Extra time

Can’t speak for all schools but I know an invigilator in two separate ones. She says a lot of this year’s cohort are pretty ridiculous and not at all responsible.
Getting extra time and not using it wisely. Taking a ridiculous number of toilet breaks just to have a walk around, falling asleep in exams, faffing around.
It wasn’t like that years ago. Sorry but it just wasn’t.

Of course there are some who just want to get it done as well as possible. But this year seems to be very ‘needy’.

So gossip then, not facts.n

Family and friends across most local schools. Teachers talk.

It’s an advantage when better off candidates can pay for private diagnosis. In my experience as a teacher across both sectors this happens regularly. There are strange bedfellows at play in this debate- it’s a coalition of the obviously well-meaning / ‘be kind’ lobby who are inadvertently giving the most privileged in society an extra leg up. What a funny old world!

Do they get extra time just because of a diagnosis? Or does the diagnosis prompt evidence gathering in school? In Scotland a diagnosis alone would not result in alternative exam arrangements, evidence would still need to be gathered in school in every subject. This can also be done for pupils who have no official diagnosis.

How do you know how many students have extra time in your local private schools?

Again, with all due respect, it’s abundantly clear that you do not teach English or any other essay subject. Extra-time is the biggest advantage a candidate could have.

There is such a wide range of reasons why ET may be given that it's hard to clamp down without cutting off access to people who really do need it.

I had ET when I was in school because I'm deaf, and one of the side effects is that I get horrific tinnitus when in a silent room. The halls where we would normally do exams would trigger it and it massively affected my ability to concentrate.

The solution was to have me take the exam in the same room as the students who had a reader so that there would be constant background noise to avoid the tinnitus, and the ET was to account for the extra distractions that came from being in a room with multiple high needs students (there was several meltdowns and one instance of furniture being thrown around the room).

We also had some exams that were answering questions in a time limited format by listening to a tape and I was allowed to replay the question three times and ask a 1 to 1 staff member to clarify if I'd understood the question properly.

Many people objected to me getting ET "for being deaf" and said it was unfair. It's hard to know exactly how someone is affected unless you've been through it yourself.

It's not an advantage though, it's about levelling the playing field.

i posted earlier that my Dd only received extra time in subjects where there was evidence that her illness had affected the grade. However, as an invigilator I have never seen a situation where a learner only has extra time in some papers, but no doubt that depends on the evidence submitted?
There are so many factors to consider. In mock exams I give the learners more support eg I have learners not use an e-reader and then find out they don’t know how to use it and are too embarrassed to ask.

A minority- I should hope so! Our local private schools are sitting at about 30% on extra-time. Much higher than state (which is high enough regardless). It’s a disgrace and money talks.

I think it is only a 'huge advantage' for those who are significantly slower.

For others they may be able to pick up a few extra marks by spotting mistakes, adding small details. That may or may not get them over a grade boundary.

But for those who really need it it helps them access the last 20% of the paper, tackling whole questions they wouldn't otherwise have got to.

And more time in exams isn't much of an advantage in the GCSE marathon if it isn't needed.

I’m not sure you understand how grade boundaries work… 😂

As an invigilator I once had a group of four in a room, each with their own scribe, none of them wrote a word but at least the school could say they had given them every opportunity. It was their last exam and they didn't care but I wonder what they are doing now.

I also invigilated at different times a couple if students with anxiety who did their exams alone in a room with me. Personally, I wondered how they would cope in the world outside school and I would have thought it was more stressful to work in a room alone with one invigilator looking at you but that was none of my business.

I think the amount of extra-time in private schools and leafy comps will be the next national scandal. It is actually upholding systemic privilege in many cases.

I’m invigilating at the moment. My thoughts;
1: Not all children who get extra time get it for every subject. I check each day which subjects those children are getting their extra time for.
2: Lots of evidence is needed to get it.
3: They don’t always use it.
4: Why does anyone care? It’s really about evening things up, not giving an advantage.
5: I’m invigilating in a private school, the extra timers are very much the minority- by a long way.

But GCSEs (or Nat 5s in Scotland) are not a competition. Some other child having 25% extra time, or agreed supervised breaks and getting a B does not make your child's grade B any less.

Then surely they should only have extra time in subjects where there is an evidenced need? Clearly giving the struggling student extra-time did absolutely nothing. However, plenty of others parents cotton on and push for extra time for their own children and we end up with a system that is not fit for purpose. It really should be for cases of extreme need as it can confer a huge advantage.

I think for my Dd it was quite rigorous as there was no evidence of normal way of working. She was perfectly healthy for GCSE’s (no access arrangements) and then ill and admitted to hospital end of December before her May/June a level exams. She went to school on a part time basis from January to the start of exams. The school applied for extra time in the March, consequently quite short notice and the only evidence available was from her consultant and the mock grades. It was pretty strict and felt a little unfair that she did not receive extra time for all subjects. She is now in her second year at university and has extra time for all exams under her disability access plan.

Most do use it but some, the ones that have no more to say, don't use it. They just want to get out when the others go.

Rest breaks can be determined by the school. Extra time needs to be applied for, and evidence of need is required. Despite a diagnosis, and extra time being a normal way of working, school still needed to complete a writing speed assessment.

Would agree with @ShanghaiDiva about the other reason why kids don't use the time. Last year I worked with a student who had a reader and a scribe. He had 25% extra time because obviously having your paper read to you and having to dictate the answers takes longer. In his exam he had three essay style questions to write. He declared he knew "nothing" about the first two topics, dictated three sentences on the third then said he was done.

Invigilators/scribes are not allowed to cajole or encourage so he didn't even use his standard time, never mind the extra time.

I do feel that the current system is giving more advantage to private school pupils (can pay for private diagnosis, parents who know how to navigate the system), than students who have less money and perhaps parents with less knowledge of how to jump the hoops. There might be a fairer way to do it. Not sure what that would look like. But the stats currently do seem to suggest that private schools are accessing more access arrangements. Is this in proportion to need?

I’m an exam invigilator and all learners in my room have access arrangements. Some learners only use their extra time in certain subjects. Some have extra time but make no attempt at the paper. I spoke to one student during the mocks and he said he couldn’t do anything on the paper and wasn’t good at anything..😞

Well, having worked in both sectors it’s a huge issue in the private sphere and actually touches issues of fundamental fairness and equity as a result. As I said before, I have never seen a child, regardless of ability, not get what their parents have paid for.

I currently work in the state sector and those who pay are likewise usually awarded by the school, with many schools terrified of claims of discrimination and ableism if a private diagnosis is not accepted. Does your school not accept private diagnosis?