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 wouldn’t worry about private school kids having an advantage - they are at a disadvantage when it comes to university admissions/internships/graduate schemes. (No axe to grind, my dcs went to state schools - but I have seen behind the scenes…).

Frankly “slow processing” was all the rage for a while as an extra time wheeze; I believe it has been cracked down on. In one of dd’s A Level classes 20 out of 25 kids were getting extra time for various things. Dd was very upset about it at first, but actually it didn’t make any difference.

How am I being rude? I am a professional in this field and she is totally wrong.

if she reads the regs (which as a teacher she really ought to know about anyway…) she will understand what is being tested for and why.

I'm not a teacher, I'm a neuroscientist so I know a thing or two about a few diagnoses. I also know how risky it is for a "protected title HCP" to dish out unfounded diagnoses. Why would you do that for a few quid if it can ruin your livelihood for good?

Lack of expertise is another matter.

Why?

You seem to be suggesting she hasn’t done training that she should have done or is uninformed in some fundamental way, despite knowing nothing about her, how she does her job or the school she works in. She is entitled to an opinion, as are you. You seem to be conflating her having an opinion with her doing her job. Many, probably all, professionals have private views which they do not allow to impact on the way they conduct their professional role. You might think of a barrister defending someone who has done something they dislike. The barrister will still defend that person to the best of their ability, irrespective of their opinion about what their client has done.

https://www.jcq.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/JCQ-AARA-2025_FINAL.pdf

here are the 123 page robust guidance regulations which schools and assessors have to abide by.

I also trained for 2 years for the qualification to be able to undertake these assessments- and every 3 years I have to reapply for my practising certificate.

I don’t think I can comment on why someone would misdiagnose. Error could be a factor. But people do all kinds of things for all kinds of reasons. It’s possible some people would be swayed by what seems a small sum of money, but I’d like to think our medical professionals are better than that.

The facts we do have show that more privately educated children have diagnoses leading to additional time. I’m interested in understanding why that is. I assumed it was because theur parents are more likely to have the means and inclination to apply. I didn’t consider the likelihood of private healthcare providers seeking to financially benefit from inflating or misdiagnosing. I’d really hope that wasn’t the case.

Ok. As I said, most professionals have private opinions and most professionals are capable of keeping their private opinions and professional role separate.

How can you "crack down on" WISC?

I agree with this.

20 out of 25 is wild to me.

I have 2 DDs, both have been at state school and are now in private schools. DD1's school screens all pupils for some SEN, I think a fairly basic level of screening, but casting a wide net to see if there's anything there. I don't think state schools have the resources to do this and definitely not the resources for the more detailed diagnosics that would need to follow for those flagged with something. DD1 didn't get flagged for anything.

DD2 has SEN. In her state primary, I don't think they would have done anything about it as she was meeting age related expectations. They were willing to cooperate when I flagged it and got diagnoses, but the effort was mostly mine and she didn't get any intervention that really cost anything. Ultimately they were more focused on children with higher sen needs and those not meeting age related expectations. In contrast, at her private school, she seems to get more focus for her sen. There's been much more interaction with the senco. I assume this is because they don't have the very high needs pupils that her old state school had. Her school screens all pupils with CAT4, so can see if there is a discrepancy between underlying abilities and performance. Smaller classes also help. I guess the sen support is partly what we are paying for.

It has been explained on the thread by many PP at length.

Re. academic private schools and "pressure on the kids" - I have first hand experience of a top-15 private school and friends at various super selectives. If anything, parents there avoid getting diagnoses, not seeking unnecessary ones. First of all, they are often in denial about their DC's conditions. If the thought finally sinks in, they are often scared of diagnoses leading to "bans" in access to certain highly demanding professions. I've seen people fuming when schools suggested ASD assessments when it was very obvious the child needed that. I don't really recognise the picture of "all people popping in to Harley Street for diagnoses".

Ok, but my mum’s experience is that a disproportionate number of children did pop down to Harley street, where they were diagnosed, and that these tended to be those children whose parents were desperate for top grades, irrespective of their child’s academic ability. It was as though they felt entitled to the top grades because they’d paid the fees, and the cost of a private diagnosis was just another way of securing the grades they felt they had bought. All the children did well but it’s not possible for everyone to get top grades, irrespective of the money spent. I was actually quite sad to hear some of the stories. Some of the children were under so much pressure they seemed to feel they would only be loved by their parents if they got top marks. I don’t doubt it came from a place of love and desire to see your children succeed but it all felt a bit manic by the end. It seems that experiences and recollections can vary.

I’m going to leave this thread now as it’s late for me and I have an early start tomorrow. Thanks for sharing another perspective, it’s been interesting to learn more about this area.

To add another perspective, if a neurodivergent child is in a super selective private school, that isn't necessarily about pushy parents. It is often specifically because the child is very bright, perhaps a bit "different" or "nerdy" and may have had a difficult time in a state school, and parents are desperate to help the child find their place in life.
And the diagnosis often happens not because of exams, which the very bright child may still be managing academically, but because of the self-harm, or eating disorder, or suicidal ideation, or risk-taking behaviours that are often caused by the self-hatred which comes from both being extremely intelligent and yet still being unable to do what your peers are doing.
No system works perfectly because humans arw selfish, but it really is often a great deal more complex than rich pushy parents with thick kids they're desperate to get into Oxford.

Giving the little girl both boxes and the lad on wheels a ramp is also "changing the status quo". No one would suggest that the girl or the lad on wheels were at an advantage because the circumstances had changed compared to the picture on the left.

the self-hatred which comes from both being extremely intelligent and yet still being unable to do what your peers are doing.

Can confirm.

The JCQ stopped dyslexia diagnoses being used to obtain extra time, a reader, and a scribe. There is a separate set of tests used in Y9/Y10 to determine eligibility.

Some dyslexia assessors make recommendations for extra time and a reader, but unless the student meets the JCQ criteria (sometimes many years after the dyslexia assessment) they will not be eligible.

I have the CCET/CP3TA and arranged exams access arrangements for many years.

The facts we do have show that more privately educated children have diagnoses leading to additional time. I’m interested in understanding why that is.
@Whoknowswherethewindsblow

Are you actually interested in understanding why that is, or was this thread an opportunity for you to chip in with your views on private education as evinced in
your first post?
‘It was extraordinary to see the entitlement in action. I remember her telling me about one student, who was bright, allocated extra time because of ‘slow processing skills’. Honestly, it’s a scandal waiting to erupt.’

If you are so sure it’s such a scandal awaiting to erupt maybe you should take your findings to the Guardian or similar so it can be exposed?

Exactly. I didn't get DD dyslexia diagnosis for extra time. I am not sure she will need it even.

I wanted her and those who teach and support her (including me!) to better understand why she struggles, and what techniques might help her. I also wanted to counter the horrible self hatred she had because a teacher made her feel stupid and lazy for struggling with spellings. She's very bright, it's so clear when she talks about the world or storms through a set of maths questions. But the primary school system, with it's focus on spellings, made her feel constantly stupid and not good enough

Why are some people conflating extra time with an "advantage" if the pupil doesn't have a processing issue?

FWIW I did invigilating last year and there were a large proportion who finished early, far too early to have completed the paper let alone gone over it to check, and proceeded to draw penises and tits all over their papers. Why would a kid like that benefit from extra time? People seem to be calling a level playing field an advantage but no parent thinks extra time "magically ensures the highest grades" as one poster put it.

Because they will take any opportunity to attack independent schools. They have an agenda and this plays into that.
Ironically they are usually the first to want to "level the playing field" for NT kids!

Exactly! If you dont know the answers/haven't got the skills then you can have ten hours and still not do any better.

Although please don't conflate finishing early with not caring. Possibly it correct in some cases but I was an early exam finisher and always got As /got firsts at university and law school. DS looks to be the same, he is doing mocks at the moment and getting 9s and his teacher usually gives him a book to read or prepares extra questions because she knows he will finish a long time before the others. It's not about rushing our work, we just don't need the full time.

No test is perfect. There will be false negatives and false positives. If some schools are ‘casting the net wide’ by testing all pupils they will generate more false positives for children who don’t actually have SEN and don’t need AA. Surely testing should be based on some evidence that there might be an issue.

I don’t have an axe to grind against private schools. If I could I would send my younger child (who has SEN) to a supportive school with smaller class sizes and more attention but we can’t afford it.

I think some will be doing it so their children have more time in exams, thinking that will help them secure the highest grades

You "think" because you don't know and you can't imagine what life is like for children who have the ability to secure the highest grades but are held back by a spiky profile. And you don't believe their parents who are making the case for them based on what they see at home.

You're saying; of two children with similar midrange abilities, one gets extra time "fraudulently" by the parent securing a diagnosis from Harley street by simply paying, being insistent and sharp elbowed. The other doesn’t have that support from parents and so does the normal timing.

You really think the first child then gets higher marks, from having 25% extra time? And then scoops the second child who, what, doesn't get into a grammar? Gets lower GCSEs by comparison?

Lots of people on here have explained the hidden suffering of high potential learner children with slower processing speeds in some dimensions. Do you actually know what a spiky profile is? The Ed Psych said my daughter's results were so profoundly varied across different skills as to be only found in 1% of all children.

Is it fair that she is judged by the bottom end of her capacity, not the rest which is higher? Shouldn't children all be evaluated against their genuine potential as well as their achievement in an arbitrarily set type of exam?

You (and your mum) are thinking really lazily about what might be happening and why.

How do you generate false positives for SEN in the cognitive assessment, please? How would that work? have you ever seen anyone do one, and the range of different dimensions it includes?