Call for students with dyslexia to be given extra time in State exams

More than 10,000 people have signed a petition calling on the State Examinations Commission (SEC) to introduce extra time for dyslexic students in next month’s Junior Cycle and Leaving Certificate exams.

Dyslexia, which affects approximately one in 10 people, is estimated to affect thousands of students due to sit the State exams.

The Dyslexia Association of Ireland launched the petition on Monday of this week and said the scale of the response within 48 hours showed the “strong public response” in support of students.

Currently, extra time is not available for dyslexic students in second-level examinations in Ireland.

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The association said timed exams created many barriers for students with dyslexia and maintained that extra time would help level the playing field.

It said Ireland was an “outlier” in not providing extra time for students at second level given that it was an established option for dyslexic students in countries such as France, Italy and the UK.

It said dyslexic students had between 25-33 per cent extra time in these jurisdictions for second level or college exams.

Rosie Bissett, chief executive of the Dyslexia Association of Ireland, said: “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.”

In a statement, the SEC said it noted the survey results and would be happy to listen to the views of the Dyslexia Association of Ireland on issues of concern at a planned meeting at the end of May.

Supports

It said an extensive range of supports were available to students with special educational needs in accessing the State exams under the Race (Reasonable Accommodations at the Certificate Examinations) scheme.

The measures include – subject to eligibility – a reader or reading assistant, use of a word processor or recording devices, access to a scribe or a waiver from the assessment of spelling or grammar.

A total of almost 25,000 students – or one in five candidates – had access to these supports in last year’s exams.

The commission said any consideration of additional time in which to complete exams could not be viewed in isolation from this scheme of reasonable accommodations.

It said 10 extra minutes per hour was available to candidates under certain circumstances, such as where use of a scribe had been sanctioned; eligible candidates with visual impairments; and candidates who required the use of a mechanical aid but who were unable to make adequate use of it under exam conditions.

However, it said an expert advisory group had previously highlighted the challenge in providing time-related accommodations.

The group noted that ensuring extra time was restricted only to those who would achieve no advantage was “well-nigh impossible”.

“It would require intensive screening of each individual applicant by professionals and, even then, given the variation in the nature and severity of special needs, it would be extremely difficult to decide how much time was required by a candidate and whether or not the additional time conferred an advantage in the examination,” the group concluded.

On foot of this, the SEC said it introduced a waiver from spelling, grammar and punctuation for candidates with learning difficulties, which was understood to be “unique to the Irish examinations system”.

In addition, it added 20 minutes per exam paper in Irish, English, history and geography, to make the time element less critical. It remains the case that exams in these subjects are 20 minutes longer than the time they are designed to require.

The SEC added that its reasonable accommodations scheme continued to be subject to a “process of ongoing review and improvement”.