Access is often misunderstood as something triggered by a label, SEND, diagnosis, register, or formal identification.
Reasonable adjustments exist to address fairness, not categorisation.
In education, this is often discussed in terms of exam access arrangements, and in employment as reasonable adjustments, but the underlying principle is the same: removing barriers so capable people are not placed at a substantial disadvantage.
High ability, strong attainment, or professional competence do not remove the need for access. In many cases, they mask it.
Not just for SEND pupils
I see this regularly in schools and colleges. There is a persistent belief that exam access arrangements are only for students who are on the SEND register, have an EHCP, or are visibly struggling academically. That is simply not the case.
A student does not need to be labelled SEND, have a diagnosis, or be underperforming in lessons to be eligible for exam access arrangements. What matters is whether they are placed at a substantial disadvantage under exam conditions.
I regularly assess students who are high attaining, working at grades 8–9 in lessons, doing well in class discussions and coursework, and not identified as SEND.
Yet when they sit formal exams, particularly those involving extended writing, their outcomes drop to 6s or 7s.
I see the same pattern at A level. Students producing A-grade work in lessons can drop to Cs in timed exam conditions. Not because they lack understanding, but because they run out of time.
Masking ability
High cognitive ability can mask difficulties such as slower processing speed, working memory inefficiencies, or increased cognitive load when planning and structuring answers.
In everyday lessons, these students often cope well and compensate effectively. It is only under timed exam conditions that the difficulty becomes apparent.
This pattern does not stop at school or college. Through workplace needs assessments, I see this all the time with adults who are clearly capable and well qualified but still struggling to get work done.
It’s rarely about competence; it’s about not having the right structures, strategies, or adjustments in place to manage time, memory, organisation, or workload.
Many of these individuals have progressed through education without formal identification, developed strong compensatory skills, and only encounter significant difficulty once the demands of the workplace expose underlying needs.
The issue is not ability. It is access.
Creating the right conditions
Grades tell you what a student knows. Exam access arrangements, like reasonable adjustments at work, address whether the conditions allow that knowledge or competence to be demonstrated fairly.
Reasonable adjustments are not a reward. They are not an advantage. And it is not about lowering standards. It exists to remove a barrier that would otherwise skew the result. The expectation doesn’t change. What changes is whether someone can show what they’re capable of.
When formal identification or a register becomes the only trigger for support, people get missed. Not every need is obvious, and not every disadvantage comes with a label.
Some difficulties have been there for years, only really showing themselves under pressure, and often masked in everyday situations but they can have a real impact in exams and at work.
Inclusion is a process rooted in evidence, professional judgement, and fairness
Good decisions around exam access arrangements and reasonable adjustments come from looking at the bigger picture over time. Patterns matter. Evidence matters. Professional judgement matters. Labels and grades on their own don’t tell the full story.
Under the Equality Act 2010, organisations have a duty to make reasonable adjustments where a person is placed at a substantial disadvantage, regardless of whether that need has been formally diagnosed or recorded.
Inclusion is not a list. It is not a register.
It is a process rooted in evidence, professional judgement, and fairness.
