How do reader and scribe arrangements work in GCSE English?

[Whereandwhen]

I wonder if anyone can help me understand how GCSE English works where kids have agreed access arrangements? DS via EHCP has reader and scribe. In the past for tests that measure reading he hasn’t had the reader. From what I understand, the exam board would not allow human reader for the reading sections, but would allow reading pen/technology to read and scribe could write. DS is dyslexic and it massively affects his spelling. It looks like 20% would be deducted if he didnt spell out the words for the scribe. He also would struggle with the grammar so would be unkikely to dictate this.

I’m trying to understand whether GCSE or functional skills route is best for him.

Tbh it’s surprised me that he could have a reader (albeit an electronic one) and a scribe for a subject that I would think was all about reading, writing, grammar. In essence it would be testing his comprehension and speaking skills? Or am I missing something?

He can have a pen reader because henwoild
ztill be doing the comprehension and analysis without being ‘cued’ by the human readers intonation.

with a scribe it’s a sliding scale; we look at the markschrome first and decide the banding. Then if they dictated nothing we put the mark at the bottom of the band, either punc or spellings then it’s capped at half way up the band.

spg marks are 16/40 on q5 for both papers, so 32 marks / 160. BUT you’re not really losing all of those because you’ll still be placed into a band considering your structure, organisation, vocab choices. I think it’s unlikely you’d actually lose more than 8.

if possible, dictate punctuation. Don’t worry about spellings - the mark reduction is fairly small. JCQ have the info I think on their website site

not sure what you mean about dictating the grammar? He’d essentially speak his answer to a scribe and they’d write it down.

Students using a scribe can access marks for SPaG as follows.

• Students who dictate their answers are eligible for marks awarded for grammar. This is a third of the total marks awarded for SPaG.
• Students who dictate their answers and indicate punctuation are eligible for marks awarded for punctuation and grammar. This is two thirds of the total marks awarded for SPaG. The cover sheet must indicate that both punctuation and grammar were dictated.
• Students who dictate their answers, indicate punctuation and spell out every word are eligible for all SPaG marks.

Candidates can't have a human reader for the reading section of the English Language, but they can have a computer reader to read the text. This section of the paper is testing their comprehension and analysis rather than their decoding of words.

Thanks both!