On 30 September, the NAEO (in conjunction with The Exams Office) launched the 2024 Exams Officer Survey.
We are asking exams officers to devote 15-20 minutes of their time before the survey closes on 1 November to provide their feedback. It is imperative that the NAEO acquires the views of the exams officer community to enable us to identify the issues and challenges facing exams officers within their centres so they can be addressed with key stakeholders such as the DFE, Ofqual, JCQ and the awarding bodies.
Your responses to the annual survey will be shared with colleagues from these key stakeholders and will help to shape policy and regulations relating to the management, administration and conducting of examinations. Your feedback will also influence the future strategy and direction of both the National Association of Examinations Officers and The Exams Office to ensure that the necessary support is given to exams officers.
The 2023 survey identified several areas of concern including:
- An additional role(s) is undertaken by a majority of exams officers within their centre
- An increasing number of centres are requiring their exams officer to become familiar with a management information system other than ESS SIMS, as providers such as Arbor and Bromcom have increased their market share
- More than one in five exams officers do not have access to an annual appraisal
- One in three senior leaders/line managers do not possess a good working knowledge of the examination system
- Two in five heads of centre/senior leaders/line managers believe that the exams officer role is only required/busy when exams are taking place
- One in three centres do not possess an adequate contingency and succession plan to address the absence of/departure of their exams officer during a critical period (e.g. entry deadline, during an exam series, results day etc)
- Two in five heads of centre/relevant member(s) of the senior leadership team fail to read/refer to/familiarise themselves with the entire contents of the relevant JCQ publications (particularly the General Regulations for Approved Centres, Instructions for conducting examinations, Access Arrangements and Reasonable Adjustments)
- Nine out of ten exams officers are spending more time involved in the tasks related to access arrangements
- Almost half of all exams officers do not have sufficient time to work with their SENCo and other staff to apply for, and provide, access arrangements/reasonable adjustments
Feedback from the 2023 survey has had a direct impact upon JCQ regulations, which this year have further defined the roles and responsibilities of a SENCo and senior leaders who have responsibility of the examination system within their centre.
We would like to thank stakeholders, and particularly The Exams Office, for their support in promoting the annual survey.
Data from the survey will be published on the NAEO website during December.