More than 400 Year 12s received special exam provisions because of anxiety and other psychological conditions
The number of students getting help for psychological illnesses was steadily growing – but now under new rules the number can’t be tracked.
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More than 400 students were receiving special Year 12 exam provisions for psychological illnesses before rules were changed so it is no longer possible to know if numbers are still growing.
Cases related to anxiety alone rose steadily from 111 to 184 from 2014-17. And in 2017 there was a spike in “emotional impairment” cases, including grief, helping to push the total for psychological disorders up by more than a third in a year.
Depression, schizophrenia, ADHD, anorexia nervosa and obsessive compulsive disorder are other categories, as are autism spectrum disorders.
On anxiety, studies have previously blamed private schools for putting too much pressure on students, while experts say Year 12 in general, including exams, can trigger underlying psychological conditions. Some students put too much pressure on themselves even if they are not pushed by schools or parents.
Sitting exams in a separate room, extra time and supervised breaks are among adjustments that also apply to students with physical disabilities and learning difficulties.
Since 2010, schools have been responsible for managing special provisions for school-based assessments, while the SACE Board still had to approve them for exams. Labor’s former education minister, Susan Close, said in 2017 that schools would have autonomy over exams as well from 2018.
The SACE Board told The Advertiser schools had to keep records but no longer had to report them to the board, so statistics are no longer comparable to previous years.
“South Australia is unique because of the high-trust environment our teachers operate in,” chief executive Martin Westwell said. “The policy was updated because schools know their students best. (It has) helped to alleviate any unnecessary stress for students and their families.”
The board still considers and approves applications for “derived” exam results, meaning scores based on students’ previous work. That can be when students can’t sit exams because of medical conditions or psychological disorders.
Derived results can also be approved for “misadventure” beyond students’ control, such as exams being interrupted by fire alarms or errors in exam papers themselves.
The board also still approves exam provisions such as braille or enlarged papers for vision-impaired students.
It would work with schools to “evaluate the effectiveness of the updated policy” and could help schools with “fair, flexible, and equitable management of special provisions”.
Triplets primed for tests
Emily Carroll will face her toughest Year 12 exam on Monday, but at least she’ll have brothers Samuel and Nathan by her side.
The Endeavour College triplets will be among the 3277 to sit the biology paper this morning, the first of the major exam period. The 19-year-olds will do the psychology exam together next week.
Emily said they’ll smile and nod at each other at the start and then get down to business, having studied together around the kitchen table all year.
“We do banter and have small arguments but that’s typical sibling stuff,” she said.
A total of 13,259 students are sitting at least one of the SACE exams, which began last month with foreign languages.
Australian and international politics and music studies are this afternoon.
The top 10 most popular exam subjects, with general maths at No. 1, is the same as last year and in the same order.
Outside of those, politics, economics and Arabic are notably more popular this year while tourism is on the slide.
Emily will do two electronic exams, English literary studies and psychology, while Samuel will do psychology and modern history on computer. About 5600 students will do at least one computerised exam.
“It’s a lot easier because your hand doesn’t cramp up like when you write for two hours” Emily said. She wants to study nursing next year, Nathan is considering a science course such as marine biology, and Samuel could end up a history teacher or a firefighter.
Education Minister John Gardner wished students well on the “home stretch” and urged them to stay positive and make the most of their friends, families and teachers for support.
