But they were forced to back down after being threatened with legal action under the Equalities Act. The pupil, who hasn't been named, suffers from autism and attention deficit disorder. She'll sit in a separate area so the noise doesn't disturb other pupils. Teachers will load her favourite tracks on to a new iPod to ensure it doesn't contain study notes.
A source at the private £10,000-a-year school said: "The implications of this are massive. It would be a nightmare if we had to put music on every pupil's iPod." Nick Seaton, of the Campaign for Real Education, added: "This is ridiculous. Exams lose their integrity if some children are treated differently from the others."
Linda Moule, deputy head of Mary Erskine School, said they lifted the restriction due to a "special arrangement". An SQA spokesman said: "This decision sets no precedents. The candidate has a disability and could be disadvantaged if not able to listen to music during exams. We treat all requests for special arrangements on their individual merits."
4 comments:
What happens if she loves "Tom Lehrer's 'The element song'" during her chemistry exam?
Heh heh, obviously they haven't thought this though.
A college classmate of mine was allowed to use a Discman (it was the mid-90s) during exams because of his ADD. The rest of us thought it was a lot of bull.
WOW...only in Scotland. Here in the U.S. if caught with that iPod she would have been arrested, handcuffed, strip-searched, expelled and then fined.
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