By Lara McKirdy
Many students may now be aware that ANU replaced deferred examinations and special consideration with the ‘Extenuating Circumstances Application’ (ECA) in semester 2 2023.
The goal of the system was to streamline extension/deferred exam/special consideration processes to take the pressure off course convenors. However, it is clear that there are other motivating factors for the change – we are currently seeking ANU Media’s comment to better understand their reasoning before making our own conclusions.
Notably, ECA removed Special Consideration as an adjustment.
What is ECA for?
Deferred examinations and assessment extensions.
Only applies to assessments worth 20% or more of a student’s overall mark (which is most if not all assessments)
Applies to both assignments and exams. The goal of the system was to streamline extension/deferred exam/special consideration processes to take the pressure off course convenors. However, other reasons have come to light:
However, the struggle of the system to adapt to new criteria paired with student confusion and stress has made getting a damn deferred exam harder than ever, not least for those living with disability. Peppercorn outlines the main issues for readers below:
EAPs
Students who require accessible means to participate in university generally have an Education Access Plan (EAP) to more efficiently acquire adjustments. EAPs are meant to provide a legal means for students to receive necessary accommodations.
However, EAPs are no longer generally sufficient to qualify for a deferred examination, amongst other adjustments. Reportedly, students living with one or more medical conditions are having to repeatedly provide personal medical paperwork outlining diagnoses, medical evidence and corroborative material to “demonstrate” their hardship.
This can be exhausting for students who have already given so much time to acquiring an EAP, which requires medical evidence, details of needed adjustments, requires a face-to-face interview and must be renewed each semester.
Special Consideration
The removal of Special Consideration spells significant adversity for students living with chronic health conditions.
Special consideration provides accessible means to have assessment remarked in order to better reflect her experience during an exam or other assessment. It was also a highly favourable alternative to sitting a deferred exam, which notably are rescheduled without consultation with students.
Ableism
Students living with chronic medical conditions are likely to submit ECA for assessments regularly. This is a strong rationale for having an EAP, as it makes regular filing applications less time consuming and easier to make decisions on.
However, the ECA system underestimates how draining this process can be, especially for people living with chronic illness. Imagine having to file the same load of paperwork, rewrite endearing personal statements, and complete applications multiple times a semester. It’s hard to describe just how exhausting this may be, not to mention how crushing it could be for someone’s mental health.
On top of that, ECA staff are excessively strict with medical paperwork, especially when it comes to diagnoses for certain illnesses. With diagnoses that are 6 months old or more, students may have a difficult time convincing staff that this paperwork is in fact “in date” and that they “still do in fact” have a chronic illness.
In April 2024, Peppercorn asked ANU Media for comment on known issues implementing the new system. This was ANU’s response:
There is no major backlog.
The average turnaround is 9 calendar days.
The University has processed more than 3000 ECA requests since July 1 2023.
ANU is committed to ensuring rigour and fairness for all ECA requests.
Some cases are more complicated than others so need additional time to assess.
In some cases ECA submissions are incomplete and the University has to request additional details from applicants.
Since the introduction of ECAs, ANU has applied additional resources to process applications.
We thank everyone for their patience as we work to ensure fair and academically rigorous outcomes for all applicants.
While we didn’t get a good picture of internal issues, we now better understand the community’s experience. In May 2024, students shared their experiences on the university’s unofficial public forum (Schmidtposting). I wanted to highlight the following stories in case you missed them:
I live with chronic fatigue syndrome and am also neurodivergent. Recently I’ve had some absolutely terrible interactions with ANU about ECAs - the whole process is very ableist and paternalistic, and they’ve taken away special considerations which many of us relied on in the past.
The whole process, from top to bottom, is just completely bureaucratic and operates from the assumption those who access it are just trying to cheat the system.
We deserve equitable access the same as our NT/able bodied peers.
Another author commented:
I’m a staff member and carer for my ND/chronically ill daughter, who is an ANU student. I have also been shocked at how bad the system is in supporting students and, whenever possible, I have raised these issues with colleagues.
This author’s short submission really drove home the degrading nature of the system:
I’m a carer for my partner and they don’t believe me.
Given the removal of Special Consideration marks a significant change in ANU’s accessibility, Peppercorn is going to seek further comment from ANU Media. This will be their main chance to explain or justify this change before we publish our research.
We will hopefully get back to you soon.
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