Ms Andrea Feeney:

Good morning, Cathaoirleach and members of the committee. I am delighted to have this opportunity to address the committee today on this important issue. It was great to hear from Dyslexia Ireland and Ms Sive O'Brien in the previous session.

We were delighted to meet with Dyslexia Ireland twice over the summer at a meeting with the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, in May, and again in August at a bilateral meeting as a key stakeholder.

The SEC is fully committed to providing an examinations and assessment system with the highest possible standards of inclusiveness, equity and fairness and that enables all candidates to display their achievements. We take very seriously our obligation to provide access to the certificate examinations for candidates with special educational needs and work closely with school authorities, the Department of Education and Youth and other agencies. We also engage with persons with disabilities through their representative organisations and, more recently, in direct engagement with users of the service.

Access to the State examinations is facilitated in the first instance by developing examination papers and other test instruments that are designed to be as accessible as possible to the broadest range of candidates.

Through the scheme of reasonable accommodations or the RACE scheme, candidates with special educational needs are provided with support and access arrangements due to their physical, visual, hearing or learning difficulties. These access arrangements are intended to remove as far as possible the impact of a disability on the candidate's performance and enable the candidate to demonstrate their level of attainment and to ensure that, whilst giving candidates every opportunity to demonstrate their level of attainment, the special arrangements will not give the candidate an unfair advantage over other candidates in the same examination.

These two fundamental principles, which are recognised within examining bodies throughout the world, encapsulate the fundamental challenge of, on the one hand, attempting to provide access for candidates with particular needs to demonstrate their level of attainment while, on the other, attempting to ensure that inter-candidate equity and fairness for all candidates is not compromised in the measures taken to provide access. That is an issue that was raised in the previous session and that we would be happy to come back to.

Schools have devolved authority to recommend the supports that are required based on the candidates' needs.

There is no need for a diagnosis of a specific condition. We want to reflect in the examinations the students' normal way of working.

Eligibility criteria apply and accommodations are provided in accordance with the principles and requirements of the scheme. Accommodations granted at junior cycle are generally carried through to the leaving certificate examinations, which gives certainty from an early stage in students' post-primary education about the supports they will have in the examination. An extensive range of supports is available, including the provision of non-standard versions of examination papers, modified tests, sign language interpreters, assistance in practical tests, access to shared or individual special centres, waivers and exemptions, as well as additional time or rest breaks in certain circumstances. The SEC also recognises the role of assistive technology in enabling independent examinations access. For eligible candidates with learning difficulties, including dyslexia, the main accommodations are reading accommodations, writing accommodations such as access to a laptop, tablet or scribe, a waiver for the assessment of spelling, grammar and punctuation in language subjects, and additional time if the candidate is uses a scribe or assistive technology in the classroom but is unable to make adequate use of them in the examinations.

The number of candidates accessing supports has increased steadily year on year since the SEC was established in 2003, when 5% or 6,200 candidates were provided with reasonable accommodations. Ten years later in 2012, this had increased to 13% of the cohort and this year, when 140,000 candidates will take examination, 26% or 36,240 candidates had access to arrangements under the RACE scheme and a total of 42,000 individual accommodations were provided.

It is absolutely acknowledged by the SEC that there is increasing complexity in the special educational needs landscape and, by extension, the impact on candidates with special educational needs taking the certificate examinations. Some areas of recent focus by commentators and stakeholders in relation to the RACE scheme include the provision of supports for candidates who have processing or cognitive issues; the range of supports appropriate to those who are vision impaired or who are deaf or hard of hearing; and the adequacy of additional time within the scheme, which is particularly relevant to the discussion today.

The SEC continues to work on a comprehensive system-wide review of the RACE scheme which will seek to address all the relevant issues and take account of best practice internationally. The review is contextualised in the senior cycle redevelopment programme and the wider special educational needs policy landscape, which itself has been subject to a major review. The SEC's board is also cognisant of the programme for Government commitment to develop an appropriate mechanism to allow additional time for students with specific needs and in certain circumstances, and also to ensure that those who use assistive technology can do so in State examinations. A steering group has been established and six meetings have been held to date, the most recent of which was on Monday, 29 September. This group, which I chair, includes external members drawn from Government, academic and international organisations, as well as senior SEC officials. Their names are included in the briefing material provided. The structure is designed to ensure rolling changes can be implemented as the review progresses, rather than awaiting a big-bang approach at the end of the full review period, which is two to three years, as was mentioned. This will ensure any changes can be implemented as early as possible in the interests of students. Already, and on a pilot basis for 2025, additional time for vision-impaired candidates was increased from ten minutes per hour to 15 minutes per hour. This was the first major change relating to additional time in more than 20 years.

The SEC is engaging an external researcher to support the review and lead an extensive consultation and engagement with stakeholders. This will include young people with special educational needs, their families and representative organisations. The SEC is currently finalising the 2026 instructions for schools to ensure it will be available to schools as soon as possible, and stakeholders will be made aware as soon as these are published.

My colleagues and I are happy to respond to any questions the committee may have.