to think these are the worst invigilators ever?

[Kladdkaka]

My daughter has come home from her exams every day this week raging at the invigilators. She says she doesn't think she can get through the 2 week exam period without killing one or the other or both. She says they're like Laurel and Hardy.

Monday they:
-opened and shut the squeaky windows repeatedly

• sat tapping their feet
• one sat rocking on the top of a stack of chairs oblivious to the distraction of what she was doing or the noise it was making
• chatting in whispers through half of the exam
• asking her every 10 minutes or so if she was ok and reminding her that she was entitled to a break if she needed it.
• standing behind her and reading what she was writing over her shoulder.
• generally just being a pain the neck.

Daughter told her teachers who said they would speak to them.

Today:

• only 1 invigilator there
• half the exam clattering around in a cardboard box full of pens
• arsing around with her coat repeatedly causing it to slide up and down a metal rail making a racket
• disappeared out to the room to make herself a cup of tea.
• generally faffing and causing a distraction
• not allowing daughter to have her break because she was on her own.
• daughter handed her paper in at the same time as others, even though she has extra time, because she thought she might kill her if she stayed any longer.

Yes, I'm American. A proctor! Now it all makes sense.

That invigilator sounds pants.

On a different note, I am assuming she does Maths Studies. Remind her she will need to put her calculator into degrees and turn diagnostics on after her calculator is reset.

Thanks, will do.

I don't really know why they decided to keep her in the same room. It seems mad to me. She get breaks as needed, which can't be good for the other students. Plus she gets 50% extra time, so everyone packing up, finding their coats and bags and stuff goes on around her while she's still working.

I remember one of my invigilators. She was irritatingly quiet: if someone put her hand up she carefully took off her shoes before tiptoeing to the person. When someone brought her a cup of tea and a pack of biscuits, she opened the pack with scissors. She was trying so hard to be quiet that she drew more attention to herself than if she was just being normal! We were all watching her instead of doing our exam. :o

Your daughter's sounds worse though.

Btw, to answer the question about why teachers don't invigilate, firstly we're normally teaching at the time the exam is on and also even if we were in a non-contact period, so many teachers nowadays are already working with the legal minimum non-contact and prep time that it's actually illegal to invigilate unless the time is given back elsewhere. It's much cheaper for schools to employ invigilators from outside than to make (and pay for) arrangements for teachers to do it.

YANBU - I still remember how distracting it was that a teacher stapled booklets together for the whole of one of my GCSE exams a few 18 years later!

A looonngg time ago I remember one of my teachers listening to the Cricket test match through a radio ear piece as I was doing my O' levels.

Almost silent... but just enough 'radio whisper' to be audible as he walked by.

Hey Kladdkaka,
I did my IB exams in Sweden in 2008 (we didn't need to do any additional exams to gain full Swedish qualifications then, final grades got translated into the normal system and Nationella Prov were done in PreIB).
Most of our invigilators were our teachers. It is normal for invigilators to move around the room and occasionally look on what people are writing by hovering over their shoulder, though preferably unobtrusively. If you are uncomfortable it is usually enough to look (glare) at them to make them move along. I don't recall that any of our invigilators did anything apart from running around handing out more paper (part of the reason they monitor your desk, to pre-empt your need).

There were no SEN candidates in my year to my knowledge, I'm really sorry if the school hasn't made appropriate arrangements for your DD but I'm not sure it is something you could get special circumstances for. Contact your IB coordinator (which is usually NOT your teacher but rather your studierektor).

In terms of her extra time, we often had SL and HL in the same room with SL leaving earlier. To prevent distractions they were ushered out speedily - all coats and bags should be kept outside the exam venue anyway so no faffing about until already outside. We did have a couple of window/blinds situations but it was done for the comfort of all students and not excessively.

Best of luck with your daughter's exams, I hope she has enjoyed her time with the IB as much as I did!

They shouldn't have bags in the room.
I'll try and find some documentation to help you. I think you do have reason to speak to the IB coordinator and possibly IBO.

LRD (I think) If someone brings paper in, you should be able to tell without reading what they are writing.

SPG One of the differences with international schools is the teachers normally invigilate.

Can you PM the name of the school.

I hope today's exam goes well.

Hi HappySquirrel you're very lucky, you graduated before all the whoohar here over university admissions and how the IB fits in. The government decided to set a quota saying x% of places go to Swedish school leavers, y% to mature students and z% to overseas students. They tried to put all IB students into the overseas group but it resulted in all out war because it would mean the smartest kids (the IB ones) would actually have the least chance of getting a place. So they back-tracked and changed it to say you have to have English, Maths and Swedish equivalent to the national tests or you get counted as overseas (despite living here, going to school here and parents paying taxes here ).

If you do IB Swedish A, it converts to the national qualification but if you do IB Swedish B, it doesn't. My daughter is fluent but had to do Swedish B as she's not a native speaker. So she had to do the national tests seperately to be included in the Swedish school leavers quota. (Unlike the rest of her class)

As for the SEN side of it, the IB do make adjustments, they just have to approved before hand and be backed up with a whole mountain of evidence. My daughter gets 50% extra time; breaks as needed; someone to read the instructions out loud before the exam starts; special seat allocation; and she gets to take her mobile phone in with her and have it place out of reach, but where she can see it.

marcopront they have to take their bags and coats into the room because there is nowhere secure to leave them. The building is open to the public so they can't be left outside. They have to leave them at the back.

I've spoken to the IB co-ordinator. I know who she is, her mum is one of my neighbours. She's going to tell the invigilators to pipe down. Again.

It must be a scandinavian thing. I had to do an exam in Denmark last year and the invigilators were appauling!
-Wrote start and finish time on the board, but it was on the back wall.
-No clock on the wall.
-Allowed people to use their mobile phones as clocks despite info letter saying they were not allowed in the room.
-Allowed people to talk to each other before all the papers had been collected.
-Allowed people to take draft booklet away (not allowed in regulations)
-Did not give a clear 'you may now start/open your papers'.

Having said all that at the retakes it was all done to the letter.

I've been reading the regulations and it says bags should be outside or at the back of the room. Also it just says you can accommodate people in a separate room, not that you have to, although every IB school I have worked in has accommodated people with readers etc. in a different room. IB are very good about those arrangements.
I hope things improve for next week. What does she have left to do?

She's done 1 Swedish exam, 1 English and 2 maths, so everything else really. She most worried about her history, more because the history teacher is the Scary Teacher than the exam itself. :o

I hope history went well today and the invigilators are better.

Why does it help her to have her phone in sight, but out of reach? Not heard of that one before.

Thanks. She won't be back for a while yet. She doesn't use her extra 50% time in some exams, but she will definately need it today. She was very stressed when she left this morning. She loves history but is terrified of her history teacher and the trouble she'll get in if she doesn't do brilliantly. Their head of year has given all the kids permission to tell the invigilators to shut up if required. That should be interesting. :o

Bletchley, her phone is provided by the hospital. It has special software on it that they use with her to overcome her cognitive difficulties. It's like a replacement for the part of her brain which doesn't function right. It includes all the crisis plans they've worked out with her and all her step-by-step breakdowns of everyday activities. Without it she cannot function. Plus it'd also cost about £5000 to replace. She is supposed to have it with her at all times, so being able to see where it is but not use it is a compromise. It ensures she can't cheat but reassures her so she doesn't have a complete meltdown and refuse to go into the exam room.

That's really interesting, not heard of that before.