If you are an Exams Officer how much do you earn?

[Examsofficer]

In a secondary school I mean.

And also - do you do the job part time or are there other roles that you also do?

Thanks a lot .

Have been offered a small increase for a sideways move within a school - from a general admin position to the exams officer position, plus some different more specific admin for a different department.

But not sure if the increase of 1.5K (gross) means the move (massive learning curve, more stress, more responsibility) will be worth it.

Would rather not say what I am being offered and what I am currently on as it is outing (probably my post already is though!), but if I could get an idea of what people earn, it would help .

Also, last but not least, do you like being an exams officer?

Has anyone ob this thread ever been an admission officer for an large academy. Where does that sit in terms of stress? There is a job which expires tomorrow I am considering......

@Heyha

I wouldn't be an exams officer even if they matched my teacher salary tbh. It's one of the most crucial roles in a secondary school and they have more or less the same pay as the person opening the head's post and typing up things for them. Exam officers get a lot of blame when things go wrong (as they occasionally do) and very little thanks when they go well. I love ours and try to make her work as easy as I can by what I do myself, but not everybody does...

Agree with this.

@Mumdiva99

Has anyone ob this thread ever been an admission officer for an large academy. Where does that sit in terms of stress? There is a job which expires tomorrow I am considering......

If you’re talking about Year 6-7 transition. Again, absolute ball ache.

Primary school outreach, appeals, parents phoning up every 5 mins with unrealistic expectations.

If on site you will basically be social worker for the entire year group (and their extended family) / administrator.

I agree with the poster upthread who said this as it applies to several crucial, roles in schools - roles with pressure, responsibility and a heavy workload:
they have more or less the same pay as the person opening the head's post and typing up things for them.

This needs to change. I am old enough to remember when these poorly paid ‘admin jobs’ (Data, timetable, Primary transition, Exams...) were SLT jobs.
Done by the senior staff at the school.
That is how important they are and how vital they are to the running of a school and the pay should reflect this.

ExH was an exams officer and was on about 18k (apparently). This was about 8 years ago.

No. Nooooo. Don't doooo it. Not for an extra £5 a day. Not with whatever half-baked alternative to the hideous CAGs and TAGs is currently forming in Gavin's brain. The last two I've worked with have done it as a last pre-retirement job. That makes sense as you get to fully appreciate your retirement.

Exams Officer is the most stressful admin job in school - and should be paid far more.

I remember the time when the exams officer job was done by a teacher - who was also expected to teach! In reality the teacher who did this got covered by supply teachers during the exam season because exam admin is a FT role. In my school this role was on a par with head of faculty, so very well paid.

I would not take on this job for less than 30K.

Thank you so much for all your comments - they have been very helpful.

Thanks @TheSunShinesBrighter it wouldn't be transition....that's a pastoral role. It's just admission (y7) and in year admission and appeals. So the admin, the applications, the organising, probably answering queries, looking after the waitlists....(and possibly lots of calla from concerned/worried parents). I'm not sure if I even stand a chance as I have no direct experience. But I would like a term time job out the home....

@Mumdiva99

Has anyone ob this thread ever been an admission officer for an large academy. Where does that sit in terms of stress? There is a job which expires tomorrow I am considering......

Our admissions lady does the job alone in our school, we have a sixth form too so that adds to the work load, she has done it for years but it's also stressful again particularly at certain times in the year and again you will need to work over the summer if you have a sixth form.

TBH people think school jobs are nice little numbers, they're not, maybe in a small primary it may be different but these roles are insanely busy, school life is hectic, constantly changing, you need to be able to multi task like you've never done before and all for a low wage.

It can be very rewarding but you need to go in with open eyes.

I must admit if we have a second child I have given serious thought to a non-teaching support role until both children are at school (I don't think I could do the teaching bit justice- well, the marking really- with two very small children at home, no judgement on those that do but I know my limitations), admissions would be a job I would consider as it's more predictable peaks of work, albeit insanely busy during those peaks, than completely relentless like the exams role would be with the majority of schools' curriculum plans being what they are now.

Thanks @Uncomfortablesilence there is a 6th form too.

I'm not completely green as a current chair of Govs - I do know schools have a lot of work and only a few people.

I invigilate and take on bits of the exam admin. No way would I do it for the salary they get. Ours is now 2 part timers adding up to about 1.8 (large school) so the hours aren’t as ridiculous as before but they still don’t get breaks through the day and have a lot of responsibility.

@Examsofficer

Would you advise that I stay in my much easier current admin job that is paying 1.5K less but that is much less stressful than the exams job sounds like it is going to be *@Haskell* (in so far as you might have an opinion at all about a stranger’s life on the internet )?

For £1.5k on top, probably not (wouldn't be £5 a day extra after extra tax, NI, pension etc!) and don't forget it's pro ratad because exams officers are often term time only.

@Mumdiva99 is it just admissions?
I expect there'd be a lot of bolt on extras too, tbh. In my school the admissions role is done by the attendance officer, but that's just Y7-11, not with 6th form attendance or admissions.
The transfer info (i.e. primary liaison etc) is a pastoral role, and not part of Admissions Officer role.
I suppose it also depends on the school's churn rate. We don't have many in year admissions because we rarely lose pupils, but some receive 20, 30, 40 in year transfers every year.

Whatever they're paying ours it's way too much. She is useless. She was on annual leave on results day. Not even kidding 🙄

For those saying that the EO used to be a teacher/SLT, the JCQ regulations are so much tighter and more prescriptive now. For example, you need to file scripts in secure storage ASAP (read 20 minutes) of arrival. You can’t do this is if you are teaching or in scheduled meetings.

I was, against my will, appointed EO in addition to Head of Science. I did the job up to exam entries, and then wobbled the Head teacher’s head about the sheer madness and was able to stand down. There is just no way I could function during exam season, especially as I was not allowed to handle a large proportion of papers.

We subscribe to the Exams Office, and they affirmed that a HOD of a core subject could not realistically do the job.

Teachers should not be doing exams officer jobs anywhere - all admin roles were removed when the new contracts for teachers were brought in, and that was good while back - at least 10 years ago if my memory serves me right.

@CraftyGin

For those saying that the EO used to be a teacher/SLT, the JCQ regulations are so much tighter and more prescriptive now. For example, you need to file scripts in secure storage ASAP (read 20 minutes) of arrival. You can’t do this is if you are teaching or in scheduled meetings.

I was, against my will, appointed EO in addition to Head of Science. I did the job up to exam entries, and then wobbled the Head teacher’s head about the sheer madness and was able to stand down. There is just no way I could function during exam season, especially as I was not allowed to handle a large proportion of papers.

We subscribe to the Exams Office, and they affirmed that a HOD of a core subject could not realistically do the job.

Has anyone suggested that SLT /senior staff should still do this role? I haven’t. Historically it was a seen as such an important role it was carried out by the most senior/well paid members of staff. It is now paid the same as a bog standard admin job in most schools - not very much. This is wrong.

@HmmmmmmInteresting

Whatever they're paying ours it's way too much. She is useless. She was on annual leave on results day. Not even kidding 🙄

Wow. Who granted annual leave?

@Mumdiva99

Thanks *@TheSunShinesBrighter* it wouldn't be transition....that's a pastoral role. It's just admission (y7) and in year admission and appeals. So the admin, the applications, the organising, probably answering queries, looking after the waitlists....(and possibly lots of calla from concerned/worried parents). I'm not sure if I even stand a chance as I have no direct experience. But I would like a term time job out the home....

That sounds ok. I’d go for it. You will have angry parents on the phone no doubt but you won’t have to deal with them face to face or the actual school transition phase.

@TheSunShinesBrighter

Who bloody knows...I'm guessing the head?!

It was for the Autumn series exams that took place in October last year for students who wanted to sit the exams instead of using their CAGs, so there were just a small number of them. DS needed to speak to the exam board but they insisted they could only speak to the exam officer. She was on annual leave and wouldn't be back until after the Christmas holidays. These were A level results, so kids who's university places hinged on them. And Oxbridge give their decisions in the middle of January so it was especially galling.

I

I must admit I do not recognise a lot of this. Although I agree that a strong invigilator team whose leaders also handle admin is a key to the smooth-running of the exam period.

And in the private sector there are certainly not more staff. Absolutely the opposite!

@thesunshinesbrighter thank you for your support.

HmmmmmmInteresting
That’s ridiculous. Did you contact the HT?

Did you make any decision yet OP :-)