GCSE oral components
by Cherry Hughes, BSA Education Officer

Schools should apply for access arrangements for students who stammer when these are helpful.

Students who stammer sometimes require adaptations to oral exams. In English GCSE, oral work is assessed by the teacher over the two years of the course. This means it is easier to make adaptations and there is usually no need to contact the Examination Board (see BSA's web resource for secondary schools, to be launched shortly). However, in modern foreign languages more significant adaptations are often required as the oral work is tested once in examination conditions in the school at the end of the two-year course. The oral is recorded and the tape sent to the Board for assessment. The school must contact the Board if any adaptations (access arrangements) are required for a student.

All the Boards follow the advice on access arrangements of the Joint Council for Qualifications (www.jcq.org.uk) as based on the provisions of the Special Educational Needs and Disability Acts (SENDA). The Board will then make a judgement on the basis of the candidate's individual need. This need must be clearly evidenced and demonstrate that the stammer is having a substantial effect on the pupil's oral work, so it may be helpful if the candidate is placed on School Action beforehand. When the student has the support of a speech and language therapist that professional may be able to offer advice, and/or provide information for the teacher or the Examination Board about the effects of stammering on an oral presentation.

Examination certificate

Since September 2004 there has been no indication placed on a candidate's examination certificate that access arrangements made with the Examination Board have been in place. However, where a candidate has been granted an exemption from either a speaking component within a GCSE or GCE Modern Foreign Language specification, or the speaking component within GCSE English, then an indication is made on the certificate to show that an exemption has been applied. The BSA has always advised that students who stammer should not be exempted by the school from the oral components as these students can achieve good grades with support and adaptations if required.

It is no longer compulsory to study a modern foreign language until 16 and students may choose to end their studies in them at the age of 14. However the BSA would encourage students who stammer to make that decision objectively, independently of their stammering, as with adaptations they can achieve in oral work and may benefit considerably in the modern global economy from having studied a foreign language.

Changes afoot

From September 2009 students beginning their GCSE courses in modern languages will be assessed on different occasions during the course, rather than face a single oral examination at the end.

The new assessments will test a broader range of linguistic skills, such as taking part in an interview or making a presentation to a group. Pupils might also be expected to think on their feet as part of spontaneous discussions.

This will provide students with a chance to use a foreign language in a more realistic context, and will be teacher-assessed so that formal access arrangements may not be required as adaptations may be more easily made. This is a welcome development and should benefit students who stammer and hopefully encourage them to keep up their studies in these subjects.

Cherry can be contacted on tel 01606 77374 or ch@stammering.org

From the Spring 2009 issue of Speaking Out, page 15.

See also: GCSE Oral work - some changes (2010)