According to a report (TMID, 13 January), three support groups protested against the procedures used by the MATSEC Board when providing arrangements for candidates with special needs.

The groups complain that “the main bone of contention is that students needing help in their ‘O’ level exams, whether it be a prompter, a reader or a laptop, and succeed in obtaining a grade three or above, are then told that they cannot have help in their ‘A’ levels.” This is incorrect. The withdrawal of extra time and reader concessions applies only to candidates who have been certified as having a specific learning difficulty (dyslexia), but does not apply to candidates with any other condition.

One of the protesters, Mrs Anastasi, states that “if students obtain a grade three or above, it is due to the special arrangements”. MATSEC certificates carry no indication with regard to the provision of access arrangements, and therefore the user of the certificate cannot make any distinction between candidates obtaining the same grade. This situation is likely to mislead users of our certificates and the MATSEC Review Report has referred to the possibility of endorsing certificates where special arrangements have been provided.

Mrs Anastasi also says that “kids will only be granted extra time if they have more than one disability”. This allegation is groundless – there has never been such a regulation in MATSEC examinations, and the arrangements made so far prove otherwise. She speaks about ADHD candidates who have problems with “hyperactivity, impulsiveness and problems with concentration”. Access arrangements for ADHD candidates consist of a prompter, supervised rest periods and time compensation up to 25 per cent of the total time for supervised breaks. These arrangements are made at advanced and intermediate level, irrespective of the grade obtained at SEC level.

Mrs Anastasi is wrong in saying that “candidates requesting access arrangements are limited to doing the B paper”, and also in saying that “if they want to go on to university they need higher grades”. Candidates with special needs can opt (and often do) for paper A or B without any restrictions. University admission requires a pass in the Matriculation Certificate and if any SEC levels are additionally required, all grades one to five are acceptable.

Mrs Anastasi expresses concern at the fact that the English exam is being used as a benchmark. The reason for this is that MATSEC examinations are held in English. Candidates obtaining grades one, two or three in English fall in the top 20 per cent of the ability range in that subject, and should therefore have no problem in coping with the carrier language (i.e. the English component) in subjects such as mathematics, accounts and biology.

Every year, the Special Needs Committee of the university deals with some 200 requests by MATSEC candidates for special arrangements. These arrangements are made according to guidelines published by the Education Ministry and other guidelines published by the Joint Council that regulates GCE and GCSE Examination boards in the UK. Arrangements include extra time, reader, large print, modified paper, special accommodation, amanuensis, personal assistant, communicator, prompter, rest periods, spelling concessions, informing paper marker, informing oral examiner, relative on call, and exemption from a test component.

The SNC discusses every case individually and makes its recommendations to the MATSEC Board.

The Examinations Department then makes the actual arrangements on the day of the examination.

Prof Frank Ventura

Chairman

MATSEC Examinations Board