Just talk me through what was going through your mind at that

moment.

So the day the video of me went viral, My son had his English exam, which was 50% coursework, and he'd done really well in the coursework.

And his teacher said to me, look, he's just got to go into the exam and attempt every question and he should pass.

And the exam was in the afternoon.

So I went in in the morning and kind of, you know, nicely woke him up, not too early, about, you know, half nine, ten, and said, you know, come on, we've got to get up, love.

You know, it's your exam today.

Was there a particular moment that did that? What was it? Do you know what it was that made you realize this is fundamentally wrong and I'm going to try and do something?

As a parent, I can imagine it's quite difficult for you.

It's incredibly difficult because you're trying to motivate a child who believes they can't do it because they're being told by the system they can't.

So when Joe came home and said, "Mum, there's this thing called functional skills," I was like, "Oh, what's that?" And he said, "It's a GCSE equivalent." And I thought, again, I've been involved with the school.

Now, how has no one ever told me this? And so I looked into it and discovered that the pass rate for functional skills, which are a GCSE equivalent, according to the government and according to Ofqual, and they're regulated by Ofqual, fifty-five percent of children pass maths and sixty-three percent pass English, which is very different to the resit pass rate.

Extremely different.

And the reason being, it's a more applied format.

I wonder as well, why do you think, Hannah, people aren't being told about functional skills, like parents who are in your situation? Why is it not regularly being offered by schools or colleges or sixth forms?

Schools' hands are tied because of league tables and funding restrictions.

As a parent, I can imagine it's quite difficult for you.

It's incredibly difficult because you're trying to motivate a child who believes they can't do it because they're being told by the system they can't.

So when Joe came home and said, "Mum, there's this thing called functional skills," I was like, "Oh, what's that?" And he said, "It's a GCSE equivalent." And I thought, again, I've been involved with the school.

Now, how has no one ever told me this? And so I looked into it and discovered that the pass rate for functional skills, which are a GCSE equivalent according to the government and according to Ofqual, and they're regulated by Ofqual, fifty-five percent of children pass maths and sixty-three percent pass English, which is very different to the resit pass rate, extremely different, and the reason being it's a more applied format.

Um, uh, I wonder as well, why do you think, Hannah, people aren't being told about functional skills, like parents who are in your situation? Why is it not regularly being offered by schools or colleges or sixth forms?

Schools' hands are tied because of league tables and funding restrictions.

It's out of schools' hands really because of the government legislation around those things.

It's quite complicated, which is why I started the Fair Exams campaign.

Can you take us back to what was happening for him and, and why did you realize, um, that it wasn't just his problem that, that you were facing?

So, my son, uh, was diagnosed with dyslexia when he was nine years old.

Uh, I had to fight for that.

Uh, and then he just struggled at school.

He- his effort grades were amazing, uh, and he got brilliant school reports, but he just couldn't keep up.

And exams particularly.

In his schoolwork in, in the lessons, he was fine, but exams, he really found it hard because he has really slow processing, which comes with dyslexia.

Can you talk to me about this, functional skills, and why on earth have I never heard of this?