Students Awards Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003

Previous attendance at a course

7.—(1) For the purpose of regulation 16(2) and (4) and paragraphs 1(d), 2(c) and (d) and 3 of Schedule 1 –

(a) a person shall not be regarded as having previously attended a course –

(i)unless he has previously both attended and held a statutory award in respect of either more than one course or one course for a period longer than 20 weeks;

(ii)by reason only of his having attended from its beginning the course to which his application for an award relates;

(b)any reference to a person having attended a course shall be construed as a reference to his having done so before or after 1st September 2003;

(c)where an award has been transferred under Schedule 3, the student to whom the award has been made shall be treated as having attended only the new course, and the duration of that course shall be treated as the aggregate of the period spent following the previous course and the period which the student in question would ordinarily require for the completion of the new course in the case of either course being a sandwich course ignoring any periods of experience.

(2) Nothing in paragraph (1) shall affect the duty of the board to make an award to a person in respect of his attendance at –

(a)a postgraduate course for the initial training of teachers, unless he has –

(i)previously attended such a course; or

(ii)successfully completed a course for the degree of Bachelor of Education (or a comparable first degree or award of an institution or the Council for National Academic Awards) which is referred to in paragraph (3);

(b)a course for the degree of Bachelor of Education (or a comparable first degree or academic award of an institution or the Council for National Academic Awards) the duration of which does not exceed two years and which is referred to in paragraph (3) unless he has previously attended –

(i)such a course whether or not its duration exceeded two years; or

(ii)a postgraduate course for the initial training of teachers;

(c)a full-time course of initial training as a teacher of one year’s duration, or a comparable part-time course, not within sub-paragraph (a) or (b), unless he has for more than three years held a statutory award in respect of his attendance at a full-time course of higher education or comparable course outside Northern Ireland.

(3) A course is referred to in this paragraph if the successful completion of it resulted or results in the person completing it being a qualified teacher within the meaning of section 132 of the Education Reform Act 2002(1) or eligible to be employed as a teacher under Article 70(1)(2).

(4) Any reference to the duration of a course is a reference to the period ordinarily required for its completion by a student who is not excused part of the course on account of his having attended a previous course, in the case of a sandwich course ignoring any periods of experience.