Is My Child a Candidate for Accommodations and/or Concessions?

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If your child knows the work but seems to fall apart the moment a test or exam starts, you’re not alone – and you’re asking exactly the right question. Many parents don’t realise that struggling under assessment conditions is different from struggling with the actual content. That distinction is often the first clue to what kind of support your child might actually need.

Accommodations and concessions exist to give learners with genuine barriers to learning a fair shot at succeeding academically. But they solve two different problems – and it’s not always obvious which one applies to your child, or whether it’s really a tutor you need instead. Here’s how to start figuring that out.

difference between accommodation and concession

What’s the Difference Between an Accommodation and a Concession?

This is worth getting right, because the two terms get used loosely but mean different things:

Accommodations change how your child engages with or writes an assessment – not what they’re being assessed on. Extra time, a reader, a scribe, rest breaks, enlarged print, being allowed to type instead of write: all of these adjust the conditions of the exam itself, while the actual content and standard your child is measured against stays the same.

Concessions change what your child is required to study or be assessed on in the first place. Being exempted from a First Additional Language, or granted an exemption from Mathematics and  Mathematical Literacy, are concessions – they alter the curriculum or subject requirements, not just the writing conditions.

Put simply: if the support changes how your child sits an exam, it’s an accommodation. If it changes what they’re required to take at all, it’s a concession.

Many learners only ever need accommodations. Some need a concession as well. It depends entirely on the nature of the barrier.

Signs Your Child Might Need Accommodations

A few patterns tend to point toward an accommodation – support that changes exam conditions, not subject requirements:

  • They know the work at home but blank out in tests. If your child can explain a concept clearly the night before, but the mark doesn’t reflect that understanding, the gap may be in how the assessment is administered.
  • They run out of time, every time. Not occasionally rushing the last question – consistently unable to finish, even on content they understand well.
  • Reading or writing itself is the obstacle. If your child can discuss a topic fluently but struggles to get thoughts onto paper, or reading a question is where they stumble, a reader or scribe accommodation may be worth exploring.
  • Focus, not knowledge, is the issue. Some learners – often those with ADHD or who are on the autism spectrum – know the content but lose the exam to distraction, hyperfocus, or difficulty pacing themselves.
  • There’s a diagnosed or suspected physical or medical barrier. Vision, hearing, mobility, or a condition requiring breaks or medication during a long assessment.
  • Anxiety takes over. Some learners have the knowledge and the skills, but the pressure of the assessment itself derails their performance.
  • Spelling or handwriting quality is masking what they actually know. If untidy writing or spelling errors seem to be costing marks unrelated to the subject itself, that may be an accommodation issue.

Signs Your Child Might Need a Concession

Concessions are a different question entirely – this is about whether a specific subject or requirement is the barrier, not the exam conditions:

  • A specific subject is consistently and disproportionately difficult, in a way that seems tied to a diagnosed difficulty rather than lack of effort or support – for example, a learner with dyscalculia struggling with Mathematics specifically, regardless of how much support is in place elsewhere.
  • A language requirement is the primary obstacle, particularly where a First Additional Language is proving to be a barrier unrelated to overall academic ability.
  • The issue persists despite accommodations already being in place. If your child already has extra time or a reader and a specific subject is still consistently out of reach, that may point toward a concession conversation rather than a further accommodation.

Is It a Tutor I Need, or Accommodations/Concessions?

This is the question we get asked most often, and it’s a genuinely important one to get right, because these solve different problems.

A tutor helps when the issue is understanding the content. If your child hasn’t fully grasped a topic, is behind on curriculum, or needs to build confidence and skill in a subject, tutoring is the right tool – and often makes a real, measurable difference to marks over a term.

Accommodations help when your child understands the content but can’t reliably demonstrate it under standard exam conditions – because of how they read, write, focus, or manage time. Concessions help when a specific subject or requirement itself is the barrier, regardless of how much support is given.

For some learners, it’s a combination of all three. A learner with dyscalculia, for example, might benefit from Maths tutoring, an accommodation like extra time, and ultimately a concession from the standard Mathematics requirement if the barrier persists. These aren’t competing solutions – they can work together.

If you’re not sure where your child’s situation falls, that uncertainty is itself worth raising with a professional, rather than trying to resolve it alone.

Does It Matter Which School or Exam Body My Child Is Under?

Yes – and this trips a lot of parents up. Accommodations and concessions aren’t governed by one single set of rules. Whether your child is in a CAPS (public school), IEB (private school), or Cambridge/international curriculum changes:

  • Who assesses eligibility
  • What documentation is required
  • How the application is submitted
  • How long it takes to get a decision

The good news is you don’t need to become an expert in all of this yourself. Your first move is simply to find out which body governs your child’s assessments. Your school will know – and take it from there.

For the full breakdown of every accommodation and concession type, plus the step-by-step process for each curriculum, see our Ultimate Guide to Concessions and Accommodations.

What Happens If I Think My Child Needs to Apply?

Broadly, the path looks like this regardless of curriculum, and regardless of whether you’re pursuing an accommodation, a concession, or both:

  1. Start the conversation with your child’s school – their teacher, school counsellor, or head of phase can point you to the right internal process.
  2. Get a professional assessment, usually from an educational psychologist, if the concern relates to a learning, emotional, or behavioural barrier. Physical or medical barriers usually require a medical report instead.
  3. Submit the required documentation through your school or governing body, and allow time – this process is rarely instant.

This is a simplified overview on purpose. Every governing body has its own forms, timelines, and specific requirements, and getting those details right matters.

Once Support Is Approved – What Then?

If your child’s approved accommodation doesn’t require another person present – extra time, a separate venue, enlarged print – your school will generally implement this directly.

If your child is approved for an accommodation that requires a facilitator – a reader, scribe, prompter, or similar – the next step is finding the right person for the job. This matters more than it might seem: a facilitator isn’t just administrative support. Rather, they’re someone your child needs to feel comfortable and confident with in a high-pressure moment.

This is where BrightSparkz comes in. We’ve placed concession facilitators for learners for years, across CAPS, IEB, and tertiary institutions. Every facilitator we place is trained, vetted, and backed by a team – so if your regular facilitator can’t make an exam, you’re never left without support. Our experienced team has put together a blog on what facilitators want clients to know, if you’d like to learn more about the nitty-gritty. 

Not Sure Where You Stand? Start Here

If you’re still unsure whether your child needs an accommodation, a concession, a tutor, or a conversation with their school first. That’s completely normal – this isn’t always a clear-cut decision. It shouldn’t have to be one you figure out alone.

Get in touch with BrightSparkz Tutors and we’ll help you think through the right next step for your child.

What Your Concession Facilitator Wishes You Knew (But Can’t Tell You During Your Exam)

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If you or your child uses an accommodation or concession facilitator (Facilitator) during assessments, you already know that accommodations like scribing and reading can make a significant difference. What you might not know is just how much your Facilitator wants to help – and how limited they are in what they’re allowed to say or do once an assessment begins.

That’s exactly why this guide exists. Consider it everything your Facilitator would tell you if they could.

using readers and scribes well

Understanding the Role of a Concession Facilitator

A concession facilitator is there to support a learner who has been granted specific accommodations or concessions by their university, school or examination board. Some exam boards refer to these as access arrangements – it’s the same thing. These accommodations might include having someone write on the learner’s behalf (a scribe), having the paper read aloud (a reader), or a combination of both (an amanuensis).

Here’s the thing: once an assessment starts, your Facilitator’s hands are largely tied. Governing boards set strict rules about what a Facilitator may and may not do – and stepping outside those rules, even with good intentions, could jeopardise the integrity of the assessment. That means your Facilitator won’t be prompting you (unless you have a Prompter concession/accommodation), reminding you of things, or filling in gaps. They’re not being unhelpful; they’re following the rules.

The good news? A lot can be sorted out before you sit down to write. This guide is here to help you do exactly that.

To learn more about Concessions, please check out our Ultimate Guide!

General Tips for Working With Any Concession Facilitator

Communicate Your Needs Early and Clearly

Your Facilitator genuinely wants to support you – but they can only do that if you tell them what you need. Before the assessment begins, share your preferences. Do you like things read back to you slowly? Do you prefer to organise your thoughts before dictating? Is there a particular way you like to work through a paper? Say so upfront. The more your Facilitator knows about how you work best, the more effectively they can support you within the rules.

Book Your Facilitator as Far in Advance as Possible

A good Facilitator is committed to the learners they support and would love to work consistently with the same learner or student over time. That kind of familiarity genuinely helps – they’ll know your preferences, your pace, and your way of working. But that consistency is only possible if you book in advance. Scheduling conflicts are real, and leaving it too late means you might end up with someone who doesn’t know you at all on a high-stakes day.

Your Facilitator Works on Your Instruction – Not Their Initiative

Regardless of what accommodation you’ve been granted, your Facilitator is not allowed to act independently. They will not remind you to answer a question you’ve skipped, point out that you’ve misread something, or suggest a better way to phrase your answer. Everything is driven by you. That’s why it’s so important to know what you want and to say it clearly. If you ask for something that falls outside the rules, your Facilitator will let you know – but they’d always rather you ask than hold back.

Pay Attention to Mark Allocation

This is one of the most practical tips in this entire guide: check how many marks a question is worth before you answer it. A full page of writing for a two-mark question will not earn you extra marks – but it will cost you precious time. Use mark allocation as a guide for how much effort and detail each answer deserves.

Use Reading Time Wisely

If your school or examination board allows reading time before the assessment officially begins, use it strategically. Rather than reading everything from start to finish, prioritise the questions themselves first. Skip lengthy texts, case studies, or comprehension passages on your first pass – come back to those only if time permits. Knowing what’s being asked before you read the source material is a significant advantage.

Working With a Scribe

A scribe writes on your behalf. This is an incredibly useful accommodation, but it works best when you understand exactly what a scribe can and cannot do.

Organise Your Thoughts Before You Dictate

While your Facilitator can’t suggest this to you mid-exam, it’s worth building this habit now: before you start dictating your answer, take a moment to gather your thoughts. Jot down rough ideas, a quick outline, or key words on scrap paper first. This is especially valuable for longer-format questions. It helps you think in a straight line, ensures you don’t forget a good idea before your scribe can capture it, and gives you a chance to spot flaws in your reasoning before they’re committed to the answer book.

Ask your school or examination board how to handle rough work: some will provide scrap paper that gets handed in with the final script, while others will give you an additional answer book where rough work can be crossed out neatly and clearly.

Your Scribe Writes Your Words – Exactly as You Say Them

This is crucial to understand. A scribe is not permitted to interpret your meaning or tidy up your phrasing. They write what you say, word for word. That means the responsibility for accuracy sits entirely with you. Continuously check in – ask your scribe to read back what they’ve written, and make sure it matches what you intended to say.

Be Precise With Commonly Confused Words

Because your scribe captures your words as you say them, you’ll need to be deliberate about words that sound similar but mean different things. A common example is “then” versus “than” – make sure you’re saying the right word clearly. The same applies to apostrophes: if you want one included, say so explicitly. Don’t assume your scribe will infer it.

Give Clear Instructions About Layout and Formatting

Tell your scribe exactly where you want things written. If you want the question number noted at the top of your answer, say so and indicate where on the page. If the exam rules require a margin line to be drawn, or for each new question to start on a fresh page, you need to give those instructions – a scribe is not permitted to apply formatting rules of their own accord, even if they know the rules perfectly well.

You Can Answer in Any Order You Like

You’re generally free to tackle the paper in whatever order suits you. Just make sure you’re very clear about which question you’re answering each time so that your scribe can note the correct question numbers. Jumping around the paper is completely fine – the communication just needs to be explicit.

Working With a Reader

A reader reads the paper aloud to you. Like scribing, this accommodation works best when you take an active role in directing how it’s used.

You’re in Control of What Gets Read – and When

You don’t have to have every single thing read to you. You’re allowed to tell your reader to skip the cover page instructions if you already know them, or to pass over any numbers, formulae, or graphs if you’d rather engage with those visually. If you want to start with the shorter questions at the back of the paper before tackling the longer ones at the front, instruct your reader accordingly. This is your assessment – your reader is there to support your strategy, not set it.

Ask for the Pace That Works for You

There is absolutely no shame in asking your reader to slow down. Everyone processes spoken information differently, and a pace that feels comfortable for one person might be too fast for another. If you need something re-read, ask. If the pace needs adjusting, say so. Your reader is not there to rush you – they’re there to help.

Signal When You’re Ready to Move On

Once you’ve finished answering a question, let your reader know verbally. They’ll take that as their cue to read the next question. Without that signal, there can be unnecessary pauses and confusion. A simple “done” or “next question, please” goes a long way.

A Note for First-Timers

If you’ve never worked with a concession facilitator before, the formal setting of an assessment might not be the best place to figure out how the dynamic works. Consider booking a practice session with your Facilitator before your first real assessment. Use it to get to know each other, establish your preferences, and trial a few approaches without the pressure of marks on the line. Think of it as a warm-up – for both of you.

The Bottom Line

Working effectively with a concession facilitator comes down to one thing: communication. Your Facilitator is in your corner. They want you to do well. But the rules of formal assessment mean they can’t guide you the way they might in any other context.

So guide them instead. Tell them what you need, be clear and specific, and take ownership of how your accommodation is used. The more intentional you are about the partnership, the more value you’ll get from it – not just in one exam, but across every assessment to come.