Official Statistics

Access arrangements for GCSE and A Level: 2016 to 2017 academic year

Access arrangements allow skills and knowledge to be demonstrated by candidates with disabilities, temporary illnesses or special educational needs.

Applies to England, Northern Ireland and Wales

Documents

Access arrangements 2017 - report

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Access arrangements 2017 - background information

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Access arrangements 2017_England

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Access arrangements 2017_Northern Ireland

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Access arrangements 2017_Wales

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Details

  1. There were 392,955 approved access arrangements this year, up 5% on the academic year 2015 to 2016.
  2. There were 5,380 centres (91% of all centres) which had approved access arrangements for one or more of their students, compared to 90% of all centres last year.
  3. 25% extra time arrangements made up 57% of all approved arrangements in the academic year 2016 to 2017, compared to 55% in the academic year 2015 to 2016.
  4. There were 48,080 modified papers this year, up 26% on 2016, mostly due to an increase in non-interactive electronic question papers.

Geographical coverage

The report presents data on approved access arrangements in England. Reports published in previous years included data for learners in Wales and Northern Ireland as well. As such, historical figures in this year’s report reflect data for England and may differ from previously published figures.

For all statistical releases for the academic year 2016 to 2017, Ofqual will publish separate data tables for learners in Wales and Northern Ireland, without commentary.

Responsibility for publishing data for learners in Wales and Northern Ireland has been passed to Qualifications Wales and CCEA respectively for the academic year 2017 to 2018 and beyond.

User feedback

We are publishing our statistical releases in a new format and would really like to hear your views on it. Please send any comments on this statistical release and how to improve it to meet your needs to statistics@ofqual.gov.uk.

Updates to this page

Published 30 November 2017

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