Pronouns in maths exams

And for students with language disabilities, asking them whether they noticed the pronouns or were confused with them probably won't elicit much information. Part of the problem is that they don't know that they are misinterpreting the questions at the time, and sometimes don't really get why it was wrong even afterwards. So they often think that they've read and understood it totally normally, and it can take quite a lot of analysis to work out how they actually interpreted it and why. In some cases, the language difficulties are combined with dyscalculia or other difficulties, so they are struggling to make sense of the maths as well, and trying their hardest to get things right - but they don't have some of the other clues that people who are good at maths and know what kind of things a problem would be testing and how to fall back on. These are the sorts of children that might find this needlessly confusing. They often don't read accurantely - mixing up small words, leaving words out, changing the order around (reading 'this is...' instead of 'is this...', for example), all which already play havoc with the understanding of a word problem type question. There's no need to add confusion with singular/plural to that, especially when there are plenty of people who do go by she or he!

Yes but there is no need to add any additional confusion such as issues of pronouns. English is my first language and it still took me a few extra seconds to work out that the person setting the exam had picked a not typically British name but thought it was a boy’s name when it a girl. That’s for someone that went to get A in GCSE English. That was a practice. As it happens I have a physical disability as well and needed all the time I could get to make sure graphs were as accurate as possible.

if a maths exams can be made clearer why not?

95% of the population use "they/them" only for plural, or in the singular where the person is unnamed. Kai is not unnamed, because we know that Kai is called "Kai". Odds are that Kai is male and thus "he/him", though on the rare chance that Kai is female, it wouldn't be much of a problem to use "she/her". The two things that Kai is certainly not are plural, or unnamed.

Information copied from the Ofqual consultation suggests the following groups of students can be disadvantaged if information in questions is not clear:

"deaf or Deaf Learners (those whose first language is English and those whose first language is British Sign Language), whose English language skills might develop at a later age because of lack of exposure to English in their earlier years
blind or visually impaired Learners who, for example, might have to spend disproportionate time and effort interpreting an unclear visual image, even where the image has been modified for them as a Reasonable Adjustment. This could include Learners with colour vision deficiency.
some Learners on the autism spectrum. Their literal understanding of language could make it difficult for them to respond to a task that is unnecessarily ambiguous or unclear. They might also be distracted by a needless image used in a task
some Learners with learning difficulties, including those with dyslexia. They might find it more difficult to access an exam paper in particular fonts, or that has uneven spaces between words, or uses unnecessarily complex sentence structures
Learners who are not familiar with the context of a task or concepts to which a task refers. This is only where the context or concept is not part of the assessment construct, but where familiarity might make it easier for a Learner to perform well in the task. For example, tasks that assume familiarity with certain cultural, family or travel experiences or with uncommon household objects
Learners whose first language is not English, who might be less familiar with colloquialisms, humour or customs included in a task or in stimulus materials"

Schools can't just 'prepare them to have the level of English needed to access the exam' - that's exactly the problem that students with DLD have! Eleven years of schooling haven't managed to eradicate it - so how would their maths teachers be able to do so in just a few minutes? It's a serious disability, and a proportion of students in most schools will have it - possibly more so in some of the lower maths tiers where they are very much trying to pass the exam, and something like this could make a difference as to whether that happens or not.

Not all schools fell for the stonewall clap trap so wouldn't have covered all the fashionable pronouns being forced upon us.

Ofqual consulting on accessible language in exams:
www.tes.com/magazine/news/general/ofqual-consult-using-simpler-language-exams
I know there has been discussion about questions with "middle class bias" - but struggling to find an article that isn't behind a paywall.

Difficult names ARE a problem, actually, not just 50 or 60 years ago, but now. It doesn't matter whether they're foreign or not; they need to be simple to sound out, for those pupils who have language disabilities.

And no, a 2-minute explanation about 'they' wouldn't help, because sometimes it does mean two people, and sometimes one. That's exactly the sort of problem that people with DLDs find difficult to cope with - following the syntax of a sentence to work out who is who, what pronouns refer to, how to understand the order of the words (e.g., the difference between 'three groups' and 'groups of three') etc. And it's already hard enough for them in maths!

I advise in the area of SEN thanks.

There is no conflict here.

I just asked dd and her friend (staying with us at the moment) about the use of pronouns in the exam, after looking at me like I had two heads, they declared they hadn't even noticed and that they just looked for the numbers to work out the question / answer.

And they are really not into the gender woo, and maths is not their finest subject.

I'm aware though that my anecdote won't be relevant.

But all students are expected to have the level of English required to access the paper.

Their school has failed them if they not prepared them in this respect .

You are being offensively ignorant about children with SEN @suggestionsplease1. As the parent of a child who would really find this very difficult to parse and who would waste a lot of time trying to figure out if he'd missed mention of a second person, I would really appreciate if if you'd take your ignorance elsewhere.

..as well as male characters..

"If a student is capable of GCSE maths I am sure they are capable of comprehending how they/their might be used in this way."

You are wrong. I taught many students who were excellent at maths but had English as a second (or third) language and would struggle if the context of the question was unusual / unexpected.

For any 14 or 15 year who isn't already aware of this usage (and there really can't be many of them left) it is a 2 minute explanation of how this might be used and it would have come up in preparation for exams and practice papers.

I am sure 100 years ago people were horrified when maths questions were set in exams that depicted female as well as make characters, and I am sure people were horrified 50/60 years ago when names that were not typically British were used for characters in maths questions ..

Thanks goodness times move on, eh.

You clearly have no knowledge of SEN or LD.

This is ridiculously confusing for a maths exam where exact calculations are everything and it will be the borderline kids and those that struggle who will suffer for it. Plain language is important.

Even an adult may stumble over those sentences, it’s not how we are used to reading about people, so it’s a terrible idea. Terrible for people with poorer language skills, with dyslexia, with English as a second language.

”Inclusive” though, apparently for some undefined angry group.

You are expected to have a certain level of English to be able to access certain exams, I imagine GCSE maths is one of these?

Is not like a student who has French or Mandarin as a first language could request the paper in their first language as a reasonable adjustment is it?

OP maybe put this in one of the Education sections to see if this a live issues that teachers already raise with exam boards. Would the exam centre where you scribe raise it. Maybe it would add weight to have someone “neutral” like a scribe (who has no interest in the school/schools in general getting better grades).

Yes I teach pupils who would be really confused by this too. Some of them are bright, but have language difficulties - they can struggle with words like 'each' etc already, and frequently get questions wrong because they don't realise what is being referred to. (E.g., a question one girl was trying today had two types of phones being sold, so many of each type, and a profit was listed for the sale of each phone, type A as this, type B as that, and the student had to find the total profit. That was already too confusing for her - did 'each' mean each single phone sale, or each type of phone? etc. To an adult versed in maths problems and in how profits work and likely values, it was probably obvious. To a struggling dyslexic maths student - not at all.). To mix in complications like whether 'they' means one person or two would just add unnecessary confusion, just like complex names do. And there's no need for it.

I hope someone complains to the exam board, and this would be a real disadvantage for language-impaired students who already struggle with the language aspect of maths exams. Understanding language as it relates to maths is an important skills and need to be practised, absolutely. But no need to add unnecessary complications to it.

GSCE maths is not an option (SEN/Alternate curriculums aside).

So sure you understand that some students may be only just be capable of GSCE maths but the world expects them to at least get a 4. And not getting a 4 because of fucked around woke language is not fair. It is an unnecessary barrier. Keep it simple stupid. Measure their English in their English exams.

Absurd. It's hard enough to follow threads on here about they / them / their or chuck there into the mix too, never mind a maths paper ffs.

It’s true that we do use they/their in the singular but it is generally where we don’t know the sex of the person.

It highlights the absurdity of they/them when referring to a singular person. Kids have gone through their entire education learning they/them/their is used in the plural sense and some bright spark drops it in to a gcse maths exam. It's ridiculous.