I would like to wish all exams officers a very Happy New Year…and perhaps it is appropriate to begin the new year with a review of the annual exams officer survey which was held during October 2024 to identify – and address - the issues faced by the exams officer community.
The survey reveals several areas which the NAEO will focus upon in the coming months to support exams officers within their centre and protect the integrity and security of the examination system in every centre. These include:
Time to allow exams officers to perform their role
Exams officers must be given sufficient time to:
- read and understand the regulations and perform their role (over 75% of exams officers are spending an increasing amount of time on examination administration)
- administer and manage the facilitation and invigilation of access arrangements on exam days (42.7% of exams officers do not have sufficient time to work with their SENCo and other staff to apply for and provide access arrangements/reasonable adjustments
- work on implementing access arrangements within their centre (73.1% of exams officers are spending an increasing amount of time in this area)
The issue of sufficient time is to perform the exams officer role is a particularly significant issue for the 53.4% of exams officers who are required to perform an additional role within their centre.
Professional development
One in four exams officers do not receive an annual appraisal and a significant number of exams officers do not have access to a professional development programme. These exams officers are not acquiring or developing the skills required to perform the role effectively and efficiently, whilst 18.7% of exams officers are not receiving appropriate training and support to facilitate the effective delivery of examinations and assessments. This hinders their understanding of, and compliance with, the published JCQ regulations and awarding body requirements.
A lack of an appraisal deprives an exams officer of a critical opportunity to review their role and centre processes, and to highlight areas of strength and those in need of improvement.
Support for exams officers
A significant number of exams officers (19.6%) do not feel well/actively supported and valued by their senior leadership team/line manager, whilst a majority of exams officers do not receive any support/assistance in performing their role – this is a particular issue when exams officer experience a busy period (for example, during the submission of examination entries, preparing for an exam series, during an exam series, managing results and post-results), the exams officer is absent or when an exams officer leaves their post.
This lack of support is an even more severe issue for the 51.3% of exams officers who are required to perform an additional role within their centre and who may have even greater time pressure to perform the exams officer role.
Contingency and succession planning
Despite a requirement in the JCQ regulations (General Regulations for Approved Centres, section 3.17) for centres to have contingency measures in place in the event of the absence of their exams officer at a critical stage of the examination cycle, in almost one in three centres (30.8%) there is no such contingency in place.
In more than three out of five centres (61.8%) there is a lack of succession planning, and/or support for a new exams officer, in place if the current exams officer were to decide to leave their role.
The role and responsibilities of heads of centres/senior leaders
Unfortunately, despite a stipulation within the JCQ regulations (General Regulations for Approved Centres, section 5.3), a significant number of heads of centres/senior leaders (26.6%) do not possess the necessary knowledge and understanding of the regulations to support and supervise their exams officer, nor do they understand the scale of the exams officer role with a misconception that exams officers are only busy during an exam series.
Other concerning statistics associated with the role and responsibilities of heads of centres/senior leaders in the management of examinations/assessments within their centre include:
- 40.8% not receiving appropriate training and support to facilitate the effective delivery of examinations and assessments, and ensuring compliance with the published JCQ regulations, within their centre
- 37.3% failing to read/refer to/understand/familiarise themselves with the entire contents of the relevant JCQ documents (particularly the General Regulations for Approved Centres, Instructions for conducting examinations, Access Arrangements and Reasonable Adjustments)
- 37.3% believing that their exams officer is only required/busy when examinations are taking place
Challenges by sector
An analysis of the exams officer role in each type of centre reveals specific challenges within the following sectors:
Independent sector
- The number of awarding organisations engaged with
- The number of different systems used by awarding organisations
FE sector
- Managing the volume of external examinations/assessments
- The number of awarding organisations engaged with
- Time spent on implementing access arrangements for exams and assessments compared to the previous academic year
- Interrupting teaching and learning on other courses to accommodate large-entry exams (for example, GCSE resits)
- Availability of spaces suitable for holding external assessments
- Number of different deadlines for the different awarding organisations
Special educational needs sector
- Undertaking of an additional role(s)
- Complexity of the systems used by awarding organisations
- Number of different deadlines for the different awarding organisations
Selective sector (e.g. Grammar schools)
- Employment under term time only contracts (these may include additional weeks for specified tasks, e.g. results days)
- Time required to upload evidence onto awarding body portals
Conclusion
Over the coming months, the NAEO will be using the evidence from the 2024 survey to highlight the issues detailed above to key stakeholders including the Department for Education, Ofqual, JCQ and its awarding bodies. We will also forward this information to teaching associations and representative organisations such as the Association of Colleges and the Independent Schools Council.
The evidence from the survey will also be used to support our core objectives which were detailed in the December CEO message:
- A national job description and sample interview questions
- New exams officer induction
- An annual professional development and appraisal programme
- Awarding body requirements
- Support for exams officers within each centre