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The South West’s Best Student Publication
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ISSUE 726 07 DEC 2021 exepose.com @Exepose
THE UNIVERSITY OF EXETER’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1987
Disabled students condemn University’s failure to uphold ILPs as evidence Oliver Leader de Saxe and Chloe Pumares Editor and Deputy Editor
Interview with Bella Enoizi, VP Education Pages 5 & 6
Comment: Should we abolish private schools? Page 11
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EVERAL students have voiced their anger and dismay regarding Individual Learning Plans (ILPs) no longer counting as evidence for mitigation. This year the University has given all students four self-certified one week extensions which require no mitigation forms or evidence, and unlimited self-certified extensions for students with ILPs. However, it appears the system has changed when applying for longer-term mitigation, with ILPs Geograph no longerImage: standing as evidence alone. One Humanities student who spoke to Exeposé shared her experiences of the “University’s lack of mental health support specifically in relation to mitigation.” “I was previously told my ILP was for three weeks of extensions, but this year I’ve been told otherwise. When I reached out to my personal tutor, he said that my college should be supporting my mitigation request but they aren’t for some reason. It took me two weeks to get an extension actually approved which if it hadn’t, I could have failed my specific assignment.” The student went on to criticise the college’s demands for further proof that their mental health condition had worsened to get an extension longer than a week.
Christmas all around the globe Page 16 Images (top to bottom): Guild, WRTL (wikicommons), NativityChristmasLights (wikicommons)
extensions” for those experiencing a “long term fluctuating health condition / disability.” Under the Equality Act 2010, a mental health condition is considered a disability if it has a long-term effect on your normal dayto-day activity for 12 months or more. One student experiencing a long term physical health condition was similarly “denied mitigation on the basis I didn’t have supporting evidence despite my ILP. I can’t go to the doctor every time I need an extension.” They noted they would have to pay £25 per letter of support if they wrote one. Similar to other students, they were then
recommended to approach Wellbeing to support their application, but were unable to get an appointment in time for their assessment. “I felt I had to submit a subpar essay because deferral is not a viable option for me. It’s all just a bit convoluted and unfair.” When asked how they would improve the system, they told Exeposé that there should be a “24/7 Wellbeing service available to support students if they insist on all students with ILPs needing evidence.”
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Image: Oliver Leader de Saxe
Student charity work halted by Guild’s delay in updating DBS policy Oliver Leader de Saxe and Chloe Pumares Editor and Deputy Editor
Lifestyle:
“It has been really stressful to have to find proof for my mental health condition when I already have proof.” According to the student, when they reached out to the Wellbeing team, they told them that the “ILP was wrong and that it was miscommunicated,” backing it up by stating that “in first term of my second year I hadn’t used my ILP because I was in a better mental state, as if that was proof.” In the Teaching Quality Assurance Manual under Annex F, the list of accepted evidence includes “an Individual Learning Plan (ILP) which supports the granting of
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WO student volunteer groups have spoken to Exeposé in regards to delays surrounding inhouse DBS checks, with criticism being levelled at how “dismissive” the Students’ Guild have been of their concerns and how lack of clear communication has led to projects being cancelled. “Pre-pandemic the Guild used to provide all DBS checks for our projects such as for working with children in schools” a spokesperson from Exeter Student Volunteers (ESV) told Exeposé. “The volunteers would go to a drop-in which was run weekly and complete the forms.”
However, during the pandemic the DBS service was suspended for “revamp”, with ESV claiming that issues surrounding this have been ongoing since June. “We are still being told by the Guild that it’ll be sorted soon, with no estimated date despite repeatedly asking. It means our projects such as those involving children or in an educational setting cannot run, even if volunteers had an external DBS because it hasn’t been done through the Guild.” EVS went on to state how the Guild let the society “organise a summer camp for Devon Young Carers but the Guild came in a few a weeks before because they hadn’t gotten their side of the admin done. It’s just another case of disorganisation and them wasting our time.”
Upcoming school projects that could be impacted by DBS delays include Mentoring for Success, Art Club, Global Touch and a Teddy Bear Hospital. When EVS reached out to the Guild expressing their concerns, they received an email “saying we’d been running the society improperly and not getting the right risk assessments. But there’s no point [doing risk assessments] until DBS takes place.” Student Action for Refugees (STAR) shared similar experiences, stating how the system for submitting volunteers’ names in order to get DBS checks seems “unclear” and that “there doesn’t seem to be one.” STAR initially reached out to the Guild on 1 September and received a re-
ply the next day stating the process was being reviewed. This was followed up on 26 September after no updates about DBS checks were provided on the Guild website other than for related academic courses. The same day the society received a response stating that the new process was to provide a list of volunteers “so [the Activities team] can work out the numbers required.” The Guild also stated that they hoped to cover the costs. STAR sent over a list of student volunteers to be DBS checked on 3 November, and received a reply on 24 November stating they would be in touch early in the week if anything needs changing.
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