Andrew Harland

Andrew Harland is the Chief Executive of the EOA.

His key roles are to manage the EOA and implement the agreed policies and activies of the elected board of trustees who represent the membership.

"Before we established the EOA in 2000/1, there was no organisation offering support to exam officers. We were largely left to sort problems on our own.

I knew that if we could find a way of working together as a community, sharing our knowledge and experience, then some of the pressures on us would lift. We were the experts and I felt strongly we were the best people to help each other.

That's the fundamental aim of the EOA – to provide a grass roots support network, whether through our website or by attending one of our events, for everyone involved in the management and  administration of examinations.

I'm very pleased that the work we're doing and the research we carry out is seen as invaluable by the past  Modernisation Programme team (2004 - 6). It's an exciting time for us to be evolving from an informal pressure group into a professional body valued and respected by all the stakeholders in the exams system."

Andrew's background and EOA role

He became an examination officer in 2000 just when Curriculum 2000 kicked off. He has also been a key skills moderator for OCR for four years. He has completed an MSc on the role of examination officers.

Andrew is one of the founder members of the EOA and has been responsible for much of its research into qualifying and quantifying the role of examination officers within the NAA modernisation programme and continues to provide consultation at various levels.

Andrew Harland held positions at Selfridges and Shell UK before beginning his teaching career. He has worked in the education sector for over 20 years, teaching in both state and independent schools as well as working as an education consultant and regional education manager in the ICT arena.

Andrew represents the interests of EOA members at meetings with teh DfE, Ofqual, QCDA, awarding bodies and other stakeholders in the examinations system. His main objective has been to raise the profile of the EOA and to build positive relationships between individuals and organisations in both the commercial and non-commercial sectors.

Projects on which Andrew has worked include: the review and promotion of 'The Examination Officers' Survival Kit', a software package produced by Pearson Publishing; the development of the '4Matrix' assessment software for examination officers, in collaboration with New Media Learning; and the organisation of joint training courses with OCR.