Potentially discriminatory extra time exam rules?

[Aleiha]

Just really wanted to sense check this.

DD is at a top ranking University and is entitled to extra time in exams due to having a disability. This is not disputed by the University which has given her 25% extra time. This is also what she had during A levels and GCSEs.

She is studying an essay based subject (history) and has had her first exam today and discovered that the university have extended the four hour exam to five hours. This is fine but they have applied the extra time to all students sitting the exam. This includes those with a disability and those without. The rationale from the university is that those who don't need the extra time won't use it and those who do need it can then use it.

Its a online open book exam (two essays) and so clearly everyone will use the extra time.

Is this a correct application of the rules? My understanding was that the extra time is supposed to alleviate any disadvantage she suffers due to her disability.

That’s absolutely nuts. If you know you have 3 hours you do 45 mins on each question (assuming 4 essays).

a non- disabled candidate just adjusts their strategy according to the time of given longer

Your dyslexic DD needs longer than the others that’s the whole point of reasonable adjustments.

Apart from the extra time, are there other adjustments that she could apply for that might help her?

You may need to get used to this. Work places are being encouraged to be more inclusive with adjustments software etc available to everyone so that people don’t necessarily have to ask. Many reasonable adjustments are helpful to everyone

It is. You just need to reframe how you think about it. It’s not extra time compared to everyone else, it’s extra time than what is needed for that particular assessment. If the academics think 4 hours is sufficient and people have 5 hours then that’s extra time.

On the other hand, this penalises those with disabilities who are having a bad day. If you would normally manage the exam in four hours but are having a bad day and need the full five hours, you're fine. However, if you're disabled and would normally need five hours, but are having a bad day and actually need six, you're stuffed.

It is exactly the opposite of inclusive 🤷🏽‍♀️

Exam access arangements are there for a reason and it sounds like they just don't want to be bothered with administering them.

It is concerning that staff working at university level are unable to run their courses in a fair and rational way.

We need a list of Unis who are doing this so we know who to avoid.

It's not as straightforwrd as this. To get an ADHD diagnosis it has to either be recognised by school or another professional.

This is certainly the case for children anyway.

Universities don’t require an official diagnosis. They do their own in house assessment with unqualified staff and a check list to see if someone can have extra time. Literally anyone who wanted it can have it

I think you're looking at this the wrong way, you're looking at it as extra time being an advantage given to your DD to compensate for her disability. However, that's not how it works. It's about ensuring that she has sufficient time to complete the task set. If the task set takes 4 hours, and 5 hours are allowed, she has sufficient time. It's fairer that everyone who needs the extra time gets it, and no-one is disadvantaged from scoring their best. Those who don't need extra time will complete their paper in 4 hours as always. They aren't going to get more marks because an unneeded extra hour was available to them, even in essay based exams.

Your daughter did get her reasonable adjustment though, an extra hour.

That is the point where you stop worrying about anything else, nobody’s else’s exam conditions matter.

Surely this was inevitable when the world and its wife has something that needs extra time or special treatment. It doesn’t affect your daughter, uni exams aren’t banded like A levels so she just needs to get on and focus on her exam, she’s getting the time she needs.

I actually think the system described is incredibly inclusive and fair. What they are really doing is simply removing the component of the exam that disabled some students - the limited time.
They are just saying we just want everyone to have had plenty of time to write their answers, we just want the best answers students can give, with time not really being a factor.
I think that is surely much MORE inclusive!!
But I'm sure plenty will see this as something being 'taken away' from their child 🙄

It’s not a competition. Her grade is her grade and their grade is their grade.
She’s still getting the time she needs.
Most of the others will leave once they have finished, they won’t just sit and write for the extra time because they won’t need to.

Most of our learning plans aren't ADHD related at all. Most are social anxiety. The plans are generally about lecturers not asking questions to them in class, not being required to do presentations and extensions to help them manage multiple deadlines.

I would say that DD needs to discuss her accommodation with disability support at the university. If she was entitled to 25% more time and that wasn't enough, this would have happened whether or not the other students had five hours. Getting the accommodation right for the future matters.

On the other hand, if feedback is available once the exam is marked, she should check what effect wordcount has had on her grade. It is possible to assume a strong relationship between essay length and grade, and this can lead to poor planning.

For what it's worth, in my extended tests, I found that students took a maximum of about 40% more than the normal time allocated for the task. It's certainly possible that 25% was not enough for the task as set, so I see your point on the three day vs five hour exams. But the best way for her to address this is to forget the other students and talk to disability support about the difficulties she had completing the paper. If she needs more than a 25% extension, that will apply to future assessments too.

Tell me about it. As a lecturer I don’t ask anyone questions now as I can’t remember who I can ask and who I can’t. I’ve got ADHD and I think I need a support plan saying I find it all overwhelming to be honest 😆

I also have stopped doing ice breaker sessions in seminars because a student complained that they felt anxiety about having to speak to the person next to them. I do wonder what the workplace will make of this current covid-cohort.

This wouldn't be the case for extra time in my institution - accept that others are different. But things like a separate room would be negotiable without formal documentation

Weve had a lot of this on my course. 40/75 students didn’t have to do the mandatory presentation for some reason or another. God knows how they’re doing to actually do their job as ours is a vocational healthcare related degree.

Not saying that this is your daughter, but SO many now have extra time that I think it makes sense to give it to all.
Im not sure why it’s prejudicing your daughter who has the same amount of time that she would have always had?

I think it's a completely reasonable approach and I am surprised it isn't an approach taken more often

Exactly. The only people who would be uncomfortable with this are those who wanted their child to have extra time just to give them an edge over the others

This approach seems the only way to deal with everyone and their dog now needing accommodations of some sort.

YANBU that's unacceptable and she needs to complain.
Some people may need extra time because they didn't study properly or because they were out last night getting pissed. That should be reflected in their grade, not accommodated for. She is entitled to extra time due to matters outside her control and the system exists to even the playing field with her peers.

More time isn't going to help with having a hangover or not studying properly though.

I think people overestimate what extra time can do.

Students who don't know what they're talking about tend to just dig themselves deeper and deeper in a hole if they have more time. Students with (severe) hangovers would be hard to identify in an exam situation since many look bleary from all nighters or poor sleep due to exam nerves. Same applies to students with hayfever, heavy periods etc of course. If the hangover is impacting their thought processes, that will bring its own penalty.

I would design an assessment like this with time for normal expectations + maximum disability adjustment + further margin to remove time pressure for all concerned. Just going up to maximum disability adjustment could mean students needing the adjustment are under time pressure and others are not.

That said, a four-hour open book exam with two essay questions is already longer than most exams I've seen, so you would need to know the history of it. Was four hours already considered more than adequate for the task?

I also wonder whether the 25% standard adjustment should be applied to open-book exams - presumably there are different degrees of impairment with reading and writing, but is the support plan detailed enough to account for this?

I think universal design works well, and you can see from the above scenarios why it's appealing. But that doesn't mean the design can't be improved. I used to sit down with student groups, explain what I was trying to achieve, make space for them to come and talk to me privately, and end up with something we all happy with. But I always made sure they knew from day 1 they weren't being marked on a curve - made for a more constructive classroom.

I'd say again - the principle of them all having the same time isn't the issue - the issue is whether this student had enough time. 'Enough' is not x% more than everyone else - it's time to complete the task. She needs to get sight of her exam script after marking if possible. My students are often surprised when their longer, more detailed answers are less successful than something more concise and perhaps rougher around the edges. But we aren't looking for a certain number of facts or quotes or points or paragraphs at university level.

With this information, and some reflection on her approach to the paper, this student could certainly consult with disability support about any further accommodations needed.