Special Examination Arrangements Rationale

A number of medical or psychological disorders affect a student’s ability to access the curriculum effectively, or cause them to under-perform in timed assessments relative to their cognitive ability.

Therefore, case management of these primary and secondary students by schools may lead to them being provided with special conditions in order for them to be able to demonstrate their knowledge, understanding and skills at a level commensurate with their performance in un-timed written or oral assessments.

Similarly, the Curriculum Council of Western Australia provides Special Examination Arrangements (SEA) to Year 12 TEE candidates with an array of medical and psychological conditions. These SEA are provided to allow for students whose long-term physical or psychological needs could prevent them from being assessed accurately if they were to be examined under standard conditions.

Students with neuropsychological disorders such as Specific Learning Disorders and ADHD require compulsory psycho-educational assessments (e.g., WISC-IV, WIAT-II) to support an application to the Curriculum Council for SEA if they are sitting their TEE. Assessments conducted prior to them entering Year 10 are not considered by the Curriculum Council, therefore, reassessment is necessary.

Special Examination Arrangements Overview

Students who may be eligible to receive SEA are those who have long-term physical or learning disabilities, or specific medical needs such as:

  • Vision and/or Hearing Impairments.
  • Physical Disabilities (e.g., Muscular Dystrophy, Cerebral Palsy).
  • Illness or injury (e.g., Diabetes, broken arm).
  • Motor Disabilities (e.g., Developmental Coordination Disorder, Developmental Dyspraxia).
  • Specific Learning Disorders (ADHD, SLDs: i.e., Reading, Writing, or Mathematics).
  • Psychological Disorders (e.g., Anxiety, Depression,).

The SEA available to students varies according to the respective disability and includes such things as:

  • extra reading time
  • additional working time
  • food/medicine in examination
  • provision of a scribe
  • use of a computer
  • specialised equipment/furniture

Compulsory documentation to support an SEA application for ADHD, SLD, and DCD may include:

  • A psychometric assessment (e.g., WISC-IV, WAIS-III).
  • An assessment of reading ability (e.g., WIAT-II).
  • Both of which must be administered by a Registered Psychologist.

When should assessments for SEA applications be conducted:

  • Schools are advised to determine the needs of their students as early as possible. This can occur as early as the few grades of primary school.
  • Preferably these needs should be acknowledged by Year 11 so that the school can make the necessary arrangements for tests, mock examinations and other timed assessment tasks and case-manage the student throughout the post-compulsory years of schooling.
  • TEE applications which contain compulsory assessments (e.g., WISC-III, WRMT-R) conducted prior to the student entering Year 10 will not be considered by the Curriculum Council.

Conditions applying to SEA:

  • The granting of special conditions in Grades 8-12 is at the school’s discretion.
  • Students hoping to be awarded SEA for their Tertiary Entrance Examinations must formally apply to the Curriculum Council of Western Australia.
  • The granting of special conditions by a school does not guarantee automatic approval of SEA by the Curriculum Council for the student’s TEE.
  • Each SEA application must be supported by relevant medical/psychological/educational documentation.
  • The closing date for the receipt of SEA applications from Year 12 TEE candidates is the last Friday of June of their Year 12.

If your child has a medical or psychological disorder, please contact PECS to find out if they are entitled to Special Examination Arrangements. Sometimes they can make a world of difference.