SituMap (Known Barriers)
The learner's context, documented before the conversation starts
SituMap captures a learner's additional context and disclosures, with supporting evidence, before a needs assessment. What would be an undocumented judgement call becomes documented evidence, captured deliberately and early.
Right now, that context lives in a tutor's memory
Without SituMap, a learner's additional context and disclosures depend on which tutor happens to notice or remember. The needs-assessment meeting then starts from memory, or from nothing, and the support decision goes undocumented. SituMap captures it deliberately and early, so the record exists before the conversation, not reconstructed after it.
- Context lost between enrolment and the meeting
- Support quality riding on which tutor happened to notice
- A judgement call with nothing documented behind it
Barriers selected from a structured list, evidence linked to each
Barriers are selected from a structured, grouped list, not typed as free text. Every supporting document is uploaded and linked to the barrier it evidences, so there is no loose folder of orphaned notes, just a structured, auditable record. Any tutor can add to it, so it is never gated to one specialist.
- Barriers chosen from a structured, grouped picklist, not free text
- Each document linked to the barrier it supports, so nothing is left unattached
- Writable across the team, not locked to a specialist
Capturing learner context before the needs assessment, so the conversation starts informed
The needs-assessment meeting is the pivotal moment, where the cognitive assessment results and Known Barriers are walked through and the support plan is agreed with the learner. SituMap sits ahead of it: the context is captured and reviewed before the conversation, so the meeting starts informed and the plan is built on documented need. As rapport grows, learners often surface context they did not share at first, so the record grows over time and support can be re-offered at review.
- Context captured and reviewed before the meeting
- The plan built on documented need, co-created with the learner
- The record grows as rapport builds; support is offered, never imposed
Documented context becomes auditable evidence
Read it forward, from documented context to recorded support. Read it backward, as an auditor does, and every support record traces to the documented need and the evidence behind it. Evidence becomes a by-product of good practice, so you can evidence inclusion without a separate audit exercise before an inspection.
Documented context
A learner's Known Barriers and disclosures, captured with linked evidence
Assessed need
The cognitive assessment result, read alongside the documented context
The support plan
Reasonable adjustments agreed with the learner at the needs-assessment meeting
Delivered support
Adjustments delivered as part of everyday teaching
Recorded evidence
Each support action recorded and linked back to the original need
Customer story · Bedford College Group
Documented, evidence-based inclusion at scale
Bedford College Group piloted the full assess, plan, do and review workflow across four curriculum areas and three colleges, equipping non-specialist tutors to deliver structured, evidenced support. The trial gave them the confidence to roll out to every learner.
“The alternative was to increase our specialist resource fivefold. The trial gave us confidence that Cognassist can deliver what we need to empower our existing tutors to provide high-quality, personalised learning support at a scale that specialist teams alone could never reach.”
When learners do an assessment, we can use that evidence to allow for extra time in exams.
FAQ
The questions a support lead and a compliance lead actually ask
What is SituMap (Known Barriers)?
SituMap, labelled Known Barriers in the platform, captures a learner's additional context and disclosures, with supporting evidence, ahead of the needs-assessment meeting. It sits in the Assess stage of the assess, plan, do and review (APDR) cycle, read alongside the cognitive assessment.When is a learner's context captured?
Before the needs-assessment meeting. Capturing learner context before a needs assessment means the conversation starts informed, and the support plan is built on documented need rather than memory.What does SituMap capture?
Barriers selected from a structured, grouped list, not free text, and supporting documents linked to the barrier each one evidences. The result is a structured, auditable record rather than a loose folder of notes.What if a learner does not disclose everything up front?
The record grows as rapport builds. Learners often surface context they did not share at first, so support can be re-offered at review. Support is offered, not imposed, and a learner may decline without it being a failure.Is any of this a diagnosis?
No. Documented context and the assessment's classification signal inform a tutor's professional judgement. They are not a diagnosis, and they do not by themselves establish disability under the Equality Act 2010.Is the record audit-ready?
It is a structured, contemporaneous record with evidence attached to each barrier, captured before the meeting rather than reconstructed after it. It helps you evidence inclusion at inspection or audit. It does not make you compliant, and no regulator requires or approves it.Do we need a specialist to use it?
No. It is writable across the team, and the platform does the heavy lifting, so your specialists are freed for the most complex cases.How does it relate to the cognitive assessment?
They are read together in the Assess stage. The assessment measures cognition; SituMap captures the surrounding context and disclosures, so the needs-assessment meeting has both.We already record notes in our management information system or e-portfolio. What does this add?
Those systems store notes; SituMap produces a structured record of barriers with evidence linked to each. It is a complement, generating the structured context-and-evidence layer your existing systems don't.
Go deeper
See the capabilities SituMap works alongside.
See SituMap on your own inclusion workflow
Book a demo and see how a learner's context becomes documented, auditable evidence, captured before the conversation, not reconstructed after it.