Association of Young People with ME

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Sixth Form Entry Criteria

Schools will often have a selection criteria for students entering sixth form. This can be a problem for young people with ME reaching the end of compulsory schooling at sixteen who wish to continue with their studies but who have been too ill to achieve the number of GCSEs needed to qualify under the criteria.

I have spoken to various organisations including Learning and Skills Council (LSC), who provide funding post-16, and Disability Rights Commission (DRC) who provide a Code of Practice which offers guidelines to define the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) on educational issues. This is a summary of my findings.

Whilst there is no obligation on them, many schools choose to have selection criteria. This may well be specific grades at GCSE. This is to determine prior educational achievement to ensure a young person is appropriately placed on a learning programme they are able to achieve. But often, the difficulty for a young person with ME is one of attendance rather than academic ability.

The DDA centres round two core duties - the first, to make reasonable adjustment and, the second, to prevent less favourable treatment for disabled pupils.

In the Code of Practice for Schools, which includes school sixth forms, para 4.22 says, with regard to admissions:

a responsible body must not discriminate against a disabled person in the arrangements they make for determining admission, or in the terms on which they offer pupils admission or by refusing to accept an application from someone who is disabled.

Paras 6.28 - 6.30 demonstrate scope for a responsible body to make reasonable adjustments to selection criteria for a school sixth form. The DRC feels the following extracts, in particular, make it clear that, if a pupil had demonstrated every possiblility of achieving the required academic criteria, but was prevented from doing so solely for the reasons of disability, then the school may have to consider making a reasonable adjustment and consider the admission as long as it can utilise an alternative method of establishing the prospective pupil's ability to meet the required standard:

6.28 To comply with the reasonable adjustments duty, responsible bodies will need to consider what they might do to ensure that disabled pupils are not at a substantial disadvantage. There may be a variety of ways in which adjustments might be made. In considering whether it is reasonable to have to take a particluar step, responsible bodies must have regard to any relevant provisions of this Code of Practice.

6.29 The reasonable adjustments duty assumes the involvement of disabled pupils in every aspect of the life of the school. A careful consideration of how that participation is best facilitated will help the responsible body to determine what a reasonable step might be. Any relevant factors need to be explored and balanced. They need to be weighed against the potential for a disabled pupil being placed at a substantial disadvantage.

Admission would be left to the discretion of the individual school but would need to be in accordance with the DRC's Code of Practice For Schools. Many schools now offer flexible packages to pupils but it would be up to the individual institution how and whether they can do this. So the main advice to parents and young people in this situation would be to meet the Head of Sixth Form and discuss the situation face to face.

In addition, it would be wise to investigate local colleges to see which programmes of study are available and which institution is offering the most flexible package. Initially, applicants to colleges should always speak to the Special Needs Co-ordinator.

Code of Practice for Schools is available from www.drc-gb.org or telephone 08457 622 633 This should not be confused with the Code of Practice Post-16 which is for colleges of Further and Higher Education and not for school sixth forms.

Article last edited on Thursday 12th August 2010 Printable Version

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