Call to allow dyslexic students extra time in State exams to 'help level the playing field'

More than 7,000 people have so far signed a petition launched this week calling on the SEC to introduce extra time for dyslexic students. File picture: Gavin Browne

Ireland is an outlier in not allowing dyslexic students extra time in State examinations, prompting calls to “help level the playing field”.

The Dyslexia Association of Ireland is calling on the State Examinations Commission (SEC) to urgently review its reasonable accommodations policy for dyslexic students.

Students who qualify for the Reasonable Accommodations at Certificate Examinations (Race) scheme may receive a waiver from the assessment of spelling, grammar, and punctuation in the language subjects or access to a reader or a scribe.

They may also be granted the use of a recording device or word processor or laptop.

However, extra time is not among the options, although it is available as standard in exams for dyslexic students at third level.

It is also well established internationally: in France, dyslexic students have access to 33% extra time, in Italy 30%, and in the UK 25% for second-level exams.

Dyslexia affects about one in 10 people, so this is an issue which impacts tens of thousands of students every year in Ireland, according to Dyslexia Association of Ireland chief executive Rosie Bissett.

Extra time is universally recognised as a reasonable accommodation in timed exams and is available to second-level students with dyslexia across most of Europe, so why are young people with dyslexia in Ireland denied this accommodation?

“We are calling on the SEC to urgently review their reasonable accommodations policy to bring it in line with international best practice, and prioritise the needs of young people with dyslexia and other learning difficulties.” 

Petition

More than 7,000 people have so far signed a petition launched this week calling on the SEC to introduce extra time for dyslexic students.

A spokesman for the SEC said it noted the initial results from the survey by the Dyslexia Association of Ireland.

“The SEC will be happy to listen to the views of the Dyslexia Association of Ireland on this and other issues of concern when it meets with them at a planned meeting at the end of the month.” 

From the 2016/17 school year, the Race scheme underwent fundamental reform, he added.

This focused on ensuring greater integration of the Race scheme with the overall Department of Education special educational needs policy.

It also looked at enabling greater access to the scheme by students with learning difficulties and allowing greater autonomy to schools and certainty to students about the examination supports which will be available to them.

Additional time in which to complete the written or practical examinations is not an accommodation that can be sanctioned in its own right under the Race scheme, the spokesman said.

The challenge in determining the allocation of additional time was for candidates with learning difficulties, including dyslexia, was recognised by the expert advisory group.

Two measures were introduced to the scheme in response.

This included the introduction of additional time of 20 minutes per examination paper in 2000 for all candidates in the Leaving Certificate subjects Irish, English, history and geography.

“It remains the case that the examinations in these subjects are 20 minutes longer than the time they were designed to require.”

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The introduction of a waiver from spelling, grammar and punctuation in the language subjects which was also specifically developed to address the time issue for candidates with learning difficulties.

“It should be noted that to our knowledge the waiver from spelling grammar and punctuation in language subjects, which essentially exists in lieu of additional time, is unique to the Irish examinations system.”