Like most year 11 students, Angus Bayley is feeling the pressure of end-of-year exams.
But Angus isn’t like every other student — he is in the 25th percentile for processing, meaning it takes him a lot longer to read and understand information than most students his age.
“I have really slow processing, I have dyslexia,” he explained.
For Angus’s mid-year exams, his school gave him four-and-a-half hours to complete what is normally a three-hour exam.
That was based on the recommendation of two psychologists — and he said it made a massive difference.
“It felt like I had some kind of breathing room and my brain could actually think,” he said.
“It made it kind of calm and peaceful in a way, as much as it can be in an exam.”
His mother Colleen also saw the impact.
“His confidence increased, he was able to get what was in his head out and he didn’t feel that he had to completely rush,” she said.
Angus’s parents Colleen Johnstone and Phil Bayley have only good words to say about his school.
The issue is, the school is not in charge of the end-of-year exams — and they are the ones that really count.
‘Not enough time for Angus’
In Tasmania, the top five subjects between year 11 and year 12 count towards a student’s ATAR score — the ranking that helps them get into university.
The body in charge of those exams is Tasmanian Assessment Standards and Certification (TASC) and it is only prepared to offer Angus an extra 30 minutes in total — or 10 minutes per hour — saying “Angus has provisions on par with peers with similar conditions”.
“He’s faced this discrimination all of his school life,” Colleen said.
“He’s been recommended a whole heap of allowances: things like having a reader, a scribe, voice-to-text apps and that’s great for the dyslexic part of his disability.
“But for a child with this slow processing issue, having the time and space that their brain needs to communicate information is important.”
It is not the first time Phil and Colleen have dealt with TASC.
Angus’s older sister — who does not have dyslexia or slow processing — was also offered an extra 10 minutes per hour, which makes it all the more surprising.
“Her challenges are not nearly as significant as Angus’s and yet they’ve ended up with exactly the same allowances in terms of time,” Phil said.
“Clearly, it’s not enough time for Angus.”
Extra time on offer for those who need it
An “adjustment” of 10 minutes extra per hour is pretty standard across Australia, although some jurisdictions are more flexible than others.
The country’s tertiary education system can sometimes be more generous.
The University of Tasmania commonly offers an extra 15 minutes per hour through to 45 minutes and even double time.
The Australian Disability Clearinghouse on Education and Training (ADCET), which provides advice on supporting students with disabilities in tertiary education recommends that students with learning disabilities are given an extra 20 minutes per hour to complete exams.
It also says that they should be further adjusted to compensate for the impact of the disability.
For example, it suggests a person with a significant disability be given an extra 30 minutes per hour.
Amelia Jones’s organisation Square Pegs advocates for children with dyslexia.
“It’s not an additional benefit to that child,” she said.
“A lot of the provisions are not even going to come close to achieving equity.”
“You really need to be relying more on the student and the school … to achieve the best outcome and listening to the advice of the health professionals,” she said.
“[In this case] a level playing field is not going to be achieved through an additional [half-an-hour] for a three-hour exam.”
Ms Jones said while things had improved in recent years, Australia would do well to look at countries like France and Italy.
“Internationally, I think Australia is a little bit behind in the time that it offers for [senior secondary] exam provisions,” she said.
“In the UK and [parts of] Europe, they allow 15, 20 minutes per hour or even more.”
Assessment body ‘available to discuss’
In a statement, TASC said it does consider further adjustment based on students’ needs.
“The amount of additional time to complete an exam is not a fixed amount but is a flexible, scalable level of support based on the student’s needs as outlined by their school, the medical advice obtained and national best practices consistent with other senior secondary certification authorities,” it said.
It said while it could not comment on individual circumstances, it had granted students additional time to complete exams greater than 30 minutes.
“Processes are available to discuss approved reasonable adjustments and ensure that they provide equitable access and opportunities for success comparable to any other student,” it said.
LoadingLoading…