watch ALL video classes before they arrange their webcam tutorial (please see Course Structure, below, for more details). This is so
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the tutorial can be constructively used for practice and tutor feedback/advice purposes and for the new video classes to be released in the next section. Signature assessments We no longer offer assessments for Signature’s Level 1 Award in BSL, Level 2 Certificate in BSL or Level 3 Certificate in BSL. iBSL assessments Assessments for IBSL’s Level 1 Award in BSL Studies and Level 2 Certificate in BSL Studies, are completed at the end of the course between the student and their allocated tutor. Assessments for IBSL’s Level 3 Certificate in BSL Studies, Level 6 Certificate in BSL Studies and Level 4 Certificate in BSL to English Bilingual Skills are completed throughout the course, as these are assessment-‐only courses (i.e., they do not have any “BSL training” or language development -‐ therefore, students on one of these courses are already competent at their respective Level, be it through BSL Training/Language Development courses and/or from experience). Please note, any assessments that require a BSL contributor to participate must be arranged during office hours, 09:00 to 16:00 to allow for the BSL contributor to be involved. Please allow a minimum of 20 minutes for the assessment to take place therefore the latest the assessment can be arranged is at 15:40, therefore please ensure you have made the necessary arrangements to attend the assessment. Tutorial Cancellations All of our courses require students to complete their tutorials to receive more video classes in their student account and, where necessary, to prepare them for the e-‐assessments/NVQ evidence collection and gain qualification. Should a student fail to attend any tutorial, at the initial date and time selected by the student, and failure to inform the tutor 48 hours beforehand that they cannot attend, they may face paying an administration fee for making such rearrangements (see Administration fees for rebooking tutorials sessions (including VAT), below). Video classes, scheduled after tutorials, cannot be released in to the student’s course overview until the tutor has uploaded the tutorial clip in to the student’s course overview – please allow between 24 to 48 hours for the upload to take place. It is
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the student’s responsibility to complete tutorials, just as it is in a normal classroom environment, for further progression on the course. Booking Tutorials The course structure is designed so that booking tutorials can only be achieved by completing all video classes and, where applicable, a quiz beforehand. This is to ensure the student is “ready” to do the tutorial and minimise the risk of having to rebook the tutorial again due to not sufficiently covering the material from the video classes – please refer to Administration fees for rebooking tutorials sessions (including VAT), below. Once the video classes or quiz is completed, the booking calendar will appear on your student dashboard showing your tutor’s availabilities. You simply select the most suitable date and time available. Once booked, your tutor is alerted and will meet you on Skype at the selected date and time.
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Again, it is the student’s responsibility that they watch all video classes before arranging such tutorial and ensure they are comfortable with the material that will be covered during the tutorial. Student Account It is the student’s responsibility to maintain their details in their student account and keep them up to date. It is important to have a correct email address all throughout the duration of their course as this is required to communicate with their tutor/assessor and vice versa for any important updates and other matters. Intellectual Property Rights To protect our resources, BSLcourses.co.uk reserve the right to suspend/expel a student’s account and sue the student for any breach of BSLcourses.co.uk’s Intellectual Property (IP) Rights and other proprietary information in any country where it believes that infringement or a breach of this agreement relating to its IP Rights and/or other proprietary information might be taking place. The student recognises that BSLcourses.co.uk’s business relies upon the protection of its IP Rights and that in the event or threatening breach of IP Rights, BSLcourses.co.uk shall be caused irreparable damage and therefore shall be entitled
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to injunctive or equitable relief in order to prevent a breach or threatened breach of BSLcourses.co.uk’s IP Rights. Should BSLcourses.co.uk suspect a student using video classes for any other reason than for their own educational purpose, BSLcourses.co.uk will remove their account and launch an investigation and track the location of usage of such video classes used for any other reason than for their own education purpose (e.g., teaching other students against BSLcourses.co.uk’s permission). White Label If you would like more information about this, please contact the Director, [email protected]. Please note, white label will not be available until around 2017. Should a centre wish to reserve their rights for when the white label is released, an upfront payment can be arranged. Maximum Course Durations (“course deadline”) Although we allow students the ability and flexibility to finish off their course(s), in as little as 8 weeks for some, we ask that students on the following courses to wholly finish that course NO MORE than the timeframes (in bold) as indicated:
-‐ Level 1 Award in BSL Studies / Level 1 BSL Training – 60 weeks
-‐ Level 2 Certificate in BSL Studies / Level 2 BSL Training – 60 weeks
-‐ Level 3 Certificate in BSL Studies / Level 3 BSL Training – 60 weeks
-‐ Level 4 Certificate in BSL Studies / Level 6 BSL Training – 60 weeks
-‐ Level 6 Certificate in BSL Studies – 60 weeks
-‐ Level 6 NVQ Certificate in BSL – 104 weeks (important note: please refer to NVQ Evidence collection, below)
Any course duration lasting more than the above timeframe will result in the course being deactivated. However, if the student wishes to extend their course after their deadline, an extension fee per month will apply, see below, Extension Fee. Course Structure
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It is to our discretion that course structures and their course content can be changed at any time that we deem fit all the while that such change will not hinder the progression of our students’ development. The course structure is split in to “sections” (as boxed colourfully in the image, above). Each section comprises of video classes, quizzes (where necessary), tutorials and assessment (also where necessary) – these are called, “sessions”. Each section always ends with a tutorial / assessment session before the student can progress to the next section with new video classes (as demonstrated by the arrows in the image).
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Please note, it is vital students watch and practice their video classes as much as they can, feel comfortable with the material BEFORE booking a tutorial (see Booking Tutorials, above) – this is to minimise the risk of having to rebook the tutorial again due to not sufficiently demonstrating to the tutor the material from the video classes (please refer to Administration fees for rebooking tutorials sessions (including VAT), below.) NVQ course requirements Apart from meeting the minimum requirements set out on the Online Course requirements, above, students wishing to complete a NVQ course are required to have access to a video camcorder (whether owned or borrowed). This is compulsory for the ability to record their evidence clips that are required to collect outside the classroom. Therefore, students must have access to fellow signers of at least Level 6 standard. Evidences are planned between the student and their assessor during their webcam tutorials. Students must have the video camcorder ready before enrolling on a NVQ course to ensure smooth progression of their portfolio and to minimise any potential delays. NVQ evidence collection Once a student collects the first evidence clip for their portfolio, this is valid for eighteen (18) months to use in the NVQ portfolio. This means after 18 months has passed from the date of their first evidence clip and that they have not yet submitted their portfolio, the first clip becomes invalid. This would require the student to collect a new evidence clip to replace the invalid clip and would incur an additional fee to cover for the assessor’s time for planning and feedback purposes of the new evidences to be collected (please see Administration fees for rebooking tutorials sessions (including VAT), below). Overall, the student has a maximum of 2 years from the date of enrolment to submit their portfolio, therefore students must practice good time management, arrange their evidences with fellow Level 6 signers/Deaf people, upload their clips on to their student account (or post them to BSLcourses.co.uk Ltd) and complete their paperwork during the 2-‐year timeframe. It is clearly not recommended to “start collecting” evidences one year in to the course (from enrolment date). Please note: it is important to read and understand ALL of Signature’s Qualification Specification for their NVQ for smooth progression of the course and development
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of the portfolio. Our assessors are experts of the NVQ framework and would guide the student through the whole process. Certification / qualification Certificate -‐ Signature’s Level 1 Award in BSL and Level 2 Certificate in BSL
We no longer provide courses for Signature’s Level 1 Award in BSL or Level 2 Certificate in BSL. -‐ iBSL’s Level 1 Award in BSL Studies, Level 2 Certificate in BSL Studies, Level 3 Certificate in BSL Studies and Level 4 Certificate in BSL Studies As iBSL assessments are completed “in-‐house” (with the tutor via Skype), there is very minimal paperwork involved. The assessments are recorded by the tutor and then sent to iBSL for external marking and verification purposes. Please allow 28 days before receiving the qualification’s Certificate. -‐ Signature’s Level 6 NVQ Certificate in BSL As Signature’s NVQ assessment work is portfolio-‐based (i.e., ALL evidence clips, the student’s, Internal Verifier’s and assessor’s signed paperwork and all feedback forms), the portfolio is held at BSLcourses.co.uk for Signature’s External Verifier to approve. Please allow a minimum of 12 weeks for this process (or up to 24 weeks in very rare circumstances) before receiving the qualification’s Certificate. -‐ BSLcourses.co.uk’s Level 1 BSL Training, Level 2 BSL Training, Level 3 BSL Training and Level 6 BSL Training courses Upon completing any of these BSL Training courses, please allow around 28 days before receiving the Certificate of Completion. Course Information BSLcourses.co.uk Ltd will endeavour to keep all course information correct and up-‐to-‐date. However, we reserve the right to alter course details, including tutor and assessor details and allocation, or course material, at any time should any unforeseen circumstances occur. Any changes would be notified by email and would not hinder students’ progression. Student Details
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BSLcourses.co.uk Ltd will keep any student details on a database held only by us for the purposes of administration, market research and mailing, by post or email, of our own publicity from time to time. Please see our Data Protection policy for more details. Webcam Tutorial and iBSL’s e-assessment requirements Please refer to the Online Course Requirements, above, to ensure smooth progression of the course and completing tutorials and e-‐assessments. To maximise the quality (speed) of tutorials, and e-‐assessments, all students are asked to do the following, wherever possible:
-‐ turn off all other electrical equipment that share the broadband connection at the same time as the tutorial/e-‐assessment, especially phone devices, printers, laptops, etc, that use the wireless option – this will reduce the speed of the broadband and effect the quality of the webcam session;
-‐ ensure that NO-ONE else is using the broadband at the same time as the tutorial/e-‐assessment otherwise this would reduce the speed of the broadband and effect the quality of the webcam session;
-‐ have the latest version of Skype; -‐ check www.speedtest.net to ensure your broadband speeds are a
minimum of 2000Kbps (or 2Mbps) download and 500kbps (or 0.5Mbps) upload. Anything below these figures will highly likely cause a disrupted, poor-‐quality tutorial/e-‐assessment session in which rearrangement of the tutorial/e-‐assessment and an administration fee may be required;
-‐ be in a room that has plenty of light and not to sit in a location where a light source (a window or lamp/ceiling light, etc) is behind you – this would cause the face and arm movements to be very dark and difficult for the tutor/assessor to see/understand. The best locations for the light are either above and in front of you or to one side and in front of you.
-‐ As explained above, it is NOT permitted that anybody sits with you during tutorials and/or assessments.
Administration fees for rebooking tutorials sessions (including VAT)
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Administration fees take in to account the tutor’s/assessor’s time for the session and the uploading time of the recorded clip of the session on to the student’s account. Level 1 BSL Training / Level 1 Award in BSL Studies
£24.00
Level 2 BSL Training / Level 2 Certificate in BSL Studies
£27.60
Level 3 BSL Training / Level 3 Certificate in BSL Studies
£33.00
Level 4 Certificate in BSL to English Bilingual Skills -‐ Practice for Assessments 1 through to 8 -‐ Practice for Assessment 9
£44.40 £66.00
Level 6 BSL Training £44.40 Level 6 Certificate in BSL Studies £44.40 Level 6 NVQ Certificate in BSL £68.40 Administration fees for rearranging IBSL assessment sessions (including VAT) Administration fees take in to account the tutor’s time for the session, the preparation and encoding of the recorded assessment/video assessment clip and, where applicable, the BSL contributor’s fee, independent witness’ fee, invigilator’s fee and/or proof readers. Please note, the fees, below, DO NOT include IBSL’s learner registration fee (resit fee) to rearrange the assessment and would be charged separately by IBSL -‐ please refer to IBSL’s website in the section, Fees. Therefore, any invoices submitted by BSLcourses.co.uk to students to re-‐take assessments will include the rebooking fee, below, plus IBSL’s learner registration fee. Level 1 Award in BSL Studies -‐ Unit 1A1 -‐ Units 1A2 and 1A3
£20.40 £26.40
Level 2 Certificate in BSL Studies -‐ Unit 2A1 -‐ Units 2A2 and 2A3 -‐ Unit 2A4
£22.80 £31.20 £52.80
Level 3 Certificate in BSL Studies -‐ IBSL3.1, Unit 3AUN (receptive) and IBSL3.5, Unit 3ADC (question paper) -‐ IBSL3.2, Unit 3ASN – productive
£33.00 £83.40
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-‐ IBSL3.3 and IBSL 3.4 joint assessment, Units 3ASN and 3ADC – conversation -‐ IBSL3.6, Units 3AUN and 3ASN – “live”
£47.40 £77.40
Level 4 Certificate in BSL to English Bilingual Skills -‐ Assessments 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 -‐ Assessments 6 and 7 -‐ Assessment 8 -‐ Assessment 9
£44.40 £104.40 £60.00 £80.40
Level 6 Certificate in BSL Studies -‐ Assessments 6.1 and 6.7 (receptives) -‐ Assessment 6.2 (BSL to voiceover) -‐ Assessment 6.3 (productive) -‐ Assessment 6.4 (productive) -‐ Assessment 6.5 (conversation) -‐ Assessment 6.6 (open-‐book exam) -‐ Assessment 6.8 (“live” observation)
£36.00 £44.40 £158.40 £50.40 £86.40 £20.40 £80.40
Course Extension Fee – one month, £36 If the student has passed their course deadline (see above, Maximum Course Duration) and they wish to continue accessing their course, this can be arranged for £36 (including VAT) per calendar month. Students are sent automated emails reminding them of their deadline, 3 months and 2 weeks beforehand. The email 2 weeks beforehand will, if the student has not already completed their course, invite them to confirm if they wish to extend it. The invoice for the first month’s extension will be for the calendar month that follows the deadline (e.g., if their deadline was 10th February, the invoice would be to extend the course for the calendar month of March). Invoices for further extensions will recur on a monthly basis until the student has completed their course. It is the student’s responsibility to inform BSLcourses.co.uk Ltd if they do not wish to extend their course so no further invoices are sent and accumulated. For example, failure to make payment for an extension by the end of the invoiced month will result in its invoice being accumulated (added on) to the next month’s extension invoice. This act of accumulation would continue until 6 months after the deadline of which the full course price would apply. Meanwhile, the student’s course would be suspended until missed payments are made. However, after 6 months of
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no payments the course would cease and tutorials removed (see below, Deletion of tutorial clips). Non-payments when paying in instalments Should a student be unable to pay a BACS instalment by the date set out in the invoice, the student’s course (including unreleased video classes, tutorials and, where applicable, assessments) could be automatically be put ‘on hold’ until the time their payment has cleared. Paying in instalments is identical to a pay-‐as-‐you-‐go scheme. The same would apply if any Stripe instalments having not been received at a scheduled monthly date from enrolment; the course would be suspended until the payment is cleared. Employer Payments If your course was paid for by your employer then, as a business and training provider, it is our duty to inform them of your progress as and when necessary. It would then be at your employer’s discretion what to do with that feedback. Please see, Course Duration, above, for smooth progression and completion of your course. Level 3, 4 and 6 Students
-‐ Level 3 BSL Training -‐ Level 3 Certificate in BSL Studies -‐ Level 4 Certificate in BSL to English Bilingual Skills -‐ Level 6 BSL Training -‐ Level 6 Certificate in BSL Studies -‐ Level 6 NVQ Certificate in BSL.
Any students on the above courses are required to meet the deaf community on a regular basis. This is as a part of the development of their BSL skills, knowledge and experience toward achieving their course’s standard. The more exposure and experience gained, the more likely BSL skills and knowledge will improve. Deletion of tutorial clips upon completion of a course When completing a course, the student account compresses all the uploaded tutorial clips in to a zip folder that the student can download on to their desktop computer afterwards. Once compression is complete, the tutorial clips will be permanently
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removed from BSLcourses.co.uk Ltd’s storage platform. An email containing the weblink to download the zip folder will be sent to the student immediately when compression is completed. The zip folder will be available to download for 30 days after it has been created and the email sent. Access to previous courses and their course content While it is very rare, let alone generally not necessary, it can be arranged for any previously-‐completed courses’ material to be made available but for an administration and technical fee, £36 (including VAT) per month. Appeals Policy BSLcourses.co.uk Ltd (a Signature-‐ and iBSL-‐approved Centre) aim to treat every candidate fairly, using reliable assessment methods and high-‐ quality, trained assessors. However, if you disagree with a decision we have made, you can request an appeal against that decision. If you want BSLcourses.co.uk to have another look at your result, you must contact us as soon as possible after you receive your result. If your assessment was in BSL, BSLcourses.co.uk will have a copy of the assessment clip(s). Your tutor will be able to look at your assessment again, and advise you whether an appeal might be worthwhile. If your assessment was carried out by staff at BSLcourses.co.uk (internal assessment), you must go through our appeals processes first. What happens to appeals? We may ask for one of these procedures:
• A ‘clerical check’ to make sure you have been given the correct result: we double-‐check that the correct mark has been entered into our database, and that no other handling error has been made;
• A ‘re-‐mark’: we arrange for a senior assessor to mark your work. This will not be the assessor who initially marked it.
A re-‐mark can either confirm the original mark as a ‘fail’, or change it to a ‘pass’. If your result changes from ‘fail’ to ‘pass’, we will issue a new result slip and send you a certificate. If your result is still ‘fail’ we simply inform you that the original
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result stands. Cost of appeals We charge an admin fee for appeals and the appeal fee to Signature/iBSL would also apply. However, if your result changes from ‘fail’ to ‘pass’ from the awarding body, after the appeal, they refund the appeal fee. We cannot refund BSLcourses.co.uk’s admin fee. Further appeals If you are still unhappy with your result after the re-‐mark, you can ask BSLcourses.co.uk to take the matter further. This doesn’t happen very often, but we do have procedures for dealing with these cases. Complaints Policy BSLcourses.co.uk endeavours to develop and sustain good practice in all areas of its work, including administration, assessment and verification, and registration. Where a problem occurs, BSLcourses.co.uk has standard procedures for dealing with complaints, investigation requests and appeals from candidates and other customers. All such contacts with BSLcourses.co.uk will be recorded, monitored, evaluated, and details of the outcomes will be published. Complaints about the conduct of examinations must be made BEFORE the results are issued. Dealing with Complaints BSLcourses.co.uk will:
• publish details of the names and address(es) of who to contact in the event of a complaint being necessary;
• where possible deal with minor problems immediately, where these can be rectified on the spot. Where this is not possible, we will request that the complaint is put in writing or video letter, and we will tell the customer to whom the complaint will be referred;
• acknowledge all written/video letter complaints immediately, and within 28 working days either provide a resolution or an outline of proposed action to seek a resolution, and the name of the person dealing with the complaint;
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• resolve every complaint within deadlines set in this response, unless particular circumstances require a lengthier response time;
• keep the customer informed of the progress of the complaint, and reasons for any delay in resolving it;
• refer the complaint to a Co-‐director for review, in the event of the customer not being satisfied with the response;
• refer the complaint to an independent reviewer, in the event of the customer not being satisfied with one of the Co-‐director’s response;
• keep a record of complaints and develop procedures for corrective action to prevent repetition;
• monitor performance in improving procedures, against complaints received, and make available the results of such monitoring.
All enquiries on any of the above matters should be addressed to: BSLcourses.co.uk, 28 Colworth Road North Bersted West Sussex PO21 5BL. Alternatively, enquiries can be made to [email protected] and/or 01243 210219. Customer Service Statement is committed to providing customers with a quality of service that is:
• open and informative; • prompt and efficient; • consultative and responsive; • cost-‐effective.
Information about policies and each Signature (formally known as CACDP) and iBSL qualification is available on our website. Alternatively, enquiries can be made to [email protected] and/or 01243 210219. Data Protection Policy This document explains your rights, as a customer of BSLcourses.co.uk, under the
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Data Protection Act 1998. It explains why we require your personal data, and what you can expect from us in terms of our Data Protection responsibilities. Data Protection Statement BSLcourses.co.uk is fully committed to compliance with the Data Protection Act 1998. The following principles will apply when we handle your personal information:
• Your personal information is only processed with your knowledge; • Only information that we actually need is collected and processed; • Your personal information is only seen by those who need it to do their jobs; • Personal information is retained only for as long as it is required; • Decisions affecting you are made on the basis of reliable and up to date
information; • Your information is protected from unauthorised or accidental disclosure; • We will provide you with a copy of your personal information on request; • Inaccurate or misleading data will be corrected as soon as possible; • Procedures are in place for dealing promptly with any disputes; • These principles apply whether we hold your information on paper or in
electronic form. Information about BSLcourses.co.uk policies are available on our website (in this document) and each Signature (formally known as CACDP) and iBSL qualifications and their policies are available on their websites (www.signature.org.uk and ibsl.org.uk, respectively). Privacy Notice The information you supply will be used by the Skills Funding Agency, an executive agency of the Department for Education (DfE), to issue you with a Unique Learner Number (ULN), and to create your Personal Learning Record. For more information about how your information is processed and shared refer to the Extended Privacy Notice available on Gov.UK. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/572448/PN02_Privacy_Notice_for_Learners_and_Parents__English_language_version__v3.3_November_2016.pdf Equal Opportunities Policy
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BSLcourses.co.uk will, at all times, encourage and promote policies and practices that ensures equality of opportunity for its staff, its members and the consumers of its services irrespective of ethnic origin, gender, sexual orientation, religion and disability. The main aim of this policy is to ensure that no job applicant, or employee, or customer should receive less favourable treatment on any grounds not relevant to good employment practice or providing services. Further, BSLcourses.co.uk will monitor the composition of the workforce and is committed to a programme of action to make this policy fully effective. Access to Fair Assessment Policy Statement of Assessment • We aim to provide a variety of qualifications that provide all students with the opportunity to achieve their full potential by the most appropriate and direct route. • Our Assessment Policy is based on the concepts of equality, diversity, clarity, consistency and openness. • We will endeavour to ensure that the assessment processes are implemented in a way which is fair and non-‐discriminatory. Access Students are made aware of the existence of this policy and have open access to it. It can be found in the their student account and also BSLcourses.co.uk Ltd’s website. A All tutors are made aware of the contents and purpose of this policy. This policy is reviewed annually and may be revised in response to feedback from students, tutors and external organisations. What students can expect from us • We aim to ensure that all assessment of work is carried out fairly and in keeping with the awarding body’s requirements. • All portfolio-‐based work will be assessed fairly against the qualification standards and teachers involved will be fully trained. • Internal assessments will be carried out fairly and according to awarding body instructions. • Externally marked tests and exams will be according to the requirements of the awarding body. Students can also expect:
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• To be fully inducted onto a new course and given information that can be shared with parents and carers. • Learning outcomes, performance criteria and other significant elements of learning and assessment to be made clear at the outset of the course and when assignments are set. • To be given appropriate assessment opportunities during the course with feedback provided on the quality of the work. • All work to be marked within two weeks of submission by the student. • Where equivalents and exemptions can be applied, we will ensure this is pursued with the relevant awarding body. Cheating and Plagiarism A fair assessment of student’s work can only be made if that work is entirely the student’s own. Therefore students can expect an awarding body to be informed if: • They are found guilty of copying, giving or sharing information or answers, unless part of a joint project • They use an unauthorised aid during a test or examination • They copy another student’s answers during a test or examination • They talk during a test or examination. All allegations of cheating and plagiarism will lead to a full investigation that will follow the guidance of the relevant awarding body. If a student feels he/she has been wrongly accused of cheating or plagiarism, they should be referred to the Complaints Policy. Responsibility BSLcourses.co.uk’s Co-‐directors has a responsibility for the formulation of equal opportunities policies and procedures to support BSLcourses.co.uk’s overall policy and for overseeing their implementation. The Co-‐directors has ultimate responsibility for ensuring that BSLcourses.co.uk’s policy is fully implemented. The Co-‐directors has a specific delegated responsibility for the effective development and implementation of equal opportunities in employment. BSLcourses.co.uk encourages all staff to understand and co-‐operate with the policy and provides training and information to ensure this happens.
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Implementation Appropriate procedures are being developed and introduced to ensure that all members of staff are aware of BSLcourses.co.uk’s policies concerning equal opportunities in employment, and services, and their responsibilities to implement them. All employees and job applicants will be asked to complete a form denoting their sex, race, ethnic origin and any disabilities. BSLcourses.co.uk guarantees that this form will only be used for the purpose of monitoring the effectiveness of its equal opportunities policy only. Complaints Complaints of discrimination from job applicants must be referred to the Co-‐directors in the first instance who will ensure they are investigated and that the complainant receives a written response. All complaints regarding BSLcourses.co.uk’s assessment procedures are logged and follow set procedures. At the higher levels of assessment any candidate who disputes the assessors decision has the right of appeal. Details of complaints and appeal procedures for examinations are outlined in BSLcourses.co.uk’s Complaints Procedure. Positive Action The composition of the workforce and of job applicants will be monitored on a regular basis. Should inequalities become apparent, positive action will be taken to reduce the imbalance including such measures as:
• advertising jobs in ethnic publications as appropriate; • encouraging under-‐represented groups to apply for suitable posts; • making contact with disabled people via the local Job Centre; • informing member organisations of under-‐represented groups on
Advisory/Management Committees; • encouraging the employment of under-‐represented groups by Sign Language
Interpreting • Agencies or Communication Support Units (CSUs); • encouraging training organisations to recruit students of under-‐represented
groups to train as interpreters and other Language Service Professionals. Review
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BSLcourses.co.uk’s policy statement on Equal Opportunities is reviewed on a regular basis to ensure that it continues to reflect current practice. Fees Policy BSLcourses.co.uk will review its fee structure annually. Wherever possible, the fee will be set at such a level that it at least covers its costs, is affordable by its target candidates, and contributes towards the development of future courses and associated activities. The BSLcourses.co.uk website contains course fees that are known for 2016/2017. BSLcourses.co.uk have no association with either awarding bodies’ (Signature and iBSL) fees for learner registration, assessment registration, desktop verification, external verification or external examination. Malpractice Policy BSLcourses.co.uk, as do Signature and iBSL, treats any example of malpractice with the greatest seriousness, and will take action in any case where malpractice is confirmed. Examples constituting malpractice might include:
• Fraudulent claims for certification; • Non-‐approved assessor claiming approved status; • Deliberate breach of examination or other regulations.
BSLcourses.co.uk, a Signature-‐ and iBSL-‐approved Centre, must report any cases of suspected malpractice to Signature and/or iBSL immediately. Failure to do so may have implications for the issue of certificates and the future acceptance of entries from them. Signature and iBSL will, where associated with their qualification, report all significant cases of malpractice to the Examinations Regulator (Ofqual) immediately, and all other cases upon request. Signature and iBSL will, where associated with their qualification, investigate cases of suspected malpractice in the following manner:
• Evidence will be collected from persons alleging malpractice;
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• Counter-‐evidence will be collected from persons denying malpractice; • All evidence will be examined by Signature/iBSL, whomever applicable, by
using processes that may have one or more stages. The processes may require the involvement of any of the following:
-‐ centre Co-‐director(s); -‐ Signature staff; -‐ other interested parties.
• If the above procedures do not resolve the issue, an independent Appeals Panel, supplemented if necessary with a subject expert for advice only, will be asked to adjudicate. All parties involved may make representations to the panel. The decision of this panel is final; • Outcome of procedure may result in:
-‐ candidate(s) work declared invalid; -‐ centre approval withdrawn; -‐ assessor/verifier accreditation withdrawn; -‐ malpractice not found; -‐ where appropriate, information passed to other awarding bodies/other agencies; -‐ other appropriate outcome.
• Outcome of procedure recorded and where necessary reported to Ofqual. Where malpractice involves misuse of certificates, Signature/iBSL, whomever applicable, will inform Ofqual and agree appropriate action.
Environmental Policy
Total Communication 4 U (TC4U), and any ‘sister company’ (i.e., BSLcourses.co.uk) created by TC4U, is committed to leading the industry in minimising the impact of its activities on the environment. The key points of its strategy to achieve this are:
• Minimise waste by evaluating operations and ensuring they are as efficient as possible.
• Minimise toxic emissions through the selection and use of its fleet and the source of its power requirement.
• Actively promote recycling both internally and amongst its customers and suppliers.
• Source and promote a product range to minimise the environmental impact of both production and distribution.
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• Meet or exceed all the environmental legislation that relates to the Company.
• Use an accredited program to offset the greenhouse gas emissions generated by our activities.
