Survey shows 63% of exam office staff battled through severe weather to schools and colleges to prepare and run January exams despite 75% of schools and colleges being closed for lessons
300 exam office staff responded to a survey carried out by the Examination Officers’ Association (EOA) this week on the impact of the severe weather on the January exams. The survey showed that although 75% of their schools and colleges were closed last week (w/c 4th January), 63% of exam office staff battled through the snow and ice to ensure the preparations and running of the January exams went ahead as scheduled.
The vast majority of the exams this week (w/c 11 January) went ahead in schools and colleges across the UK despite the severe weather conditions. Although many schools and colleges struggled to open in the first week of term, 82% opened in the second week and only 5% were totally closed with no lessons and no exams.
Andrew Harland, Chief Executive of the Examination Officers’ Association commented: “In the majority of schools and colleges the management and running of exams is carried out by full-time exam office staff, who are part of the non-teaching support staff within centres. Before the implementation of Workforce Re-modelling in 2003, this role was carried out by teaching staff.”
The Examination Officers’ Association represents the growing body of exam office staff who have to manage a constantly changing and complex system, which takes place throughout the academic year. The Association offers professional training, advice and support to its members, as well as lobbying government and education bodies on their behalf.
The EOA members responded to the online survey over the last two days, 12 and 13 January 2010, to gather an overview of the impact of the severe weather on the January exams and to establish how exam office staff had dealt with the challenges.
20% of invigilators could not make it into their schools and colleges this week because of the severe weather. Exam office staff had to call on other colleagues to support them, including teaching staff and other support staff.
”The survey has demonstrated the levels of dedication and commitment of exam office staff in ensuring that the exams have gone ahead on schedule,” continued Andrew Harland. ”Many of the staff in the survey said that they had prepared contingency plans in the event of their absence on exam days. However, it has been crucial that they were there in their exam centres on the days leading up to the exams as well. One member of staff said that she had stayed overnight in a camper van parked at her school in order to be there for the exams and another team had stayed in a nearby hotel.”
Respondents commented that contingency planning had been crucial and that email communication with parents and pupils to keep them informed had been vital.
“There has been a lot of debate about whether the exams should have been postponed because of the bad weather” continued Andrew, “The impact of such a decision on students, teachers, exam office staff and the wider-reaching education community would have created an even greater problem for all concerned. The pupils work extremely hard to prepare for exams, the teaching staff would need to re-schedule teaching time and the extra administrative burden on exam office staff would have been significant. As one respondent commented it was ‘business as usual for us whatever the weather did!’”
Of the 300 respondents, 92% were running GCSEs, 90% were running A Levels and 77% were running other exams such as the Diploma and Functional Skills exams. The respondents were from state and independent schools as well as Sixth Form colleges and Further Education colleges.
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