ANFA Response To Proposal To Scrap GCSE's

On the day that the Government published two documents setting out its approach and commitment to enable disabled people to fulfill their potential and play a full role in society http://odi.dwp.gov.uk/fulfilling-potential/index.php  they also announced that they intend to scrap GSCE’s and replace it with a rigorous exam system. GCSE’s will be replaced with English Baccalaureate Certificates in 2017, if the current Government is re-elected.

Michael Gove told MP's that GCSE's had been designed "for a different age and a different world".
He said the changes would modernise the exam system "so we can have truly rigorous exams, competitive with the best in the world, and making opportunity more equal for every child".

Act Now For Autism do not agree that creating a system that relies solely on a rigorous exam system can ever provide a child with autism with an equal opportunity to succeed.

At a time when this Government wants to concentrate its efforts on what people with disabilities can do as opposed to what they cannot do, they are proposing to roll out a system that will, for children with autism, make it much harder for them to prove what they can do.

It is well documented that autistic children often struggle in exam conditions as they often suffer from extreme anxiety when they are expected to perform in an environment that is alien to them and under very stringent time restraints.

Being unable to gain marks for course work produced during the two school years that lead up to an examination will leave pupils with autism at a distinct disadvantage to other pupils.  

Reasonable adjustments will have to be made otherwise the new system will discriminate against children with autism as well as children with other neurological conditions.

At the moment there are only 15% of autistic adults in the UK who are in full time employment. Act Now For Autism is very concerned that the new English Baccalaureate Certificate will make it even harder for children with autism to succeed into secure employment.