Applying for disability provisions
Disability provisions for HSC exams assist eligible students read exam questions and write their answers. Find out about the processes and evidence you will need to apply.
Students who may need provisions
Students may need provisions for:
- a permanent condition, such as cerebral palsy or vision impairment
- a temporary condition, such as a broken arm
- an intermittent condition, such as back pain when sitting for long periods.
Provisions help students to show the markers what they know and can do.
Definitions
Any HSC students with disability recognised in the Commonwealth Disability Standards for Education 2005 can apply for disability provisions.
The definition of ‘disability’ in the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 includes:
- physical
- intellectual
- psychiatric
- sensory
- neurological and learning disabilities
- physical disfigurement
- the presence in the body of disease-causing organisms.
Disability provisions in HSC exams relate to:
- situations where a student needs a practical arrangement to reduce disadvantage in an exam
- some temporary and emergency disabilities, for example if a student breaks their writing arm a week before an examination.
Students who become ill during an exam period may need to make an illness and misadventure application rather than a disability provisions application.
Applying for disability provisions
To apply for disability provisions, schools must submit an online application to NESA through Schools Online, the website which allows principals and selected staff to view and maintain information about their school and students.
This application tells us which provision/s a student is requesting and includes recent evidence including:
- medical reports
- reading results
- spelling results
- writing samples
- teacher comments.
The form should be completed by a:
- year adviser
- school counsellor
- other nominated teacher.
The form asks:
- for the the provisions for which the student is applying
- how the disability affects the student's work in class and in exams.
- for evidence of the student's disability.
Showing evidence of disability
The form asks for a diagnosis of the disability.
If it is not possible for applicants to get a diagnosis, other detailed information must be used to prove the disability.
Applications must detail:
- why the student cannot obtain a diagnosis
- a reasonable history of the student’s difficulty and needs, including previous and current in-school support
- detailed teacher comments which indicate the impact of the student’s condition on their classwork and in exams.
Applications may be declined if all the necessary information is not provided.
Deadlines for applications
Schools must submit completed applications through Schools Online by the last day of term, except where applications based on conditions whose impact may change, such as:
- chronic fatigue syndrome
- post-viral syndrome
- Ross River fever
- glandular fever.
Applications based on these conditions should be submitted in July of the exam year, with teacher comments. The medical documentation should also be dated July.
How the application process works
Once NESA has received the application, a letter acknowledging receipt is published on Schools Online. NESA then processes the application.
The complexity of the case, type of disability and evidence provided will determine who reviews the file. NESA has a panel of specialists that includes:
- medical practitioners
- educational psychologists
- consultants for the visually or hearing impaired.
NESA also has a dedicated Student Support unit who are trained in implementing the approved guidelines.
When a decision has been made, a decision letter listing the approved and/or declined provisions is published through Schools Online, with a copy for both the principal and the student.
Appealing declined provisions
Applicants who want to appeal a provision that's been declined must submit an appeal through the school within 14 days of getting the decision letter.
The appeal must:
- state the reason why the decision is considered unacceptable, making reference to the evidence supplied in the original application
- include new supportive evidence, such as a further medical report, which clearly states why the student needs the provision, or additional reading, writing or spelling test results.
NESA will conduct an independent review and make a decision within 21 days. The outcome of the appeal will be advised to the school and to the student via Schools Online.
Principles for examination modifications
NESA's Principles for examination modifications guide decisions about the types of arrangements that are provided to students with disability so that they can access the HSC exams.
When considering applications for disability provisions, these principles are applied so that:
- every effort is made to provide reasonable adjustments and access arrangements to a student with disability needing such adjustments
- the same academic standards are applied to all students
- adjustments and access arrangements are made without giving any unfair advantage.
Schools are responsible for any decisions made at school level to offer provisions to students with disability in:
- course work
- assessment tasks
- in-school tests.
As school-based assessments may be different to HSC exams, school-determined provisions will not necessarily apply in HSC exams.
Each application is assessed to ensure consistency and equity across the entire HSC cohort.
The Principles
The Principles guide decisions about arrangements for students with disability to access their HSC exams.
The same academic standards must be applied to all students. Any adjustments or access arrangements made must maintain the academic rigour of the examination and the integrity of the credential.
Adjustments and access arrangements must not confer an advantage on the candidate. If a required adjustment confers an unfair advantage, an alternative adjustment may be offered depending on the circumstances. The principle of non-discrimination must be balanced with the maintaining of rigour and integrity and equity for all students.
The adjustments made to an examination will be designed to facilitate access rather than remove or reduce the requirement to demonstrate a skill being tested by the examination.
Access arrangements are intended to increase access to assessments but cannot be granted where they will directly affect performance of the skills that are the focus of the assessment. All inherent requirements of the course are to be maintained at the same standard for all candidates.
If required and approved, reasonable adjustments will be made to the examinations themselves, and/or the procedures for participating in the examinations. Support to the candidate through assistive technologies and other means may also be made available as long as equal rigour and integrity are maintained.
The individual needs of candidates who apply for and are granted disability provisions in examinations will vary. Every effort will be made to provide reasonable adjustments and access arrangements to a student with disability needing such adjustments. A consistent approach to determining any adjustments will be used for all students. The adjustment must be an effective one that can reasonably be provided while maintaining equal rigour and integrity.
A proposed adjustment may not be put in place if to do so would impose unjustifiable hardship on NESA in any way, including the cost, the resources required or the degree of expertise required to change the examination.
In the development phase of the examination, all examination committees consider ways to develop inclusive questions that are appropriate for all students and reduce the need for making adjustments for students with disability without reducing or limiting the rigour or integrity.
Adjustments that require modification to the examination need sufficient time for the adjustment to be made.
Consistent with the above Principles, access arrangements may include using greater proportions of school-based assessments or flexible examination scheduling.
Contact Student Support
- email: studentsupport@nesa.nsw.edu.au
- phone: (02) 9367 8117.