Schools desperately short of exam invigilators

[noblegiraffe]

"The National Association of Exam Officers (NAEO) is set to publish advice tomorrow to help schools struggling to recruit enough trained officers. More staff are needed to oversee the first GCSE and A-level exams to be sat in two years, with a snap poll suggesting that 83 per cent of centres are still experiencing a deficiency.
But Jugjit Chima, chief executive officer of the NAEO, has warned that some schools and colleges are "stuck", having already implemented contingency plans, such as staggered starts to exams, but still not having enough staff to oversee next month's exams."

The suggestion is that admin staff and dinner ladies could be asked to invigilate.

Geoff Barton of the ASCL commented that part of the issue is that invigilators don't want to stand in exam halls packed with children who may well have covid (no requirement to isolate) and the government should reinstate free testing for schools, at least for the exam period to provide reassurance.

www.tes.com/magazine/news/general/gcses-2022-schools-desperate-over-exam-invigilator-shortage

There are also serious concerns that desperation will lead to unsuitable candidates being hired, and an increase in exam malpractice.

www.tes.com/magazine/news/secondary/gcses-2022-crisis-fears-over-invigilator-shortage

Teachers invigilate at our (state) school too. They can't cover their own subjects but they can do others.

I think that's what happens at our school too.

Yep you definitely need a few more invigilators! If we're lucky we might not be used for invigilation for every freed up KS4/5 lesson, but we also have to do absence cover, so if anyone is off sick (loads last term, funnily enough!), we need to do that as well. Never mind, it's part of the job for us. I have to take the rough with the smooth!

@pinklavenders but what about gained time ??? That's what I don't get. How can they invigilate and do all the millions of things that need doing.

It's v bad practice and v surprised teachers agree to it.

Well I was interviewed a couple of weeks ago and start mid May. I only see it as a temporary thing whilst I’m in between jobs. The pay is minimum wage and I suspect I will be very bored. I will be looking for something else.

@42isthemeaning get the cover ! I was taking cover classes of over 90 last term (3 different tv year groups in 3 different subjects).
Am so surprised so many teachers are invigilating.

@Piggywaspushed
Lots of state schools use teaching staff to invigilate as well. I'm sure that everyone is aware of their professional responsibilities and acts accordingly.

My friend does it. She loves it. And has enjoyed getting to know the kids she scribes for regularly. She retired after 40 years as a nurse last year. And has felt more appreciated by her school in the six months she's been an invigilator than she ever did in the NHS!

I have invigilated in a school for 4 or 5 years but now work their permanently (part time) in an administrative role. I had planned not to invigilate this exam season as it makes my permanent job quite stressful having to fit it around the exams but we are desperately short of invigilators so I have said I will.

the reason for the shortage is a few things. (I have never known any retired people invigilate btw). We have lost a couple of long term invigilators to permanent jobs (which is norma) and these tend to be people who can lead a room / run a small room by themselves. Our pool of invigilators is short of people who could / are willing to do this - it can be stressful when there is a problem (you name it it’s happened over the years) and I think many people struggle with the feeling that they are personally responsible for ensuring someone (or a whole room of people) are able to get the grades they deserve whilst being paid around £25 per exam. Not many people are comfortable in a room with say 10 students with access arrangements and a variety of different readers / scribes / ET etc etc.

I don’t really feel it’s people being unwilling to work in a COVID-Y environment- we all invigilated willingly during the pandemic up to this point I think it’s just that people have better options maybe?

I am in something of a dilemma as there is a job in another school advertised which I really want to apply for (more interesting/ better hours / more money) but if I applied and got it I know it would cause issues for us with exams and whilst my perm job isn’t the most exciting/ well paid I really like my colleagues and would t want to let our students down so I feel I probably won’t apply which is a pain.

I think the main issue in recruiting is the pay - we get paid from half an hour before the exam until we’ve cleared up (so between 15 and 30 mins after) so maybe 2.5 hours and are paid just over £10 per hour. So pay is not great but then no admin job in a school pays well.

Excuse the millions of typos! Their / there etc etc!!

Well, I hope all those teachers have received training because -if not- that definitely is malpractice.

It would be the responsibility of the exams officer to ensure this and I can’t see that they wouldn’t do it - every exams officer I have ever met is incredibly hot on this sort of thing. Regarding malpractice there is also some onus on the invigilator to make themselves aware of various things, but I can’t see an exams officer risking the integrity of an exam by breaking a rule - the school could potentially lose its status as an exam centre.

But @KittyMcKitty how did you invigilate "during the pandemic" - exams were cancelled?

We use mainly retired people, often retired associate (admin) staff from the school, some being their spouses along too.

Not sure what's happening this year.

How do you deal with students needing the loo if you only have one invigilator ? They have to be accompanied ?
When does teacher training take place - is it done as CPD session ?
I'm intrigued as to how this works as our invigilators are well trained and know all the rules back to front. There are so many I don't know them all.

I was paid £9 per hour. Just not worth it

Every member of staff in our school has done the training.

Even the site manager!

@OctopusSay when ? Where are staff finding the hours to do this ?

On a dedicated inset day

@OctopusSay so school run a dedicated inset every year for all, or just new staff ? I'm really interested (although I still think we'd all say no at my place - gained time is so vital).

We have a phone and we can call quickly for any reason. I've only ever had to call once.
All of our school staff has done the training as well. We did it online and it was also all checked to make sure we knew what to do.

@OctopusSay and do your associate staff have to do inset days then ? Ours don't !

In the school where I invigilated, things did change. In the past you went in an hour before the exam and you all stayed til the X/Ts etc had finished and then the rooms were dismantled. So that gave an extra half hour or more. So I was being paid minimum 2.5hrs often more like 2.75hrs. And more if the exam was longer than a hour.
But it changed to coming in 15mins before the exam and leaving as soon as the students had left the hall. And I had to claim to the minute, not the nearest half hour. So I was often earning 1.5hrs and not much above minimum wage. And then I had to go away and they might expect me to go all the way back in the afternoon for another 1.5hrs. It just wasn't worth it. They were constantly looking at ways to cut the hours.

very odd question!

Public exams were cancelled but schools conducted endless rounds of internal exams last year to gain evidence for grades. Also all mock exams ran as per normal prior to the cancellation of public exams.

I work in a secondary school and have children who did A levels and GCSEs last summer - there were a lot of exams!!!

also back in 2020 when year 10 were allowed back in school in the summer we ran a reduced exam series to gain data on students in case it went to teacher assessed grades for a second year (as it did).

if you have run no formal exams since 2019 then I would be massively surprised!!! Just because GCSEs and A levels were canx it doesn’t mean exam season stopped! BTEC also ran as usual!

Are yiu suggesting I’m not telling the truth? Odd!

@42isthemeaning is there a staff member waiting at the end of the phone the whole time then who can just drop everything and come ?
We have something pretty much every week ! Loo, sickness, anxiety, fainting, tummy cramps. But we also have about 10 rooms on the go so need a lot of bodies. Always have at least 2 - I though 1 staff member was not allowed as if need a witness statement you need corroboration of incident ? Bit open to malpractice claim if only 1 surely.

@KittyMcKitty not all schools ran internal exams or mocks. Some just used other data 🤷‍♀️