Beyond the Clock: Understanding the role of extended time in supporting students with Dyslexia in State Exams by Dr Keith Murphy
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In many countries, students with dyslexia are granted additional time to support them during their formal State exams. However, in Ireland, there has been no concrete provision designed for this, despite the government’s recent announcements and the ongoing advocacy by multiple stakeholders for students with dyslexia to be awarded extra time in State exams.
Students with dyslexia can be slower at articulating their subject knowledge, have slower handwriting than their peers without dyslexia, and their writing can lack legibility. All of this leads to issues with focus during long exams. The extra pressure and anxiety of a time constraint can disadvantage all students. However, it has been shown that extra time in exams can make a significant difference to achieving a better grade for disabled students, where it had no real bearing on a non‑disabled student’s grade.
As I previously wrote in the Leader Winter Edition in 2024, the conditions of our State examinations can create barriers for students with dyslexia in educational settings. Educational institutions in Ireland have both an ethical and obligatory responsibility to proactively remove or minimise obstacles to education for individuals with disabilities. Reasonable adjustments in learning are an essential component of a student’s educational experience.
One common accommodation in formal State education in many countries is the provision of extra time for exams in second‑level schools. This allows students with dyslexia to complete formal assessments with additional time allocated per hour. In France, students with dyslexia receive an extra 33% of time, in Italy 30%, and in the UK 25% for secondary‑level exams.
In higher education in Ireland, extra time is allocated to students with dyslexia in the form of an additional 10 minutes per hour.
Government announcements
On 9 July 2025, a member of the Irish Government stated that starting from June 2026, students with dyslexia (and other learning differences) sitting the Junior Cycle and Leaving Certificate exams would be eligible for extra‑time accommodations. The announcement came during a Seanad debate, when Minister Neale Richmond stated that the work was “largely done” and that the changes would be finalised and communicated so they could be in place for the 2026 exams.
What would extra time mean for students with dyslexia?
Extra time in exams can make a big difference for students with dyslexia and other learning differences. Here are some examples of what it could mean in practice and why it matters.
Extra time allows students more time to read and process exam questions and terminology. Students with dyslexia often read more slowly, process previously‑seen information as new, or need to re‑read questions to fully understand them. Extra time provides space to carefully decode, interpret, and check the wording of questions without losing time needed to answer.
This is especially relevant in subjects examined using large amounts of written text, such as English, History, and Geography, where students with dyslexia spend proportionally more time reading and processing information. Extra time levels the playing field compared with peers who read, write, and process information more quickly.
It also allows extra time to proofread and tidy answers, helping students spot mistakes that might otherwise cost marks. This compensates for the barriers created by dyslexia in examination settings and allows students to compete on more equal terms.
Anxiety and assessment pressure
Extra time can also help reduce anxiety during high‑stakes assessments. Students with dyslexia may experience stress when they feel they are falling behind other candidates. Proper accommodation, aligned with practices across Europe, promotes greater confidence and a more supportive examination environment.
Implementation challenges
There is no doubt that the granting of extra time in State exams from June 2026 will involve logistical and implementation challenges. These include scheduling, supervision, consistency of time granted, eligibility and fairness, staff training, and maintaining exam integrity.
However, these challenges should not be the responsibility of students with dyslexia, and students should not continue to suffer due to system delays or implementation issues. Other European education systems provide valuable examples of how these processes were established.
Dyslexia Ireland and SEC response
Dyslexia Ireland updated stakeholders following a meeting with the State Examinations Commission (SEC) in October 2025, and the outcome was disappointing. Throughout their campaigning, Dyslexia Ireland states that the SEC remains the only organisation opposed to introducing extra time, despite widespread public and political support and recommendations dating back to the 2009 Expert Advisory Group.
On 26 January 2026, the SEC announced an update on extra time for State examinations. Extra time will be granted to students already approved for other accommodations, with no additional application required. However, the allocation amounts to just 10 minutes per exam in June 2026.
This represents approximately 5–7% additional time in Leaving Certificate exams, which is modest compared to the minimum 25% typically provided in jurisdictions such as England.
Although this policy represents progress, there is growing scepticism about whether the amount of extra time provided is sufficient to address the real challenges faced by students with dyslexia.
In a three‑hour examination, 10 extra minutes equate to just 3 minutes and 33 seconds per hour - barely enough time to fully process questions.
Conclusion
Extra time in examinations helps ensure that assessments reflect students’ knowledge and understanding rather than their speed of reading or writing. It reduces time pressure, allows better planning of answers, and promotes fairer assessment by acknowledging the specific challenges associated with dyslexia.
However, the limited provision currently proposed risks leaving many students disadvantaged in high‑stakes assessments such as the Leaving Certificate.
Author bio
Dr Keith Murphy, who himself has dyslexia, is a lecturer and researcher in the School of Social Science, Law and Education at TU Dublin. His research focuses on the anthropology of disability, neurodiversity, higher education, and inclusive education. His PhD thesis, “Experiencing Dyslexia Through the Prism of Difference”, explores how dyslexia impacts students’ experiences in higher education.
This article was first published in the Leader Journal, a publication aimed at secondary school principals and deputy principals in Ireland.