Results day replaced by an app, invigilators replaced by cameras

[noblegiraffe]

Two news stories caught my eye recently.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm2e2z1y1pko

Instead of going into schools to collect results from teachers, students will be able to check their results on an app at home in order to reduce the admin burden on schools.

And

https://www.tes.com/magazine/news/general/use-ai-cameras-for-digital-invigilation-gcse-a-level-exams-says-aqa-chief

Invigilators should be replaced by cameras monitored by AI to spot signs of cheating.

Both of these seem to miss the point.

1. Results day in schools isn't simply about handing out results. It's about offering support to students who didn't get the results they hoped for/need and about celebrating with students who did.

2. Human invigilators aren't just there to monitor for signs of cheating. Apart from the admin side of handing out and collecting in papers and equipment, organising entry and exit, they also deal with behavioural issues (a camera might spot a kid talking but it won't tell them to stop), handle pupils who are distressed/become ill, or simply accompany them to the toilet.

Depressing that the human interaction side is deemed so unimportant.

I totally agree!

Yep- the human element to both is so important.
i have been an invigilator and i have handed out results .
i would like to think that both occasions needed more than the actual act described on paper.

also- if a pupil is causing disruption/ an issue, then if it’s not dealt with straight away, others exams are compromised. How does a camera help?

I do think that results are available digitally already - I might be wrong.

How can cameras give out additional paper when needed and supervise necessary trips to the loo?

DD1 got her GCSE results in 2021 and they were digital. Bloody great AFAIC.

I'd much rather that than collecting them in front of everyone and teachers as we did in 1992 and 1994 for my GCSEs and A-Levels. Then reading my degree result on a wall in 1998. How absolutely mortifying, even though I'd done well.

I'd be surprised if more tech was not eventually involved in marking, as there is so much human error and subjectivity.

I'm invigilating the exams, AI could definitely not have coped with what I dealt with this last week! Supervising rest breaks, many many toilet trips, three very distressed pupils, a nose bleed, a vomit, two panic attacks and an asthma attack! I'm having a much needed break this weekend 😂

Scotland exam board, SQA, has never done the open the results in school. Certificates are posted to the candidates house, there's an email function and also a text function.
I think human invigilators are absolutely necessary for the many individual problems mentioned above

Can I just check, do you mean that all children should NOT have the option of collecting their results in person, or just that you personally don’t wish to avail of that option and accept that your own/other children might wish to.

But you don't think humans are required for any problems that arise with exam results?

Thank you for all that you do!

I think it's telling that it's an exam board chief who is saying 'get cameras to invigilate'. Pretty sure he has never been in an exam hall.

I think there is a place for video invigilation as well, not instead of, human invigilation... a back up if there is any suspicion of foul play.

The ability to get exam results privately is also sound... doesn't stop the children going to school at a certain time if thats what people want (I.e app goes live at 10am, so they can be there)

DD got her results (from a 6th form college) online in 2008, so the capability has been around a long time.

I imagine the AI will be in combination with a human invigilator, like football essentially.

Going to school in person is very old school and pretty pointless. If some kids want to celebrate then can do it on their own time, forcing others to get their results publicly isn’t very nice.

Agree with pp this is the way it has always been in Scotland and it really isn't a problem. I've always found the idea of going into school for results much odder. It's just what you're used to.

I'm old and in my day there was no results collection at school. We had to wait for the letter through the post. Reducing the pressure on results day can only be a good thing imo. I would have hated to have been around collecting in front of others as would many who had not had an easy school journey I'm sure. Me and my mates all arranged to meet later on if we wanted to with kids from different schools too, but we could absorb our results alone.

The AI guy said "He said: “Do you need to have huge halls with 250 people? Do you need to have half a dozen invigilators when one could look at five rooms with 50 people in each of them?
“Right now the technology is already pretty much there to do that.”"

Yes, you need a human invigilator in each room. You need more than one person with a bank of CCTV cameras.

In terms of results - you're not forced to open your results publicly.

Anything that reduces the number of pictures of blonde 9A* twins leaping for joy has to be a good thing.

But seriously, far better to receive results privately. Plenty of opportunity for the pieces to be picked up by the school later, if necessary.

But schools are then closed for two/three weeks.

No GCSE results day at my DC’s grammar. Results are emailed to the students first and then uploaded on the parent app about an hour later.

They have choice with college and school to either go in or get them e-mailed.

Students involved in the pilot will still be able to go to school to get their paper results and do the traditional opening of the envelope on results day in August.
Under the plans, students' results will be made available on the app at 11:00 on results day, which is Thursday 21 August.
Students collecting their results in person can do so from 08:00.

BBc article pretty much has what is already there for my kids just via an app instead of e-mail.

Some do need extra support with the results - so I think having schools open is important.

Exam invigilating - definitely need humans there for the unexpected - but camera for back up wouldn't be suprised if that happened at some point.

But that’s down to your school etc - my son didn’t go in for results day I collected the envelope as he was at his pt job and didn’t want to .

Pupils usually go into school to talk to their head of house or the exam co-ordinator if there's a problem. One exam board to deal with, so it's relatively straightforward.

And again, in Scotland, the results come out the week before the kids go back. SMT will have seen the results before the pupils get them and will already be picking up anomalies. Heads of Houses are usually in the day the results come out for pupils as are staff. I always went in on results day, and if there were pupils where an appeal was likely, I would look out relevant info. The appeals procedure has changed now though.

On results day, I go through the marks and spot any that look wrong. We have to get the candidates to agree to us requesting their papers and it's considerably easier to do that when they are there in person.

In principle, these aren't terrible ideas. In reality, they are terrible ideas.