Ms Andrea Feeney:

I will let my colleague from the Department take the second question. On the first question as to why not now, it is really the scale that we are looking at. In defining eligibility, how do we determine, within the 36,000 students, who is eligible for additional time? We are providing additional time within the scheme at the moment. It is not that there is no additional time. Additional time is being provided to students who are provided with a scribe or are vision-impaired and in other limited circumstances.

We have constraints in terms of the examination timetable. Examinations are already quite long. We have exams that last three hours and ten minutes, and that can increase to four and a half hours if additional time is provided at a rate of 25%. There could be students who are sitting a four-hour exam twice a day, based on the current timetable. This is the experience. We have feedback from students where they are provided with additional time in those circumstances. They are struggling with things like fatigue in those examinations.

Within the review, we have commissioned research and consultation. We want to look at what is best practice within the higher education context here, but also what is happening abroad in terms of looking at what might be possible. In the meantime, we want to introduce something on a pilot basis. There was discussion earlier about the withdrawal of the spelling and grammar waiver and the additional time that is there in four subjects for all students at the moment.