To be concerned that more than 50% of my child's year group have special access arrangements for exams?

[burblin]

Last term, out of the blue, I got a message from school saying my year 10 daughter would be granted extra time in exams. This is because she had previously told a teacher that her hand sometimes hurt when writing quickly during assessments and that she felt like it was slowing her down because she kept having to stop to stretch her hand out. So, without telling me, one of the teachers formally assessed her and, on the back of that, applied for the extra time, which was granted. When I queried it, I was told that more than 50% of the year group have some sort of access arrangement. My daughter told me that as all of her friends were getting it for achey hands, she felt she should have it too. Aibu to be a bit shocked by this? Surely its perfectly normal to get an achey hand when writing quickly in exams? Is this how access arrangements are meant to be used?

No more than normal tbh

You write down on a bit of paper when the rest breaks start and end, and then um and arr over it with a calculator to work out the time remaining.

Or you accidentally lose the piece of paper like one of my invigilators did. Don't do that. Luckily for her, I'd been keeping track myself.

The OP clearly stated her DD got extra time. So yes ridiculous!

Or you have a lovely shiny spreadsheet that does it (on an approved device don’t worry)

Gah lost my quotes - that is about how you keep track of rest breaks! I also tend to track them on a post it on each students desk so they can easily see their new end time!

Is this why grade inflation happens? I would have loved rest breaks when I had 7 hours of writing exams in a day at Uni 🤣

This feels really 'off' to me. Smacks of a school trying to boost results. Extra time is for kids with diagnosable conditions - having an achey hand is not a medical condition or disability.

@Zebedee999 The OP corrected later that in fact her DC did not get extra time. hence this whole discussion is somewhat based on an untruth/mistake/error.

THE DC DID NOT GET EXTRA TIME. THE OP WAS MISTAKEN AND CORRECTED HERSELF IN AN UPDATE

No, rest breaks are not extra time. They get the normal amount of working time. They have to close the exam booklet during the break. It could be argued that it gives them extra thinking time but that’s of limited help.

I'm glad to hear technology is improving!

I like the post-it idea, would have found it very helpful.

Extra time is for kids with certain diagnosed conditions who routinely use extra time in the classroom, ie it is their normal way of working. It's also for people who may be undiagnosed but use extra time as their normal way of working and have 2 below average scores in 2 different areas relating to their speed of working, ie cognitive processing and speed of writing. Teachers can't recommend it, only qualified assessors can.

Supervised rest breaks away from the paper, such as in the case, are more readily obtained but don't allow extra time, only a break.

I wrote the spreadsheet after the exam from hell! I spent the whole time worrying I’d got my timings wrong (5 exams, 11 kids, 6 with extra time, overlapping but different 6 with rest breaks)…that’s when I instigated post its to start with!

I think it's helpful to be aware of the different types of accommodation actually — for the last exams I sat I wasn't allowed to wear a watch (or have it on the desk). Just a normal analogue watch, because the ban was "all watches" not just smart watches.

I'm very short sighted and have sometimes have convergence problems when I'm tired. I find looking up at a clock then back at the paper towards the end of a long exam can be tricky — I start seeing double. I'd never have thought to ask for special circumstances because watches have always been allowed!

I'd have loved a rest break for achey hands, One year I was the only one who did my combination of courses and ended up with 12 hours of exams over two days. I pity the examiner who had to read my final essay question.

Rest breaks are completely different from extra time. I would worry that they would interrupt concentration/adrenaline if she has breaks that she doesn't need. Lots of kids who get rest breaks have ADHD and so a rest break is beneficial. I suppose keep it if she feels she needs it.

That is an issue for my DD. She says rest breaks break concentration, but she needs them really. It is a point of what is least bad.

My DD had a severe illness, which has left her with a disability. We had to fight tooth and nail for any everything.
The school as Gould be reported

Maybe the school is worried with grades and wants to improve the chances of better grades ??

Extra time is not allocated on teachers wishes. You need medical evidence. Lots of learning differences are difficult to spot from a casual interaction but this doesn’t mean they don’t exist. Accommodations are made for students who are capable of understanding the material but have difficulty processing or presenting it in exam conditions.

Rest time for resting your hand is not the same thing as extra time for a diagnosed condition. I feel the op is being deliberately disingenuous to have a moan about accommodations for learning differences.

Extra time is really difficult to get now. DS1 has extra time but he has both a processing disorder and a mobility issue causing handwriting difficulties. One or other of those wouldn’t have been enough. He only has the extra time (and a computer) because he has both conditions.

Ds2 has a severe visual processing disorder. It puts him below the 5th centile. He gets extra time because he’s been diagnosed for a long time and he’s always had it so it’s his normal way of working. But my understanding is that if he was newly diagnosed he wouldn’t get the extra time because he only has one issue.

I work in FE in a deprived area, in ALS. I was actually agreeing with you, and adding to your point with my observations.

My ds gets 25% extra time, movement breaks a reader and a scribe or computer.

He also has a disability.

He's very intelligent but struggles with information processing and cannot physically write legibly due to his disability - and certainly not at speed!

He also finished many exams on computer in the time allocated (minus the extra time added for movement breaks at times - again due to his disability)

I agree that sometimes the awards of support don't match actual need. However he does need the extra time dependent on the type of exam so I've always just said to him to use if if needed and not to stay and stress if he finishes in allocated time!

My dd got special measures (private room, extra time) but had to provide medical evidence for her need so I can't believe what OP describes is right.

Hi OP. I work at a school and I worked in the SEND faculty until this week.

I believe that Covid may have had an impact on students' ability to perform well in exams. Most students haven't sat proper exams in a few years and a lot has changed since then. Usually they'd have mocks but they've not really been able to and therefore, that's impacted them.

We're seeing this not just with exams but with behaviour and communication too. They've kind of forgotten how to behave and speak