GCSE and taking disabilities in to account

[Iamanicelady]

Hi, just posting in the hope that someone can point me in the right direction.

If a child has a disability and you want the GCSE exam body to take that in to account when marking, does the school need to send evidence of the disability or does the exam body take the schools word for it?

www.gov.uk/guidance/regulating-gcses-as-and-a-levels-guide-for-schools-and-colleges-2022/reasonable-adjustments

You will need evidence from CAMHs/ medical professional/ DLA letter etc. I asked CAMHS to write a letter outlining the need for specific EAAs ( exam access arrangements) but I’m a teacher and knew what to ask for and how to word it. Also, you need to sort this out a long time in advance and demonstrate that the EAAs represent the student’s ‘normal way of working’.

Evidence from schools and medical authority and submitted a long time ahead of any potential exams.

A secondary school usually has an assessment officer, this person fills relevant forms and applies for extra time, help etc. Ask at school.

All reasonable adjustments for long term conditions have to be with the exam board a few months ahead of the exams. Typically these could include a separate room, extra time, breaks, a scribe, use of a laptop etc. my dd had extra time, separate room and breaks.

I found they didn't take it into account but things could be put into place so they could access the exam. So they can't get a different marking scheme or a few marks extra, but they could (for example) have a smaller space, a reading pen, breaks during the exam.

Btw it didn't affect the marking, the adjustments are ahead

You can also, although this is not widely publicised, apply to turn your home into an exam centre and the candidate can do them from home. You have to provide a lot of evidence for this one, more than three months in advance.

If this is for a student who has already sat the exams and got results today then you might be too late.
mid it’s a student just starting gcse then school should be making allowances for access arrangements and ensuring that the student has appropriate methods in place. Such as a reader or a scribe or using a laptop instead of writing.
it’s unlikely that you would be given a higher mark because of a disability as everything. Should have been put in place prior to sitting the exams to make allowances for the student.
eg special consideration wouldn’t be appropriate because special consideration is for circumstances that happen on the day or very recently that effect the day of the exam. So a long term or live long disability would not be considered for special consideration.

im ans exams officer and am involved in the process of putting access arrangements in place so as not to disadvantage our students.

Exam boards allow for adjustments to be made to support people with disabilities having fair access to the exams. This includes things like having extra time, having a reader/scribe or being able to take the exam in a small room rather than exam hall with everyone else.
They do not adjust scores or use a different mark scheme. If there is a reason why one of a series of exams in a given subject can't be sat for reasons to do with health / extenuating circumstances, they will occasionally still award a grade based on performance in the papers that were taken

Don't leave it until 'a few months' before. Start of year 10 is more appropriate in terms of building evidence and then getting it agreed (or not) by the boards.

The access arrangements are designed to compensate for the disadvantage so the marking is applied equally.

Special consideration doesn't apply unless it is in respect of something out of the ordinary happening at the time of the exams - a hypo, seizure or suchlike in the exam, for example.

As others have pointed out, adjustments need to be requested/ sorted in advance and need to reflect the usual way of working/ sitting exams for the past few years (eg end of year exams).
The exception to this is something like a broken arm or unforeseen adjustment that is required to enable fair access.

Do you mean special consideration?
My daughter is disabled and the school applied for special consideration to be applied to all her GCSEs after they cocked up massively and I complained. She was unable to get to all her lessons as the school wasn’t accessible to her.
It is added on after the paper is marked and adds between 3-5% on average.

They needed proof to apply for it. Luckily she had just been awarded pip so they could use that.

Thanks for the replies. Here’s the situation…

My son sat his first English GCSE 2 years ago and he got grades 1&2 awarded.

He was then diagnosed with dyslexia just before his course started (it was actually his college that suggested we get him tested for dyslexia as they said his grades didn’t match the way he spoke and presented himself).

He took his GCSE English exam again last year, with extra time added for his dyslexia, and got a grade 3, even though he didn’t finish the papers because he’d started having absence seizures. Apparently, he was within 10 marks of a 4 so they let him retake in January this year but he was having really bad seizures by this point so he couldn’t even complete the first exam paper.

In April, he was diagnosed with FND. By the time I managed to get hold of someone at his college to tell them his diagnosis, it was 2 weeks before the exam. They managed to get him a scribe through an emergency application and he took both exams again in June. When I asked him how it went, he said he’d answered every single question and he thought he’d ‘passed with flying colours’. Cut to today and he’s got another fucking 3! He really is not thick at all and I don’t understand how in the world he got a 3 when he answered all the questions, which he’d never done before.

Would the exam board have taken his disability into account, given the college didn’t find out until 2 weeks before and the only proof that I have given them of his disability is a text that the doctor sent to me, pointing me to the FND website. I have proof of his condition from the doctor now but I didn’t have it when all the exam arrangements were done.

I just can’t believe he got a three again when he has worked so hard studying for his English GCSE, alongside his other course, for the last two years and he’s met with failure again 😥

It seems like they did take his disability into account it's the symptoms that matter not the diagnosis.

My DC’s teacher said English was one the subjects hardest hit but the grade boundary debacle this year. Therefore even though he has a 3 it could well have been a 4 at another time.

If it’s the symptoms that matter, why has no one asked what they are. They just know his diagnosis 🤷🏻‍♀️

But I think the pp is right, I think they have been incredibly hard with the marking this year and last year it may well have been a 4 😢

I assume he also had additional time as per his exams last year? So he had reasonable adjustments with extra time and a scribe. What you're asking about is Special Consideration. https://www.jcq.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Guide_to_spec_con_process_May23_FINAL.pdf
If he was able to complete all the questions and did not have any absences during the exam, he may well not qualify. If he DID qualify for SC, he would get at most an additional 5% marks. On an 80 mark exam paper, that would only give him 4 more marks. Do you know how many marks he was awarded?

Be aware that a scribe can only write what he says. He needs to dictate every punctuation mark etc to get the marks for accuracy. This can affect grades too, as it is tricky to do.

Would he be better off doing English Functional Skills than sitting the GCSE again?

I’m not familiar with that. I’ll have a google, thanks ☺️

If he had extra time and a scribe as access arrangements, what additional and available support did you expect or want him to have? His disability has been taken into account by the extra time and scribe, although I can’t say if he could or should have received anything else as a result of the additional diagnosis. Is it possible that the problem is the teaching or exam coaching? Or perhaps gcse isn’t the right path for him, it’s hard to say from info given.

Working with a scribe is something that takes time to get used to. I scribe for people in exams and the person taking the exam needs to be really clear about what they want dictated. Not your DC's fault as they were probably unfamiliar with the system.

I'm sorry for your son, as it sounds like he has had a really tough time.

If he was unwell during the exam, then the college could have also applied for special consideration- however, it sounds like he wasn't as he finished the exam for the first time?

As others have said, working with a scribe is really hard, and a skill he needs to practice, as they can only write exactly what he tells them to, and he needs to dictate punctuation, paragraphs and so on.

Is it worth giving it one more go in November?

Does he have an ECHP in place, given his needs? If so, he can get funding for college level education until he is 25, potentially, which would give him a bit more time to get some more qualifications now all his access arrangements are in place?

Perhaps also worth requesting the script back, to see if there's anywhere obvious he went wrong?

Before then! They need to be well used to and practised with any adjustments. We started on this in the first year of secondary.