Case History
1
Robert's
school attendance began to be disrupted after he contracted a lymph gland
virus whilst in Year 7. He was subsequently diagnosed as suffering from
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/ME in 1996. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/ME is a condition
which impairs both physical and cognitive function and as a result Robert
missed a great deal of time from mainstream schooling.
Whilst
at school Robert struggled to maintain an adequate record of attendance
and to keep up in his GCSE subjects. The work that he was able to manage
was always completed to a high standard and he appeared to be well motivated.
However, due to his condition, he was not able to cover the full course
content and the situation worsened as time went on. Whilst his headmaster
appeared to be sympathetic, Robert's parents found it almost impossible
to organise their son's subject teachers into arranging home work so that
he would be able to keep up with his course work when he was well enough
to work but not fit to attend school. Ultimately his parents decided that
a method of distance learning would be the best way forward for Robert.
Robert
was in Year 11 when he began a course of on-line distance learning in January
of last year. His plan was to take four GCSEs in June 2000.
The
subjects he chose to study via this method of learning were: English, Maths,
French and History. Robert received three hours of tuition in French and
History per week and four hours in Maths and English respectively (14 hours
in total). Had he continued to be taught in his mainstream school Robert
would rightly have been entitled to receive twenty-five hours of tuition
per week. Therefore during the six months leading up to his GCSE examinations
he received less then three-fifths of his educational entitlement.
Whilst
studying for his GCSEs Robert had to overcome a number of health and personal
setbacks. For a time his ME worsened and he was forced to request a reduction
in his course work. On top of this his grandfather, whom he was particularly
close to, died of cancer. However Robert continued to make every effort
to complete all his work on time and to revise for his examinations.
The
reports from his on-line distance learning tutors indicated that Robert
was a conscientious and extremely able student. In all his subjects he
endeavoured to complete an extensive programme of work but ultimately his
illness prevented him from completing all areas of the syllabus. Despite
this his predicted grade was, for all his subjects, A/B.
Fortunately
there were few problems in finding an examinations centre that was willing
to accept Robert as an external candidate and that would make the special
arrangements, in terms of his condition, necessary for him to sit his exams.
As a consequence, Robert was able to sit all four of his GCSEs as was originally
planned.
To his credit, Robert gained A grades in all ofhis subjects. He now plans to attend college part time to study A-levels in Maths and Physics.
