As a student, one of more of the following may apply to you, which could be perceived as a barrier to achieving your goals:
- you have a learning difficulty or disability
- you have a learning difference
- you are a Care Leaver
- you are estranged from family
- you are a carer
- you have not studied in a while
- you have moved away from home to study
- you are juggling study with other commitments such as work and family
We will do all we can to help.
How we support work-based students
We offer a wide range of additional tuition and support measures to enable each work-based student to successfully complete their course. We do this by liaising closely with you, the student, your training adviser, employer, and the Student Support and Wellbeing Team to identify any potential barriers to learning and, where appropriate, create a bespoke package to support individual needs.
You can discuss this when you are signed up to your programme, or refer yourself via your tutor/assessor at any time throughout your framework. Support is bespoke to your individual needs and we aim to be very flexible with when and where this takes place.
Higher Education Support
The Higher Education Learning Mentor (HELM) team provides a range of study skills support to degree-level students. Whether you need to make sense of referencing or you haven’t been in a classroom in years, or you simply want to improve your grades, we’re here to help.
We offer one-to-one sessions to support you in areas such as assignment planning, researching and surviving exams. We also run group sessions on topics such as referencing, revision and reflective writing.
If you’d rather send your work to us and discuss it via email, phone or Teams we can arrange this for you too.
As well as providing ongoing planned guidance, we can also help if your situation changes and/or you experience difficulties that impact on your studies. We’ll let you know more about the HELM service once you enrol.
Information Technology (IT) Support
The Learning Support Team offers a range of IT support that allows you to refresh or develop skills specific to studying a higher education course.
Examples of the support we offer include:
- basic support with Microsoft applications such as Word, Publisher, PowerPoint and Teams
- support with College-specific programs such as the College email, Canvas and library databases
- support with internet searches and internet safety
- development of digital literacy skills such as communicating in different media
- help with networked literacy support software, including:
- texthelp, a reading and writing tool for PC and MAC users, which reads most typed information aloud from the computer to help identify grammatical errors and proof read written work. The software also includes an advanced spell-checker, dictionary, thesaurus and many other features along with ‘how to use’ tutorials.
- Mindview, a networked visual learning tool to enable you to organise ideas graphically, ideal for planning and organisation/project management.
- Essay Writer, an essay writing guide with animated tutorials and user guides for essay creation. Features include essays/maps, subject dictionaries and bibliographic references with built-in Text-to-Speech.
Examination Access Arrangements
Exam access arrangements allow students who are unable to sit formal examinations under usual exam conditions (as a result of a long term learning difficulty, disability or medical condition) to have the same opportunities as other students.
Access arrangements are agreed before an exam and are designed to meet your individual needs to ensure that you are not disadvantaged because of any difficulties or disabilities.
By discussing your needs with our support team, reasonable adjustments can be made. You will also need to produce evidence of your condition, such as a psychologist’s or specialist teacher’s report, medical evidence, a DSA Study Needs Assessment Report or a report by an accredited assessment body.
When you sign up for your course or throughout your time at College, speak to a member of Student Support and Wellbeing or your course tutor.
Please make contact as soon as possible as awarding bodies often require your arrangements to be in place many months before.
If you have a temporary disability, emergency arrangements can be considered at short notice.
Contact us
Need more information?
- For queries about general support and examination access, email learningsupport@blackpool.ac.uk
- For queries about disability and additional diversity support, email dsainfo@blackpool.ac.uk
- For queries about Higher Education support, email helminfo@blackpool.ac.uk.
