Oh dear god they still don't have enough markers for GCSE English

Maybe I'm just awful. And didn't know it until now!!!

Thanks. That would help - I do refer back but it's not easy with them on screen. I'll have to see whether I can find a way to print them off!

Make sure you have hard copies of the standardising scripts beside you and refer to them all the time until you get your eye in.

I am currently marking a GCSE paper (won't say which, but it's one of the subjects that is somewhat 'subjective'!). I've taught for 15 years and have never had any issues with my accuracy, but I am finding this so hard. Have been out of tolerance, but am taking great care and moving about half as fast as I need to. Really feel like chucking it in but it's going to hugely dent my professional confidence if I do. Don't particularly need th money - would like the experience. Currently 'paused' due to intolerance (which isn't great as I've sent the kids out with their dad all day so I can get on!) Argh!!! Any advice/support welcome!

When I took on a new subject I asked for a half allocation for my first session, I think they must have been quite desperate for examiners as they agreed straight away. It was a longer paper than I'd done previously and I didn't want to overcommit.

The first year took me ages but I've done a couple more since with a full allocation and it's got easier each time.

It's not with AQA so maybe they do things differently

Thank you, good idea. I'll have a look if the board still want markers when I get back next week.

I wouldn't underestimate how much you might struggle if you don't have a reliable computer and internet connection if you're marking online.

I would find it very hard to meet the deadlines if I had to content with PC problems

Can you give it a go for one session maybe with only a small allocation of scripts and see how you find it?

I'm thinking of applying for AQA 8700

Pros:

CPD
I love my job
Good to get in at the start
Benefit to centre
Informed future teaching of new spec
Proactive/reactive
Hate stapling stuff to walls.

Cons:
Home computer rubbish
Like time off, but not too much
Not confident about viability new spec mark scheme
Too old for it to enhance my CV.

Neutral:
Money neither here nor there as we're always going to be on the negative side of Mr Micawber's happiness quote.

So what would you do?

I mark GCSE English for Aqa and have for a long time. I have been asked to be available after the end of marking date so they are clearly expecting the marking to take longer. This has happened before so it's nothing new.

If their only issue is recruiting enough markers then they are possibly already doing better than the ks2/3 fiasco, noble.

At least the exam boards have experience of the process so everything else isn't going wrong alongside a shortage of markers.

They have even given me options (worryingly) am considering it. Am only part time at the mo due to extreme ill health so it may stop me from glazing over (or not)

wannabe, the exam board must be confident that you can do it (examiners are graded after each session) or they wouldn't have asked you. They might even have some web-based training you can access to bring you up to speed. Whether you want to spend the next few weeks marking is up to you.....As others have said, it takes over your life .

Now I must go - scripts calling.

I have marked for AQA for an A level social science in the past but have refused since they changed to fully online marking. I found marking essays on a screen excruciating, hated the software which was slow and hard to use and generally the whole thing was just not worth the unpleasantness of staring at badly scanned handwriting on a laptop screen for hours getting headaches and RSI.

I can't really imagine marking lengthy English essays online - I found it much harder to hold a sense of even short essay questions in my head when I had to scroll back and forth to look at it than when I could see it all in front of me on paper. I imagine they will find more drop out if this is the first year it's been fully online.

I don't mark English so don't know the specifics of that one but I've found for the last few times I've marked that I've been asked to take on extra scripts (at no extra rate per paper, must be marking for the wrong boards).

From what I've heard this is a combination of other examiners not meeting the required standards or realising part way through that they can't finish on time for whatever reason.

I work part time and see marking as a second job rather than a bit of extra cash so always make sure I get my allocation done on time and meet all the admin deadlines.

I'm getting offered more work each sitting which would suggest my boards are struggling for examiners

I imagine with maths, being a marker is much less useful for informing your teaching practice than in English or similar subjects?

Cinder I have had an email asking if I would reconsider. Do you think I would be ok without having done this years training days? Have experience but am aware the marking scheme is much harder etc.

Neither do I sometimes IHeart, neither do I. I just think of the extra money it brings in

I had an amazing TL. I don't know how you do it Cinder!

Hi noblegiraffe. Some examiners drop out for genuine reasons, such as illness or bereavement. As long as they are straight with their TL and don't go off the radar for two weeks, refusing to answer emails, phone calls and texts then they will probably be invited to mark again.

Other examiners give up because the work is more time consuming than they expected / they don't like marking online / they just can't be arsed. When my board still had face-to-face standardising meetings it wasn't unknown for people to sign up as examiners and treat the day's training as CPD. They'd get paid £120 - £150 for attending, maybe even a night in a hotel, and they never had any intention of marking a single live script. As a previous poster said, some people are also stopped because their marking is so erratic.

The most difficult part of being a TL is hand-holding your team and making sure that as many as possible of them finish their allocation on time. It can be extremely stressful, to put it mildly. When TLs gather together, they tend to swap war stories about their worst ever examiners

You have your allocation taken away if you don't meet the required standard, so last minute markers are required.

I haven't but sometimes I pick up extra marking from examiners who have given up
poor really