The number of West Australian students applying for special provisions during their final ATAR exams is growing, despite fewer students choosing to sit them.
More than 1180 applications were made in 2023 for additional support including more time to complete exams, interpreters and specialist equipment, new data from the School Curriculum and Standards Authority shows. It amounts to an increase of more than 70 per cent over the past five years.
An additional 642 students applied for a sickness or misadventure consideration after ATAR, which is provided for those impacted by a temporary sickness, non-permanent disability or “unforeseen misadventure” suffered immediately before or during the examination period.
Five years ago, this number was 492.
The most common reason students across the state are applying for help is for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Rebecca Freeman is a parent of a year 11 child with diagnoses including ADHD and dyslexia, and also works as a developmental educator. Part of her role includes helping apply for special provisions during exams.
Freeman said she had seen the application numbers skyrocket, and believed much of the increase could be attributed to stress and mounting workloads.
“My son is taking five ATAR courses and he has 50 assignments to complete this year – he’s burnt out and he’s not even in year 12 yet,” she said.
“He’s a smart kid, really determined to do ATAR but the system itself is holding him back.”
Freeman said her son was an aural learner and would prefer questions read out loud to him. He was also better at describing concepts than writing them down, and would benefit from having his answers transcribed.
Receiving this kind of help in exams is possible, but only just.
“I was told verbatim that you basically have to have had your arms chopped off to get one of these provisions,” Freeman said.
Even use of a computer is difficult to get approved, despite students completing most assignments this way.
Freeman’s son is allowed a break, and some extra time at the end. He is also allowed a highlighter during the first 10 minutes of reading time.
Even getting those provisions was difficult. Freeman said she was required to provide a report that was no more than two years old, from a psychologist who had never dealt with her family before.
“It cost around $2000 and it was difficult to get an appointment,” she said.
“We also had to time it with the start of year 11 so it remained current through to the end of year 12.
“You also have to prove you have used these kinds of supports before. I have been told the assumption is if you haven’t, why would you need them now?
“It’s like hitting your head against a brick wall.”
A high school teacher at a WA public school, who did not want to be named to protect her job, said getting special provisions was harder at disadvantaged schools.
Sometimes parents could not speak English, or could not afford to spend thousands to get a diagnosis.
Going through the public system could take years, she said, and there was no guarantee of when the appointment would be.
“I reckon there are at least 10 kids I teach who have undiagnosed ADHD or autism. There’s this assumption that everything is diagnosed by high school but that is not the case,” she said.
“Often money allocated to each school is spent on beautification of the grounds, not on things like hiring scribes for assessments – especially when resources are so low.
“It’s a complete dog’s breakfast.”
The teacher said it was heartbreaking to help a family apply for help, then see them refused and witness how that impacted the students.
She described many cases, including a student with ADHD who had failed his final English exam.
His parents requested an additional sheet so he could organise his ideas properly before writing them down when he resat the test.
The request was denied.
A School Curriculum and Standards Authority spokeswoman said their position was that no student should be disadvantaged during exams, and they did their best to meet the needs of students through reasonable adjustments.
“Early engagement with families and caregivers to identify student needs allows schools to discuss interventions and implement appropriate adjustments for school-based assessments in the years preceding ATAR course studies,” she said.
“A student diagnosed with ADD or ADHD would most commonly be provided the adjustments of rest breaks and permission to take medication during the examination.”
She said the authority continued to investigate opportunities for the use of technology in its external assessment processes.
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