SQE Draft Assessment Specification

June 2017

Preamble to the 2017 draft Assessment Specification

About the SQE

In April 2017, the SRA Board agreed to introduce the Solicitors Qualifying Examination and the new approach to qualification. New regulations will come into effect from September 2020,1 and anyone wishing to qualify as a solicitor will need to:

• have a degree or equivalent
• have completed a minimum period of qualifying legal work experience
• have passed the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE)
• have satisfied our character and suitability requirements.

Background to the Assessment Specification

A draft Assessment Specification for the SQE was developed in 2016 by a small working group of legal academics and solicitors, supported by technical assessment experts, to explain what the design and content of an assessment of the Statement of Solicitor Competence (SoSC) could look like.

We asked for feedback on the draft Assessment Specification as part of the second consultation on the SQE.

Most of the feedback we received was about the proposed assessment methods, in particular the use of MCQs in stage 1 of the SQE. We received only a limited amount of detailed feedback on the content to be assessed by the SQE.

We have addressed some of the feedback on content in this version of the draft Assessment Specification. However, we feel that most of the feedback is best addressed through a period of pre-implementation development and testing before the SQE is introduced. The questions we wish to consider during this period are set out below.

• What is the minimum number of separate assessments required in stage 1 to reliably and validly assess the functioning legal knowledge we have set out in the Assessment Specification and Summary of Functioning Legal Knowledge (SFLK)? For example, by sampling more widely, could the same knowledge be assessed through fewer separate assessments? Should the assessments be taken in one session, or should they be modularised and taken over time?
• What number, format and type of questions and length of assessments will most reliably and validly assess the functioning legal knowledge we have set out in the Assessment Specification and SFLK? How might open book assessments be used within the SQE?
• What should the balance of practical legal skills assessments be between stage 1 and stage 2? For example, could legal drafting be reliably and validly assessed at stage 1? Could the stage 1 practical legal skills assessments be assessed at a different time from the functioning legal knowledge assessments?
• What is the most valid, reliable and manageable way to assess Rights of Audience? For example, could Rights of Audience be assessed at stage 1?
• What is the minimum number of separate assessments required in stage 2 to reliably, validly and cost-effectively assess the SoSC? For example, could fewer more synoptic assessments, covering a broader range of competences, be used at stage 2?
• In what range of practice contexts should the stage 2 practical legal skills assessments be assessed? What is the impact of candidate choice and prior work experience on the reliability of assessments set in different practice areas?
• What are the benefits and risks of retaining a non-compensatory standard setting model, as currently proposed, as opposed to a total compensatory or a partial compensatory (within clusters of competence) standard setting model?
• When in the academic/calendar year, and how frequently, should the SQE assessments be available?
• In addition to the Assessment Specification, what further information can and should be provided to enable universities, training providers and employers to prepare candidates for the SQE?

This period of pre-implementation development and testing will begin after we have appointed the assessment organisation for the SQE in early 2018.

We will do this in a transparent and consultative way and work closely alongside all those, from academics to law firms, who have the expertise to help us get this right.