Big Society's Big Mouth Powered by v

Hi Rebecca, this is interesting. For health reasons, my sister needed special arrangements to take her exams, including taking them in a separate room, having breaks, snacks and sometimes a scribe. One time the school failed to properly make these special arrangements which meant she had to sit in a large exam hall and it negatively affected her grade because she is very sensitive to noise.

I myself have found the noise of others writing and coughing and eating (as my school allowed snacks) etc particularly distracting and sometimes managed to be allocated to a smaller exam room.

As we don't know the circumstances of the girl, who may have a health issue or disability it is hard to comment. However it does seem odd that the school had to buy an ipod and not a cheapo mp3 player (which can be bought for £5).

Those who have ADHD for example, often struggle in school and in their working life, employers should make reasonable adjustments to help people succeed, if someone is working on a computer it may be entirely reasonable for them to listen to music at the same time. Read less

No but it was flawed system but it enable and empower so many young people to take part in Level 3 Education that's A levels folks and other after GCSE and Further Education course which is not a bad thing. I am really worried about the rising in youth unemployment due to to that lack of students staying on to do A levels or other courses after GCSE because of lack on financial support this September!  Read less

I have done a little research into why this isn't happening currently. Supermarkets fear that if someone were to become ill as a result of ingesting their unwanted food then they would be liable to potential huge law suits. So for it to move forward, there would almost have to be legislation regarding no legal action be taken against the Supermarkets if someone were to fall ill as a result of eating the food.. etc Slightly coarse moral ground! What are your thoughts? Read less

i also experienced one class mate at college from divoirced parents who took advantage of the system. fair enough to remove these cases. but 'improving the system' and making it work better and for those in the most need, surely doesn't mean cutting it by 66%? the NHS has some people who take advantage of the system, but we shouldn't cut that by two-thirds. I hope I'm wrpong, and this change doesn't affect both the number of children from single-parent and two-parent families going to college, nor the quality of their life whilst at college (16year olds have to go out afterall). we will see. Read less

I noted that from this there was another major loophole. Those children whose parents were self employed and had an "unstable" business could claim EMA in the possibility that their parents business would leave them with nothing. Again it is the problem with monitoring as someone ended up having 2 X-Boxes, a new I-Phone, I-Pod touch, a new car and driving licence and having nights out to local nightclubs every weekend, Friday and Saturday as well as living in a 5 bedroomed house for the 3 people family. And yet, people who were even just £100 away from the cut off point couldn't affor to have any of these things due to their circumstances at home. EMA needs to be monitored, not necessarily reformed.

I agree it shouldn't be set due to how long someone can sit in school or college for, but on the other hand, why should you get EMA for not being there? it's a monitoring problem again, but how do you make sure people learn? How do you suggest we monitor it all? I don't see how it can be monitored without problems arising. (I didn't get EMA so I'm counting on the information i've read and what i've seen here)  Read less

The students on EMA at my sixth form go on holidays to new york, shop in selfrridges and Jack Wills, and spend a few nights a week getting drunk in town. I don't get EMA, I havent ever been abroad, and my last holiday was 3 years ago - 2 weeks in the lakes. I shop in River Island and H&M and dont go out drinking! I turn up to my classes and im working hard to go to uni to study law. It has always seemed unfair that they get paid to go to college and I get nothing. My parents dont smoke or take drugs, they go out and work yet they still struggle to pay the bills. Yet we dont get free money. I just think that the whole concept of paying students to stay in education is wrong, especially if it is restricted to just some students! Education should be about learning because you want to, not because you will get £30 at the end of the week and a christmas bonus! Read less