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Using Access Arrangements to support exam success

Many eligible young people fail to take advantage of Access Arrangements. IOE research has highlighted the problem and developed guidance to help more young people benefit from the provision.

Classroom of students taking paper exams. Credit: Potatushkina via Dreamstime
Access Arrangements (AAs) are designed to ensure that all students with Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLD) can showcase their knowledge, expertise, and comprehension during exams. They are mandated by regulation – for instance, by the Equality Act – but there are many obstacles to their being successfully applied, not least the fact that many young people lack understanding of how to use them.

Achieving a level playing field

The IOE Nuffield-funded research led by Dr Emma Sumner, which underpinned Dr Catherine Antalek’s project, focused on practitioners, students with SpLD, and their parents, and investigated current school practices, provisions, and challenges in organising access. Findings from semi-structured interviews highlighted a gap in pupil understanding of AAs, which often results in a barrier to the pupil using an AA effectively. This is important because lack of use can result in the removal of provision.

The research also highlighted the challenges faced by Special Educational Needs Coordinators (SENCos) and Specialist Assessors in building individual cases for students to receive AAs, emphasising the administrative burden when formally applying for AAs.

Creating an infographic to tackle the lack of uptake

The project sets out to help students better understand and effectively use their AAs, and to try to limit the burden on SENCos and Specialist Assessors. Dr Antalek ran a collaborative workshop with SENCos, parents, and pupils. Together, they co-created a guidance infographic, to inform pupils of the nuances of exam AAs and empower them to leverage these adjustments effectively in their assessments.

This infographic was disseminated as an open-access resource through UCL Discovery from November 2023. It has since achieved a national reach, amassing over 400 downloads across the UK. It has also been shared by Communicate-ed, the largest provider of access arrangements training in the UK, with their 2,119 members. Its utility has been acknowledged by educational professionals, with some sending it out in their school newsletters, re-tweeting, sharing on Facebook, and others commenting: “This is an excellent resource,” and: “This looks great, I will be sharing with my students.”

The research findings and infographic have been presented at the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual) biannual Access Consultation Forum, where stakeholders with a relevant interest discuss the accessibility of regulated qualifications and assessments. It has fostered dialogues with UK qualification providers such as the Joint Council for Qualifications, and regulatory entities such as Ofqual aimed at providing guidance for pupils and parents in understanding AAs. This work is part of a wider project examining the efficacy of common Access Arrangements (e.g., extra time, use of a word processor, use of a scribe) to provide an evidence-base for supporting students with SpLDs in their assessments, which will help to implement the findings and the infographic into evidence-based practice in schools across the UK.

Black and white photo of a woman against a purple and blue background. Credit IOE Communications

 

About the academic

Dr Catherine Antalek is a Lecturer at the Department of Psychology and Human Development at IOE. Prior to pursuing her doctoral study, she taught English as a second language to primary aged children in Madrid. Her research interests focus on the neurocognitive processes of reading development for typically developing, dyslexic, and bilingual readers. [2023–24 cohort]

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Images

Potatushkina via Dreamstime. IOE Communications.

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