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Special Educational Needs, Disabilities and Access Arrangements for Home-Educated Students

Access Arrangements are 'reasonable adjustments' put in place to assist students who have special educational needs, disabilities or other difficulties. Arrangements can include use of technology such as a laptop or reader pen, extra time, opportunities for breaks during the exams, a separate room, a scribe or a reader.

Home-ed students can still have access arrangements if they have special educational needs, but it can sometimes be very difficult to arrange as it involves extra work for the exam centre.

Home educators have raised the need for easier routes to access arrangements at the All Party Parliamentary Group on Home Education but the current situation is that external candidates can only obtain such arrangements with the agreement of an exam centre. This can be very expensive and very difficult (although Tutors & Exams have removed their Access Arrangements fees for candidates in 2021). It's not fair. It is one reason why families of children with SEN may find it easier to arrange a part-time college course for them to take exams; in this situation, the college should deal with all arrangements and costs.

This is also a good reason for considering very carefully before removing children with SENDs from school just prior to exams where Access Arrangements are already in place.

Schools do not have to take external candidates in any situation and the provisions of the Equality Act 2010 do not compel them to offer access arrangements to external candidates, so our approach to exam centres has to be one of asking for a favour, rather than demanding a right.

The Rationale for Access Arrangements

Who? They are for candidates with the required knowledge, understanding and skills, who are unable to demonstrate these in an examination due to a difficulty or disability.

Why? They exist to ensure that barriers to assessment are removed for a disabled candidate, removing any substantial disadvantage.

They must meet the particular needs of the disabled learner without affecting the integrity of the assessment.

Terms used on this page

AAs - Access Arrangements. Reasonable adjustments put in place to assist students who have special educational needs/disabilities or other difficulties. These can include use of technology such as a laptop or reader pen, extra time, opportunities for breaks during the exams, a separate room, scribe, reader, etc. Students who think they may need such arrangements must discuss their needs with their exam centre as early as possible in the process; some centres are more helpful than others.

Elective Home Education (EHE): The child has been deregistered from school or has never been registered at a school. The parent has chosen to take full responsibility for the child's education.

EO - Examinations officer. The person responsible for making the centre's exam entries and who is also responsible for ensuring compliance with the regulations.

EOTAS - Education Otherwise Than At School - where the child remains on-roll at a school or other unit and education is provided by the school or Local Authority, who remain responsible for that child's education. The child has not been deregistered from school even though they may do all their studying at home. See EOTAS page for more.

JCQ - Joint Council for Qualifications. The body which oversees administration of most UK school examinations. Joint body formed by the main exam boards.

SENDs - Special Educational Needs and Disabilities

SENDCO - Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Co-ordinator for an exam centre / school. Sometimes the older term, SENCO, is used.

Access Arrangements procedures for home-educated candidates

There a few changes in recent years to the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) regulations on Access Arrangements (AAs) for examinations which will affect home educators. The complete regulations are on the JCQ site.

Whilst in the past the emphasis has been on assessment of need for AAs, such as extra time, reader, scribe, and a diagnosis by a doctor or an assessment by an Educational Psychologist (EP) was seen as the passport to AAs, it is now NOT this. The starting point is now evidence-gathering by teachers in the centre of a history of need and provision which, of course, is where home educating families are likely to encounter some difficulty.

Evidence of the history of need, eg teachers habitually allowing the student to complete work at home that s/he had no time for in class, will be gathered over a long period and kept in the candidate’s file. This file may be inspected at any time by both the exam board and the JCQ inspector, after an application for AAs is processed by the centre.

Because SENDCOs and Exams Officers are rightly concerned about violations (which could include insufficient evidence of the history of need within the centre) which could lead to their centres being sanctioned or having registration removed, we are now seeing fewer centres offering to help with AAs for HE children. The difficulty of providing JCQ inspectors with sufficient centre-based evidence of need may be too great for many Exams Officers and SENDCOs to wish to deal with.

Access Arrangements Flowchart

This is courtesy of Faregos Home Education Exam Centre, but similar procedures will apply to other centres. Tutors & Exams have announced their Free at Pont of Delivery Access Arrangements and have a dedicated SEN team too. Click on the image to see a larger version.

FaregosAAs


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How can you assist your child's request for Access Arrangements?

1. Approach a potential exam centre early on in the process. A year before the exam, in the June – September before, is probably not too early, and say that your child may need AAs.

2. Ask if you may submit a report of an assessment which you have paid for privately or whether the centre has anyone qualified and able to complete the assessment.

3. If the report you have is by a medical consultant or a professional who meets the Specialist Assessor criteria, then make sure that you state this. Criteria are here. http://www.jcq.org.uk/exams-office/access-arrangements-and-special-consideration/regulations-and-guidance/criteria-for-a-specialist-assessor [note link appears to be dead. Try here

http://www.jcq.org.uk/exams-office/access-arrangements-and-special-consideration/regulations-and-guidance/ ]

4. If you use any tutors for any part of your child’s education, such as a home education group being taught by a qualified teacher, or a music teacher etc, or anyone who can support the request by supplying evidence of need for an AA, then ask them to write a letter outlining how they have to adjust their teaching to meet your child’s needs.

5. Be prepared for your child to be reassessed by the SENDCO or for them to have to complete a mock exam at the exam centre. This will inevitably entail extra costs.

See EHE-SEN : Home Education and Special Needs England - Exams

Types of Access Arrangement

Scribes

A few thoughts follow, coming from the Faregos SENDCO, a person who has scribed for candidates in exams, a home-ed mum, and an English tutor.

  • Scribes are not easy to arrange. Certain specific criteria must be met for it to be approved. Normally, the child needs to be assessed by either the centre's SENDCO or a Qualified Assessor whom they employ, well in advance of entering for the exam. You can't just try to enter for the exam just before the deadline and tell the centre, 'Oh, by the way, s/he'll need a scribe.'
  • Where there are obvious physical difficulties (eg no hands), then it is more straightforward to have approved.
  • Some people find it very difficult to organise their thoughts verbally and to dictate, including punctuation, and edit everything the way they want. Some people's brains just don't work like that. Mine doesn't! (I know. I've tried it!)
  • It needs a lot of practice. It really needs practice with the actual person who is going to be doing the scribing in the exam. And no, that can't be Mum. ;-)
  • It's quite difficult from the scribe's perspective, too. When I've done it, I've been sorely tempted to fill in things which I know the student has forgotten, for eg, but I can't. I'm not allowed to bring MY knowledge or skills to bear.
  • You can use a scribe in the Reading portion/paper of an English exam with no loss of marks, but not in the Writing paper or portion. Unless you dictate the spelling of every single word and piece of punctuation, you will lose all the marks available for SPaG. In English, this is often a considerable number.
  • The JCQ is encouraging all who can to use laptops instead of scribes. After all, they argue, you are unlikely to have scribes in the workplace. Usually, it will be word processors.
  • If it is handwriting legibility which is the issue, then a laptop is going to solve that problem, but it will require practice.
  • If it is aching hands/arms, often practice will help to improve stamina and muscle strength. Think of it as being similar to running a marathon. You wouldn't tackle that with no practice in the months leading up to the race.
  • If there is a genuine on-going problem with hand/arm strength which isn't improving, then sometimes the option of regular rest breaks will solve the problem. These are easier to arrange for the exam centre, with a lower burden of evidence for them.

Separate Invigilation (Own Room)

Separate invigilation within the centre. Or having a room of your own for an exam.

Firstly, and most importantly, ‘separate invigilation within the centre’ is an access arrangement (AA) and the need for the arrangement is determined by the SENDCO, in conjunction with relevant teaching staff and Exams Officer.

JCQ (the body responsible for setting the rules about AAs) are clear in that the decision if a candidate is entitled to the arrangement is the responsibility of the SENDCO. So, on what criteria should the SENDCO base this decision? On page 69 of JCQ’s Access Arrangements and Reasonable Adjustments publication, it is clearly stated that the decision must be based on the following criteria:

  • The candidate’s difficulties are established within the centre - the candidate’s difficulties are known to a Form Tutor, a Head of Year, the SENCo or a senior member of staff with pastoral responsibilities.
  • Separate invigilation reflects the candidate’s normal way of working in internal school tests and mock examinations as a consequence of a long term medical condition or long term social, mental or emotional needs.
  • The candidate is at a substantial disadvantage when compared with other non-disabled candidates undertaking the assessment and it would be reasonable in all the circumstances to provide the arrangement. The JCQ document also clearly defines 'disabled' and the terms ‘substantial’ and ‘long term’.

The following are two examples where candidates would be eligible for separate invigilation:

  • A candidate with depression or anxiety who is being supported by the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) .
  • A candidate with an established medical condition or a formally recognised social, emotional or behavioural difficulty.

Where a candidate simply panics on the day of an examination or becomes anxious, then he/she should not be offered separate invigilation but be seated more appropriately within a main examination room.

Working with the SENDCO, and the EO who may highlight issues such as room availability and the need for additional invigilators, a centre-based decision is made on the need for separate invigilation.

The above is adapted from a guide produced for EOs by their industry body, The Exams Office.

As far as the actual experience of home educators and private candidates generally is concerned, practice varies considerably.

Some centres will charge large amounts of money for separate rooms for anyone who asks, ignoring the rules that it must only be for those with a recognised disability or health condition because it would otherwise be an unfair advantage over other candidates. (This does put them at risk of failing their JCQ inspection.)

Many centres are now so overwhelmed by requests for separate rooms, due to the mental health challenges among their own students, that they are restricting this AA. Centres only have so many rooms and can't build more!

Some candidates find it very off-putting being in a room alone with one invigilator. It has been known for some to even complain that the invigilator was 'looking at me all the time' (That's their job). Some anxious candidates may find this intolerable.

Some centres have a 'smaller' room where they put their slightly anxious candidates and/or those with readers, scribes or laptops, so they don't have to go into the main hall. This does NOT require huge amounts of evidence or an illness or disability. But do be aware that it could be a little bit noisier than the main hall.

Some centres have special zones for anxious candidates at the back of the exam room so that they need not worry about being watched by other candidates, or near a door so that they can leave easily for a supervised toilet break if required. Others have a 'quieter' exam room especially for anxious candidates.

Lastly, if your child is the ONLY candidate sitting that exam at the centre and there are no other exams being taken that day by their own students, you may find your child has a room of their own by default. Sometimes parents then report that, 'Getting our own room was easy.' However, it isn't always as easy as that!

Home Invigilation - sitting exams at home

HomeInvigilationJCQ

JCQ Home Invigilation regulations - Instructions for the Conduct of Examinations 2018-2019.

JCQ exam regulations allow for exams to be conducted in a home, hospital, or other venue in 'rare and exceptional circumstances'. Schools and hospital school services sometimes arrange this for pupils who are too unwell to attend school for their exams. If your child is still registered at a school but does not attend and receives EOTAS (Education Otherwise Than At School ) provision from the Local Authority or a school then they may arrange home invigilation for you if they agree it is necessary. However, for children who are electively home educated, ie the parent has deregistered the child or they have never been registered at a school, it is very rare for this option to be available.

Few exam centres will agree to home invigilation because they have a responsibility to ensure the examination is carried out correctly. JCQ regulations concerning alternative sites for examinations specify the exam papers can only be removed from the centre's secure storage facility 90 minutes before the start of the exam (Instructions for the Conduct of Examinations 2018-2019 section 11.3). CAIE (Cambridge) exam board has its own regulations which are slightly different. The centre must be prepared to take responsibility for the paperwork involved in requesting this access arrangement, agreeing a suitable invigilator, checking the venue, undertaking a risk assessment, ensuring the room provided meets exam regulations, getting the exam papers collected from secure storage and taken to the home within the secure time frame, etc. This all has to be arranged and overseen on a day when the centre will usually be running exams at its premises for other candidates. It is a big undertaking for an exam centre. Nonetheless, a few home-educators have found local schools or private exam centres willing to do this.

If the student is worried about leaving the home because of anxiety, it may be possible to find other ways to enable them to sit their exams. You can request a separate room, or a quiet room, within the exam centre, and ask to be allowed to visit the exam centre a number of times beforehand to become accustomed to it.

FareGos Exam Centre for home educated students


The Home Educators' Exam Centre at Fareham (the Faregos Centre) provides low-cost access arrangements in Fareham, Hampshire, and some home educators travel from Birmingham and further afield to go to them.  It runs screening sessions for students who might be entitled to access arrangements.  Generally you would need to get in touch by September at the latest in order to make special arrangements for the following summer's exams, but it is still worth getting in touch at a later date.  See FAREGOS exam centre 2015 message about access arrangements

This centre will be revising its procedures and adding more steps to its evidence-gathering procedures in future. So, if you plan on using FareGos in the future and your child is likely to need AAs, then get in touch about a year before the exam if possible, so it can start the process of evidence-gathering. Its current process is in the Access Arrangements Flowchart above.

Special Consideration

If your child is sick on the day of an exam.

If your child wakes up with an illness so severe that they can’t attend the exam, phone the exam centre right away and speak to the Exams Officer(EO). They will tell you what to do. It is likely that you will need to fill in this form.

The EO will apply for Special Consideration, which is a 'post examination adjustment to a candidate's mark or grade to reflect temporary injury, illness or other indisposition at the time of the examination/assessment'.

If your child has an illness likely to impair their performance, but not serious enough to prevent them from attending the exam, you might try seeing your GP and somehow record that you have done so.

You could ask for the doctor to write a letter to be given to the exam centre but it is very unlikely that they will agree to this these days. The GMC has given GPs advice not to write such letters. Information about this from the BMA is here.

You might try to write a letter yourself with the time and date of the appointment and the receptionist might stamp it with the practice stamp to say that medical advice has been sought. But some practices won’t do that either.

Some GPs offer to print out a section of the child’s medical notes to be given to the exam centre. It would be up to your child as to whether they would like this to happen and they would need to request it themselves because of GDPR regulations.

Try to reassure your child that plenty of other candidates won’t be feeling great that day due to many other common illnesses. Everyone just tries their best and that everything will probably be fine! If you believe that your child’s performance really will be/has been compromised, tell the Exams Officer and see what they say. They may be able to apply for Special Consideration.

You need to let them know as soon as you can. There is no point waiting until the exam results come out!

Links on Access Arrangements and Home Education

Dorothy Murphy - blog on Access Arrangements

Faregos Exam Centre

Don't really want to home educate? If your child is too unwell for school, or is refusing to attend school, and you don't really want to home educate but don't see an alternative, read about EOTAS provision from local authorities before you deregister.

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