Number of kids getting extra time in exams MASSIVELY overstated

And yes, the word problems in maths can be a real issue.

DD is good at maths, but struggles with the word questions.

A question said 'Three men walked for 4 miles...', she read as 'The men walked for 4 miles...' and with that simple error she lost all the marks for nothing to do with her mathematical ability.

It is actually pretty hard to get access arrangements and extra time in place - it's needs based not diagnosis based and has to be backed up by scores that put you in the bottom centiles.

DD's qualifying scores are 7th centile - against VR and NVR scores at 98th centile. It's a serious disability, not just that she'd like a bit of extra time to write more. Her results won't begin to reflect her actual capabilities even with extra time.

To get the extra time you need to be diagnosed and often parents need to pay for the educational psychologist to perform the tests and write the reports, the schools have to apply for the extra time. It is not simple as many make out

The extra room is so that the children are not disturbed by the other children leaving the hall which can be noisy and distracting (which it was like for me when I took my tests).

the extra time is for processing. Someone with learning need is not thick and often can see things differently to someone who is neurotypical but our education system and the way we treat them is we expect them to be good at all things.

It's not about giving an advantage.

It's about levelling the playing field.

It would be like asking all students who wear glasses to leave them in their bags outside the room because they get an 'advantage'. Nope, they just get to see in line with non-glasses wearing peers.

Yes maybe we should tell employers when pupils wore glasses.... that's how ridiculous this sounds!

It’s also very difficult to get a scribe - laptop use is more usual.

I worked in three tough high schools in Northern towns and personally assessed every student who was likely to need extra time. Parents had nothing to do with it. Parents don’t need to sign the consent form.

I thought you were a teacher? Of course it isn’t made up. There is no reason for ET candidates to be in the main exam room if they can be accommodated elsewhere. Also the poster you are replying to has no idea of the exam concessions of each student, perhaps they have additional requirements eg rest breaks, reading aloud, scribes etc.
my school has the facilities and funding to accommodate all students as best they can. If yours cant, that’s not a blanket rule, that’s just sad for your students.

A candidate who requires just extra time won’t need to be in a separate room (those in themselves are like hens teeth during exam season). If they are it’s likely they have additional reasonable adjustments made for example, a scribe.

Agree with pp that the hoops schools jump through to have these adjustments mean they aren’t granted easily

A reader is not allowed for the sections of English Language testing reading. A computer reader can be used though.

Wow. As a SENDCo and somebody with diagnosed ADHD myself, I’m really shocked at what some people on this thread are saying. Also- it’s hard to get extra time and other considerations put in place… it’s not like we are dishing it out to everyone. Absolutely appalling attitudes.

I don't think needing extra time is a issue at all.
I was always the one gone just before lockdown and always passed.
I never thought anything of others needing the full time.
Would those being negative of someone needing longer be happy with the same attitude towards them from the quickies?

she's observed that not all the children who have been allocated extra time actually use it

You can't say this from observation. The child may have needed the first chunk of time to settle down and stop processing the exam room itself, the irritation from a sleeve, the fly on the window, whatever, before then being able to tackle the questions. Or they may have been thinking before writing. (I know children aren't dogs -- but our dog trainer asks that we arrived 15 minutes before a lesson so that the animals can "settle into the space" and be ready to work.)

On the other hand, it could just be a lazy child with a coincidentally useful diagnosis.

When it does become tricky is when someone has a 4 in English lang. An employer would assume that they can read and write at a basic but functional level. If they got that 4 with a reader and scribe that isn’ t the case and the grade doesn’t reflect their ability in that subject. It is misleading and imo not fair for employers.

Not the poster you replied to but I remember her earlier comment, I think it was that she's observed that not all the children who have been allocated extra time actually use it, is all.

Just wanted to say on your other comment about reading in Maths, it's tricky because children with low reading ages actually struggle the most in Maths and Science as a result. They actually tend to have more complex vocabulary in the questions.

I'm a teacher and gave feedback to an exam board in person a few years ago as I was working in a school with above average proportion of students with SEND, PP etc and said some of the language in questions relies on existing cultural capital. For example, students didn't know that "you have lost an article" didn't refer to a newspaper article, but to an item.

I say tricky as there's been changes to the exams in my subject to improve accessibility of questions but you can't eradicate disadvantage that way. For example, students with SEND, EAL etc still have to sit speaking exams; students that have been abroad or had families that read to them, took them to museums or abroad will find many subjects easier because of existing knowledge outside of school. That last point isn't relevant to SEND but just to the idea of trying to level the playing field and there being a limit.

If extra time isn't giving any sort of advantage then why not make the exams unlimited time for everyone? Say, there is an exit point after 2 hours but if you want to stay for a further 30 mins or 60 mins then you can.

@OldMcDonaldHadABigMac
I have a question regarding extra time. In a workplace, I understand that there are reasonable adjustments made if necessary and possible. However if someone is nurse/doctor, they're not going to get longer consultation time per appointment with patients be because they have an additional need. They're not going to get more hours in the day to teach because they have additional needs. They're not going to get more time to attend to a call if they're a paramedic. So what purpose does additional time serve in an exam? I understand that it can help them achieve the grade they need to to get into these courses. But there won't be additional time given in jobs. Genuine question, it's something that I've never quite understood.

Which is why no jobs of this nature are awarded solely on the basis of public exam results. All employers are required to nake reasonable adjustments for disability but if a specific role requires a fast processing speed it's not discriminatory to exclude someone with a slow processing speed from the candidate pool, and is not a "reasonable adjustment" to waive that requirement. However there are some roles where meticulous attention to detail is much more important than processing speed and if we are going to have universal qualifications like GCSEs then it's not within the scope of that qualification to also assess the person's suitability for a specific role. It sounds to me like a lot of people want GCSE results to do a whole lot of extra work that should properly be assessed entirely separately from public exam results.

Extra time is not automatic for autistic candidates. There are different criteria and a different process for those with conditions such as autism compared to those with learning difficulties without an EHCP, but it is not automatic.

For autistic candidates, the centre still has to apply, confirm the candidate’s disability with evidence, consider supervised rest breaks instead and complete a Form 9 to show normal way of working and how difficulties impact on teaching and learning and exams.

@HappilyUrbanTrimmer very well said. Please can posters such @catbathat& @sleepingonapineneedle remember that people should be judged on their own merits. eg My Dd took a Cybersecurity HND. Top possible grade (extra time for Dyslexia). 3 years later & AI is available. She knows all of this years cohort. ALL but 1 are using AI to write the Python for the graded work. My Dyslexic Ds is also Autistic & would never cheat. Plus she has a skill set those 'standard kids' don't have. I know which I'd rather employ! 'Extra time' has become a political & financial football. Of course we can all have our own opinions but it would be helpful if the body in charge collected accurate stats.

Sigh... DD would very happily swap her extra time to not be severely dyslexic.

She did a mix of GCSEs and BTEC - anything with course work (often done at school semi-invigilated) she scored 98-100% on.

In class she works at an 8... because she can have a laptop with spell check and editing software, in exams she loses that software and her marks crash. She's top set for English and considered gifted at creative writing... but loses nearly 20% of the marks in English Language before she's even entered the exam room.

If you employed her, you would never know how big her problems are because she can use tech to fix them. But she'll have to work twice as hard as anyone else to read everything.

Luckily she's going into a sector where it's dyslexic heavy and nobody will care if she can spell, but if she didn't have that option I would be extremely worried about whether she would be discriminated against.

I do a lot of ghost writing as part of my job, and a lot of household names are profoundly dyslexic. They just employ other people to check everything, or re-draft or scribe everything.

I wish I’d had extra time! I remember the paralytic horror of turning over the paper, eyes failing to focus, palms pouring with sweat 😫

One girl (shhhh) I gave my own extra time to was one who was suddenly stricken with an upset stomach and had to dash to the loo several times as she had got very worked up about doing well.

I'm sure that's part of it, but there's plenty of parents who are just aren't that interested or involved in their children's school work.

My mom was supposed to sign my planner every week to check how I was doing, for the first few years she signed off every week at the beginning of the year, by yr10 I just forged it. No way would I have been able to get her to have me assessed if I needed extra support.

One girl I remember had masses of extra time plus 20-min breaks for a condition: she spent the first part of the exam doing nothing and then did the exam in the extra time.

I could imagine DS doing that. It was part of the reason he had the extra time in the first place -- to give him a shot at being functional for a good enough chunk of the exam to come up with coherent answers.

Some people need to remember that conditions like autism, dyslexia etc are better understood now hence why more are diagnosed rather than be considered "slow" or "just not clever".

I mentioned my DH upthread about getting a few extra arrangements at work due to his dyslexia. He was diagnosed after DD as it was her difficulties that made him realise why he had always struggled with certain things. He was considered "bright but lazy" as an explanation for why he failed his English GCSE.