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Digital Construction

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Virtually all school and college staff become aware of exams in May and June, even if only because certain areas are barricaded off with signs requesting silence and consideration. The temptation may be, when those signs disappear, to ask your Exams Officer what they do for the rest of the year. Marcia Woods, Exams Officer at Brookfield Community School in Chesterfield, explains.
In most schools and colleges in the country there is one person, or a small team of people, responsible for ensuring students are entered for the right exams and sit those exams at the right time, in the right place. Exams Officers must be familiar with a 60+ page manual of rules and regulations on how exam papers are managed and securely stored, how exam rooms are set up, the equipment students are allowed to take in with them and numerous other things to ensure the process is secure and fair to all students. Time must be put aside every autumn term to take note of any changes and update school/college policies. On top of this are the jobs of handling queries from teaching colleagues and concerned parents and managing one of the biggest budgets in the school or college.

Here are some of the issues that I, and my very professional Exams Officer colleagues, navigate each year:

Secure storage has become a scarce resource. I was fortunate enough to get two large secure cabinets a few years ago. They were so large and heavy that they took two men and a motorised trolley to get into place. They were then bolted to the floor for good measure. Despite their size, they are typically filled to overflowing with question papers before the exams start. You can't squeeze them in too tightly for fear that a package tears and the confidentiality of question papers is breached and must be reported to the exam board. They must also be stored in chronological order, which becomes a logistical challenge when some papers arrive closer to the exam than others.

The huge task of recruitment, training and deployment of invigilators. The Exams Officer at your school or college is probably the line manager for the largest group of staff there. Recruitment needs to be started around February to allow time to advertise, interview, DBS check and train staff before the exams start. Some Exams Officers struggle to recruit staff, but my free advert at a local supermarket worked well and I employed 5 new invigilators to join my established team this year. Then comes the training to ensure they know what the regulations are and the planning of how to deploy the team.

Regulation of non-examination assessments (also referred to as coursework) requires schools and colleges to notify students of their marks so students can request a review if they wish. Deadlines for subjects differ, which involves more administration through the lead up to the summer exams.

Once we have the exam timetable, we can start creating detailed seating plans. A lot of insider knowledge goes into this. Which students get really anxious and need to be seated near an exit? Which students must not be seated near each other? It's time consuming but avoids problems during exams. And finally, who has come in on a Monday morning nursing a dislocated shoulder, or worse? Exams Officers must plan in great detail and then be prepared to change and adapt at the last minute.

Mobile phones have become a greater issue in recent years - students find it difficult to be parted from them. We must stop them from being brought into an exam room or face a malpractice report and the student getting zero marks for a paper. Some schools and colleges use scanners to detect phones. At my school, we hold briefings with students and warn them of the consequences of bringing phones into their exams. We also provide a bag and ticket system for invigilators to collect phones and return to their owners after the exam. This year we did not have any incidents with mobile phones, but this is not always the case.

Planning for low likelihood events is important. For the very first time in my 13-year Exams Officer career, we had a fire alarm go off during an exam this year. We have always discussed our fire alarm policy in training but never had to put it into practice. I am very proud to say that our students behaved impeccably, and the invigilators managed the situation perfectly.

We usually have several students too ill to attend for exams. Most students will manage to complete their exams, but there is usually an interesting challenge to handle, like the year we had a student taken ill during an exam.

There are a few students, every year, who misread their exam timetable. They don't arrive, we phone, they insist their exam is later that day, we put them right and there is a desperate dash into school.

When the exams have finished, spare exam papers given to the departments, desks packed away and celebratory cakes consumed, you might ask what Exams Officers do with their time now? Well I will tell you - special consideration requests, requesting estimated exam entry information for the following summer (yes, already), planning for access arrangements for next year's students and preparing for results days, to name but a few tasks. Those envelopes don't label themselves and there is a lot of information to prepare in case students want to challenge their grades.

On the Wednesday and Thursday of results weeks it will be a 6.30am start to ensure the results are downloaded, printed and ready for students and teachers to see. Then I will need to be available in school for students wanting to request photocopies of exam papers - only a brief window to do this - and to give students detailed information on their marks and grade boundaries.

September rolls around and the work continues with processing reviews of marks and their outcomes, familiarising ourselves with updates to the regulations and forwarding this on to teaching staff, checking the DfE tables of results, mock exam preparation, receiving certificates and preparing for presentation evenings, before starting the entries process for next summer.

During the summer months we typically work 10-12 hour days, and most Exams Officers would be forgiven for wondering why they took the role. But on results days that feeling disappears and we are pleased to have supported another group of young people on the beginning of their career path - wherever it takes them.

So remember, to coin a phrase, an Exams Officer is for the whole year, not just for summer.
Are you an Exams Officer or other member of school/college staff with views on how to run a successful series of exams and how Ofqual might be able to help? Please let us know your thoughts and experiences by taking part in our quick-fire survey here.

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Summer exams are an all-year-round effort

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Virtually all school and college staff become aware of exams in May and June, even if only because certain areas are barricaded off with signs requesting silence and consideration. The temptation may be, when those signs disappear, to ask your ...

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BTEC Centre Guide for Lead Internal Verifiers 2018/19

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BTEC Centre Guide for Lead Internal Verifiers 2018/19

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External Assessment           RE-SIT OPPORTUNITIES

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External Assessment           RE-SIT OPPORTUNITIES

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Link to DfE News

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BTEC Quals. included in PERFORMANCE TABLES for 2018, 2019 and 2020 Results.

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BTEC Quals. included in PERFORMANCE TABLES for 2018, 2019 and 2020 Results.

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July 2018

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We've created a subject-by-subject guide to which Pearson and BTEC qualifications are included in performance tables in England (Applied General, Tech Level, Technical Certificates and Technical Awards).

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Performance Tables (England) | Pearson qualifications

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We've created a subject-by-subject guide to which Pearson and BTEC qualifications are included in performance tables in England (Applied General, Tech Level, Technical Certificates and Technical Awards).

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BTEC Quals. included in PERFORMANCE TABLES for 2018, 2019 and 2020 Results.

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BTEC Quals. included in PERFORMANCE TABLES for 2018, 2019 and 2020 Results.

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July 2018

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We've created a subject-by-subject guide to which Pearson and BTEC qualifications are included in performance tables in England (Applied General, Tech Level, Technical Certificates and Technical Awards).

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Performance Tables (England) | Pearson qualifications

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We've created a subject-by-subject guide to which Pearson and BTEC qualifications are included in performance tables in England (Applied General, Tech Level, Technical Certificates and Technical Awards).

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Customer Comms. re. 2018 BTEC First Awards

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Customer Comms. re. 2018 BTEC First Awards

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Outline of changes with FAQ's

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Cust comms for revi BTEC First Awards_July 2018

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First Award L1/2 CBE

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Pearson website

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Here you'll find support for teaching and studying BTEC Firsts in Construction and the Built Environment. Through a combination of practical experience and written assignments, these vocational qualifications provide level 2 learners with the knowledge, skills and understanding needed for a career in the sector.

Units offered include construction processes and operations, technology, design, sustainability and conserving and adapting buildings.

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BTEC Firsts Construction & Built Environment (2013) | Pearson qualifications

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Here you'll find support for teaching and studying BTEC Firsts in Construction and the Built Environment. Through a combination of practical experience and written assignments, these vocational qualifications provide level 2 learners with the knowledge, skills and understanding needed for a career in the sector.

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First Award L 1/2 CBE

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Implication for Schools

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Cust comms for revi BTEC First Awards_July 2018

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Ofqual - Results for new Applied Generals

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Ofqual - Results for new Applied Generals

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In just under three weeks, the first full cohort of students will get results for new Applied Generals (and some Tech level qualifications) which were reformed for teaching from 2016. These include level 3 BTECs, Cambridge Technicals and a range of other qualifications - the full lists are here - that were redesigned to meet government performance table rules. Some students will be using these to apply to university; others may be using them to apply for jobs, further training or apprenticeships.

These new versions are included on school performance tables but students can still be entered for older versions that often have similar titles. The new versions have one or more externally-assessed units - units where the students' work is marked by the awarding body, not by the student's teacher as it would be for internally-assessed units. In most cases these new external units are timetabled exams, set and marked by the awarding body. In the older versions, there is no external assessment.

Recent changes

These new qualifications were taken by a small number of students last summer. This year, students were allowed an additional re-sit for each of the external units, and in the Applied General qualifications there is now a 'safety net' for those students who just fail one or more external units. Previously the requirement to pass every unit would have meant they failed the whole qualification, even if they only missed a pass on one unit by one or two marks. There is no such 'must-pass' requirement in the older versions, or in A levels. In some of the larger qualifications, equivalent in size to three A levels, this 'must-pass' requirement would have meant students having no qualifications after two years of study. With the changes, students can still be awarded the qualification even if they have just missed a pass on one or two units. That's fairer for students taking these new qualifications.

Pass rates

What does this mean for pass rates in the new qualifications? In the older versions, students don't claim their qualification until they have passed all the units they need for the qualification. So the 'pass rate' at qualification level will look like 100%. But that won't take into account, for example students who didn't complete all their units and so didn't claim the qualification.

In the new qualifications, many students will be claiming their qualification without knowing the result of one or more external units. Even with the safety net we have introduced, it's likely that some students will not get enough marks in their external units to pass the overall qualification. And so the pass rate for these new qualifications is unlikely to be 100%. But you shouldn't simply compare that with the 100% pass rate on the older versions - for the reasons I've just outlined, it's not a meaningful comparison.

Fairness for students taking new qualifications

So that students are treated fairly, we have been working with awarding bodies and UCAS to make sure that universities and employers understand the differences between the new and older versions of the qualifications being awarded this summer.

Some students will find the new external units more challenging than the internal units, and in the first years of these new qualifications, teachers may be less familiar with what's required. We have asked the awarding bodies to bear this in mind when setting standards in the first new external units, so that students are not disadvantaged by being the first to sit these new qualifications.

Nonetheless, it's likely that the introduction of external units will mean that fewer students achieve the higher grades. That's because students will have to do well in their internal and external units in the new versions. In recent years we have seen increases in the numbers of students achieving those top grades in some of the older qualifications - we have not seen similar increases in A levels. It is right that awarding organisations reserve the top grades for the very best students so that universities and employers can make sound choices between applicants.

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In just under three weeks, the first full cohort of students will get results for new Applied Generals (and some Tech level qualifications) which were reformed for teaching from 2016. These include level 3 BTECs, Cambridge Technicals and a range ...

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BTEC Centre Guide to Internal Assessment 2018/19

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BTEC Centre Guide to Internal Assessment 2018/19

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BTEC Centre Guide for Lead Internal Verifiers 2018/19

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BTEC Centre Guide for Lead Internal Verifiers 2018/19

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Video explaining how Grade Boundaries are set

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Video explaining how Grade Boundaries are set

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Instructions for conducting External Assessments

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Instructions for conducting External Assessments

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BTEC Centre Guide to Internal Assessment 2018/19

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BTEC Centre Guide to Internal Assessment 2018/19

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BTEC Quals. included in PERFORMANCE TABLES for 2018, 2019 and 2020 Results.

# data[].attributes.subject
BTEC Quals. included in PERFORMANCE TABLES for 2018, 2019 and 2020 Results.

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July 2018

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We've created a subject-by-subject guide to which Pearson and BTEC qualifications are included in performance tables in England (Applied General, Tech Level, Technical Certificates and Technical Awards).

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Performance Tables (England) | Pearson qualifications

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We've created a subject-by-subject guide to which Pearson and BTEC qualifications are included in performance tables in England (Applied General, Tech Level, Technical Certificates and Technical Awards).

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Link to PADLET