Barriers to tests and exams for autistic pupils: improving access and longer-term outcomes

ABSTRACT

Despite the availability of access arrangements for tests and exams for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities, many autistic children and young people have low academic achievements. There is also a lack of consensus on what their educational priorities should be and a failure to link their school programmes to longer-term outcomes. More broadly in the UK, the value of tests in primary school is contested. In this qualitative study based in five mainstream primary schools in England, school staff (n = 36), autistic children (n = 10), their parents (n = 10), autistic adults (n = 10), and a sample of parents of children in the same class as the participating autistic children (n = 63) provided their views on school tests and educational priorities for primary school pupils. Findings reveal mixed opinions on what autistic pupils should study in school, and suggest that they are not receiving the access arrangements for tests to which they are potentially entitled. Additional factors, including stress in school and the language of test questions, create further barriers to education and success in tests. Addressing these issues and consulting with autistic pupils on their educational priorities could help improve their future well-being and attainment.

KEYWORDS:

• Autism
• school tests
• access arrangements
• educational priorities
• outcomes

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council [grant number ES/S011161/1].

Notes on contributors

Rebecca Wood

Dr. Rebecca Wood is a Senior Lecturer in Special Education and the University of East London. She completed her PhD in autism and education at the University of Birmingham, and an ESRC postdoctoral fellowship at the Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, King’s College London.

Francesca Happé

Professor Francesca Happé is Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College London. She was Director of the Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre and is a Fellow of the British Academy and the Academy of Medical Sciences, and past-President of the International Society for Autism Research (INSAR; 2013–2015).