36% more pupils given extra time to sit their exams

THE number of pupils being granted extra time in A-level and GCSE exams has risen by more than a third in three years.

The revelation has prompted concerns that pushy parents may be abusing the system.

A total of 228,930 pupils in England had longer to finish their papers this summer – around 60,000 or 36 per cent more than in the summer of 2014, data from the exams regulator shows.

Most of those granted the privilege – usually reserved for those with special educational needs – got 25 per cent extra time this year. But 5,525 were granted more, with some getting as much as 50 per cent extra.

In the past year alone, those getting 25 per cent extra time rose from around one in eight to just under one in six, the data shows.

Regulator Ofqual yesterday said reviews must take place in schools which request special treatment for abnormally high numbers of pupils ‘without obvious good reason’.

More time is granted for pupils who have special needs, including those with dyslexia, attention deficit disorder (ADD), Asperger’s syndrome, or speech and language issues. It means they can continue working on their papers after their peers have been forced to stop.

The rise in candidates obtaining the privilege suggests schools may be making requests for children who in the past would not have had special treatment.

Alan Smithers, professor of education at the University of Buckingham, said: ‘Extra time does confer an advantage.

‘As parents and schools have become more aware that extra time can be claimed and that more and more candidates are getting it, more are trying for it. It is an open goal for both pushy parents and pushy schools.’ According to official rules, anyone wanting extra time for a disability must pass a test assessed by experts to confirm they are at a sufficient enough disadvantage to qualify.

However, specialists have raised concerns that conditions such as dyslexia are being over-diagnosed. Julian Elliott, professor of educa- tion at Durham University, has said too many university students with mild literacy problems, such as poor spelling and grammar, are being wrongly diagnosed as dyslexic.

He added: ‘The concept of dyslexia is now so broad that it encompasses so many things. Dyslexia has gone beyond its original meaning of [a person] having a complex decoding problem.’ According to the Higher Education Statistics Agency, there were 104,580 university students with dyslexia in 2012-13, compared with 74,490 in 2007-08.

A survey of teachers by GL Assessment this year found 57 per cent think dyslexia and ADD are commonly misdiagnosed. A similar proportion said pressure from parents had led to some pupils receiving these labels unnecessarily.

An Ofqual spokesman said: ‘The use of extra time in GCSE and Alevel exams has increased in recent years. Disabled students are entitled to a reasonable adjustment when taking their exams and it is important that appropriate adjustments are made for them.

‘We have looked at the proportion of students at individual schools and colleges in England who are given extra time. Some have relatively high numbers of approvals compared with the average, and some have very few.

‘We intend that centres which, without obvious good reason, make particularly high or low use of extra time are asked to review their approach.’