Exam Access Arrangements

[fleshmarketclose]

Dd has a statement of SEN (our LEA is well behind the timescales for transfer to EHCP and so dd's statement is unlikely to transfer until y11) and is in y9.
Dd's statement is a decent statement and specifies the need for extra time in all assessments because she has processing difficulties and her recording speed is slow.
I was led to believe that extra time in all assessments would provide evidence of need for her GCSEs and up until this year's exams she has received extra time, been seated with a TA outside of the exam hall etc.
When I asked about the arrangements for this year's exams I was told by the SENCo that dd reporting she hadn't finished would be sufficient and so she wouldn't be receiving extra time.
I would argue that she should receive the provision in her statement, that the extra time would mean a better assessment of her abilities which in turn would protect her self esteem and if I push the point then she will get the extra time.
What I want to know though should I have to do this? Shouldn't the extra time be a given because of the provision in her statement and is that really true that it is sufficient that dd just reports she ran out of time? This is problematic in itself in non essay based exams as dd works through the paper doing the ones she finds easiest first and so might well complete the last question on her first sweep of the paper. Wouldn't this perhaps be used to indicate she had in fact finished?
The other question I have is dd should have been sitting the higher tier exam papers (as she is predicted 7 to 9 in GCSE). Due to some incompetence in Learning Support mix up she has sat foundation papers and so has to re sit. Is it reasonable to expect that the re sits are sat over the course of the week like they would have been rather than pushed into gaps in her timetable as the SENCo suggests? The gaps have other purposes again detailed in her statement and so not free periods like the SENCo implies.

TA jobs are also highly competitive to get into, largely because so many teachers have left teaching, and are looking for support work instead.

And although you may think the pay is low, TAs are actually often paid more per hour then teaching. In fact in at least two TA jobs I have been paid more per hour than the head of department.

Yes some of the TAs are really worth their weight in gold. Dd has an ASD specialist TA who is an ex teacher, a graduate and a TA who has earned her stripes on the job so to speak and I have no complaints about any of them. But some of them and the ones I got moved have been there for years and years and are simply marking time and some,I think, are recruited as ex pupils (level 1 TAs) with no knowledge,training or experience (it's worrying when a former classmate of elder dd could be a possible TA to younger dd when you know full well that she was only mediocre academically when she left school two years previously).
It won't happen for dd as her statement specifies the level of TA and the required training but some children with really complex needs are being short changed badly being lumbered with support that is inadequate.
I'm not sure I'd agree about the pay tbh as I know the pay scales in our LA as my ds and dd work in Local Government and even dd's ASD specialist TA won't be earning as much as my dd who is half her age and does an admin. role in school support.

I'm not sure I'd agree about the pay tbh

some pay is very low, but not all. I'm on £16k, exactly half of what I was on as a teacher, but with well under half the hours, so my pay per hour is higher.

See in our LA dd's specialist TA will earn just over £12ph at the top of her pay scale which is high compared to the average TA and certainly more than a friend earns as a TA. Dd who works at the LA and is just starting her second year there earns more than that at the bottom of her pay scale and the LA are fully funding her degree on day release as well.

Many teachers earn less than that per hour though.

Really? I had no idea tbh. I know my ds earns more than his friends at 28 who became teachers straight from Uni but just assumed that was because he had a management role didn't realise that teachers earned less than £12ph ever.

depends on the hours they work. In jobs I've been paid by the hour, about £20, so take home pay around £13-£15. In jobs where I have been paid a salary, very much longer hours, sometimes considerably less take home pay per hour.