Private school pupils more likely than state school to get extra time in exams

[LattePatty]

https://www.tes.com/magazine/news/general/lofqual-students-extra-time-exams-2024-25

Context: I have a GCSE age child in a state school who doesn’t need extra time and a younger child with SEN who probably will.

I heard this yesterday - 1 in 6 pupils get extra time in exams (which is more than I would have realised) and the proportion is HIGHER in private schools than state schools.

How can this be? I know there are some private special schools but the majority of private schools I know are academically selective. Are there really higher levels of SEN needing extra time in private schools vs state?

So what’s going on: Are private schools gaming the system? Are private school parents more able to pay for assessments privately? Something else?

We all know that private schools fees give the advantage of smaller class sizes and better facilities and maybe better teaching (moot point I think). But I certainly didn’t realise another benefit might be extra time in exams.

I wonder what would happen if you normalised for the educational level of the parents. I fear that it’s more that there are parents in state schools who either don’t realise their DC has a problem or ignore it. State schools are very stretched (understatement) so only the most needy (in SEN terms) can be helped.

I expect it’s this. Not gaming the system as such, but privilege comes in many forms.

Most NT children sitting exams will have plenty of time to answer all of the questions with time for checking afterwards unless they are daydreaming (in which case that needs to be investigated if happening a lot).

It can be true that most private schools are selective, & also true that the proportion of children in private schools who legitimately need extra time is surprisingly high- if those private schools that are not selective attract a high proportion of kids who have needs that mean they need extra time.

My kids’ school is like this - non selective private with a relatively high proportion of children who need extra help & who have gone there in desperation after being let down in the state sector. My own son was given public exam allowances because of medical issues.

But yes, it also seems likely that private schools make more effort in this respect.

There’s an underlying implication in much of this discussion- I think - that extra time is gaming the system. This accords with the mood music in politics that people with disabilities are lying scroungers taking advantage. This is unfair & damaging.

Clinical Psychologist and Ed Psych are regulated HCP. Sane people wouldn't risk disqualification ruining their entire professional life.

I haven't seen the documentary, what were the exact titles of the professionals there and what was the outcome of the investigation?

My husband flew under the radar at his state school. He got poor GCSE's and thus wasn't allowed to go to 6th form to study music A level so went to an FE college instead. He was accepted into a music conservatoire and began a career as a musician.

Fast forward 30 years and he was diagnosed with autism (we also suspect ADHD). If exam and other adjustments had been put in place when he was a child he could very well have achieved much higher at school. As it is he went back to education and has just completed his Masters.

I want today's children not to have to underachieve and go through the difficulties he had to all his life.

It was a BBC panorama investigation a while back - you can look it up if you're interested, a really fascinating read and does make you think some of the private clinics are pretty unethical.

Agreed

What’s wrong with all these children needing extra time? That’s a massive amount of the population. What’s the bet it’s just going to keep increasing until the children without extra time are fewer.

Our private school had so many people with extra conditions that they were using a huge number of extra rooms and invigilators. I could imagine that a state school might try to avoid such a burden on their resources and make people jump through a few more hoops to avoid this situation. No evidence that this is happening but I’d be surprised if schools haven’t noticed how much extra work is required to deliver the adjustments.

I've worked in both state and private schools- there are kids at the private school I worked at waaaaay less 'in need' of extra time than some of the kids at the state schools I've worked at but they get it. It's a sad fact that the ability to pay for your kids education means they get all sorts of advantages that so many in state that really need them are missing out on.

You can't buy AA 🙄 you don't just get awarded AA cos you attend an independent school. What capacity have you worked in at schools?

In the U.S. parents trade info on which testers are most likely to give a diagnosis that will get you extra time. Those testers charge more.

I don’t think I said you can buy anything? I said that I’ve encountered state school pupils who are way more in need of extra time but don’t get it. For all the reasons previous posters have explained about private schools having more time/capacity and resources to help pupils. State schools have much less time, capacity and resources and pupils are far less lively to get the required investigations/diagnosis (not that you need a diagnosis for extra time). It’s just a fact- the ability to pay for their education means you’re paying for the access to that capacity and resources. Didn’t say anything about buying AA!

I’ve worked as a teacher and as Head of Department. At the last state school I worked at, the poor SENCO was absolutely amazing but totally overwhelmed and rushed off her feet. At the last private school, the ALENCO was also amazing but had much more time at her disposal, as well as parents approaching for referrals for diagnosis etc.

I know some schools automatically test for dyslexia.

I would have assumed this would be the case on the basis that:

Middle class families are more likely to have the means and ability to push for a diagnosis, which might be harder to get if the parents are less educated, or can’t take time off work for medical appointments, or don’t have connections with doctors etc to informally discuss concerns, or don’t have the means for a private diagnosis.

And from when VAT was being discussed on here a lot, it seems that so many people were scrimping to put SEN children through private schooling as state school wasn’t adequate, and so I wouldn’t be surprised if there area higher proportion of SEN children in private school because of this skew.

At a guess if there is money for private school there is also money for private diagnosis. Once formal diagnosis provision such as extra time can be introduced. Wait lists around here for initial ASD support is around 60/70 weeks. Going private I can’t image it’s that long

I’m fairly sure my dd is ND but she masks very well

Social masking is not the same as exam performance.

knowing she didn’t “cheat the system”.

It's not cheating to get the support she needs. She will spend her whole life masking and struggling to cope socially. Solid academic results could mean the difference between getting that college or uni place or not, because she will struggle with interviewing.

Show her this message that you wrote after she leaves school and see if she ever even speaks to you again once she knows that you knowingly let her down like this.

Agree. My Dd was diagnosed with a chronic illness in the term before her A levels and she was awarded extra time based on medical reports including a statement from consultant confirming how the illness affects the body and how to mitigate this. If she had remained on the NHS waiting list she would still be waiting for a cardiac mri and school would have had no evidence to submit.

My son types his exams and supervised rest breaks as he has hypermobility in his hands which cramp up and the pen flicks out. I had to provide a GP letter, a consultant letter and the school had to show that he finished mock papers when the arrangements were in place (never finished a paper before when writing). His friend has dyslexia and gets extra time, they had to provide an educational psychologist report and school evidence over many years of measuring to prove his dyslexia.

One is at a state grammar, the other at a private school. There is no difference in the process at either. If a state school isn't doing this for children that need it and would qualify, then its a crap school, not that the others are gaming the system. What a pathetic thread.

Precisely

Contrary to the private schools funding private diagnosis comments above I have never seen schools funding diagnosis. Parents pay for these out of their after tax salary, usually when they have waited years in an NHS waiting list and their dc just isn’t coping.

I would say lots of factors at play here:

1. Private school (small classes, more staff) will be particularly attractive if your child has additional needs, so they probably have a higher proportion of children who need access arrangements.
2. Lower number of pupils to deal with means that everyone who need to put in effort to get a pupil EAA can put in more time and effort per pupil
3. More parental in put into private school therefore a higher proportion of parents who fight their child's corner if a need gets overlooked.
4. Generally a higher level of parental ability in private school, therefore more ability to fight for their child.
5. More parents have the ability to fight for, or even pay privately for, a diagnosis for their child. While not essential for securing EAA, it definately makes it easier.

I would say it’s about better schools who identify problems plus wealthier and very engaged parents who push for and pay for testing.
DS has dysgraphia, if he were at a state school I suspect he would still
be battling on with aching hands and illegible writing.
One excellent teacher in year 5 flagged it and I paid for testing, a touch typing course and a laptop. He get extra time and his normal method of recording is typing where possible.
He’s in year 9 and I’m currently pushing school to let us know if any further testing is needed (happy to pay for dyspraxia assessment!) to underscore his need for the same support measures into GCSEs, A level and beyond.

This is a very good point. If you are paying perhaps thousands of pounds to a private assessment, it is highly likely that you do so because you are in no doubt that your dc need it.

I know a number of families who have paid for private ADHD and ASD assessments for their dc. Not on the off chance that they might have it and get extra time in exams. But because they are desperate to support their dc after years of trying other means.

There will always be some people who game any system. It's human nature. But all of us writing about our own dc's struggles will hopefully set some minds at rest that it is not all about that, and that there are a number of reasons that are absolutely not about somehow buying fake diagnoses.
I would add that my DD still bears the self-harm scars from years of struggling through a system which, despite very high intelligence, she just couldn't navigate. So I and the many parents who have gone through that kind of quite common consequence of neurodivergence would I'm sure joyfully have given up the access arrangements in return for a child whose brain allowed them to navigate the modern world more easily.