Distracting invigilators during A level paper today - any advice please?

[GnomeDePlume]

DD sat her Core 3 Maths A level paper today. She is very unhappy.

Throughout the exam the invigilators whisper chatted to each other. To add to this, one of the invigilators' mobile phone went off and was not silenced and allowed to ring through.

Just in case this couldnt get worse another invigilator came into the room 20 minutes before the end and joined in the whisper chatter.

Unfortunately the invigilators were sat just a foot in front of DD so she (DD) found this incredibly distracting when she was trying to concentrate. The distraction was so bad that DD was unable to complete the exam in the time.

This is not a subject DD is struggling with and was hoping for an A*. She is a diligent student and has sat many practice papers, completing them to a very high standard with time to spare.

If need be she can retake the paper next year while studying Further Maths.

DD has informed the Exams Officer of this very poor practice. Is there any recourse available to her?

Do any wise MNetters have advice please?

Is there a reason your daughter didn't put up her hand and ask them to be quiet if they were distracting her that much and for that long?

Nerves? Shyness?

OP, does your DD know if any of the other students were also bothered? It might help if there were a few of them complaining.

One of my D.C. complained about not being given extra paper for ages and ages during some of her exams despite having her hand up.

If a kid has a scribe, they don't need an extra invigilator.

the scribes have to be invigilated. so do the readers.

maybe your school doesn't have many SEN candidates

Multiple readers /scribes in an examination room is appalling practice.

Whispering invigilators also fairly crap.

In nearly 20 years of being closely involved with exam practice, I can honestly say I can't imagine either of these scenarios being considered acceptable.

whispering is not noise! Maybe you were one of the invigilators causing the distraction to op's dd then!

Invigilators shouldn't be whispering. End.
I used to be one.
Scribes have always had a separate room as well.

Yes do tell us your school user. I wonder how your head would feel if JCQ told them they were no longer able to be an exam centre.

From JCQ document

"The centre is responsible for ensuring that the candidate and scribe cannot be overheard by, or distract, other candidates. (This will also apply if the candidate uses speech recognition technology.)
Normally, the candidate and the scribe will be accommodated in another room.
Where the candidate and scribe are accommodated in another room, on a one to one basis, the invigilator may additionally act as the scribe. "

www.jcq.org.uk/Download/exams-office/access-arrangements-and-special-consideration/regulations-and-guidance/access-arrangements-and-reasonable-adjustments-2016-2017 bottom of page 51.

Sorry OP, this is a bit off-topic for you, but it does suggest that JCQ do not expect candidates to put up with distracting noise in the exam hall.

Gnome if you want to take it further JCQ, as others have mentioned is who you need to contact. Invigilators whispering and phones going off is completely unacceptable.

user1497480444 they werent in an exam hall but in a classroom temporarily set up as an exam room.

DD has explained a bit more:

The invigilators were discussing airflow in the exam room as well as occasional private conversations which DD could also hear (DD's desk was directly in front of the invigilators). Apart from whispering about the airflow the invigilators were opening and closing windows and doors in the room while discussing whether or not a blind was rattling.

The invigilator who came in 20 minutes before the end joined in the whispered discussion about airflow in the room. She also took the other invigilators into the doorway (not out of the room) to have audible whispered conversations.

The phone which rang wasnt answered. It just rang.

While whispering isnt noisy it is sibilant which is very penetrating.

ah I do love it when a #manynumbereduser comes onto a thread, spouts bollocks about "their experience" and is put in their place by established non numbered posters....

Gnome - I hope your DD gets the grade she deserves and hopefully the Exams Officer will follow up appropriately

At a local school (not my dc's) there were two classrooms sitting a language paper, I'm told. In one, one of the invigilator's phones went off.

The other class came out furious because the class was apparently told that if that happened they all automatically got an A*.

I think it may count as a small distraction, so may get an extra mark if they're lucky.

A phone going off is listed as something that won't get special consideration because it's momentary.

BurnTheBlackSuit DD didnt speak up for a couple of reasons:

• not unnaturally she isnt comfortable with asking school staff to be quiet
• she thought the invigilators would eventually sit down and shut up once they had worked out the perfect configuration of open and closed windows and doors
• she was trying to rally her own concentration

The topics contained in Core 3 are fairly complex and do require concentration to avoid mistakes. Like many teenagers DD is used to studying with a lot going on around her but found the continuous disruption in the exam room more than she could work through.

Thank you all for the advice, DD has taken it on board.

Gnome invigilators are temporary school staff. Teachers no longer are expected to do it. thank goodness Heck! DS1 did it last year at the school where I teach , but he would be very unhappy about what you/your DD have described, whether taking the exam or being an invigilator

elephantoverthehill useful to know thank you. It might well make it easier for the exams officer to rein the invigilators in if they arent permanent staff.

DD is a bit more resigned now (and preparing for Core 4). Only one of the unis DD is looking at are currently looking for A* grades. Even that one makes contextual offers which is quite likely as the school and our postcode are on all the various lists.

DD wants the A* because, dammit, she is good at maths. She loves the subject. She understands it in a way I can only dream of. It is beyond annoying to have her exam upset by such unprofessional behaviour.

Where the candidate and scribe are accommodated in another room, on a one to one basis, the invigilator may additionally act as the scribe.

1. The scribe still needs to be invigilated.

1. many schools, academy chains, local authorities ban any adult sitting alone in a room with a students.

1. There aren't enough rooms. there are not enough rooms to have two scribes or readers in a room. there aren't enough rooms to have three scribes or readers in a room. There are normally enough rooms to have around 6.

ah I do love it when a #manynumbereduser comes onto a thread, spouts bollocks about "their experience" and is put in their place by established non numbered posters....

nobody has "put me in my place" at all what weirdly bizarre thing to say.

And it is clear that i am the person here with the most experience of running exams, by a very long chalk.

For example, there are people here claiming scribes have a room each and don't need to be invigilated! Maybe in private schools, with the parents paying for the privilege, or in a few selective schools, or schools with abnormally vast resources or low levels of SEN

otherwise no, sorry.

The OP is saying the heat was the issue, yes maybe there were complaints about the heat and candidates reacting badly to it, maybe the room temperature was being monitored and causing concern.

Invigilators whispering about conditions in the exam room and monitoring and adjusting it - absolutely not a cause for complaint.

I'm sorry your daughter felt distracted, but that is up to her to manage, it isn't possible to provide a completely silent environment ever, and some situations will require more noise than others. Sorry, but she is not A* material, if a whispered discussion about the temperature in the room is going to make her lose marks. Unless she has some form of persistent dis tractability, in which case she should have applied for extra time

Given the heat , and the content of the conversation, it is likely that there were others in the same room who will have wanted this discussed more, and more adjustments tried, and the invigilators to have made more noise about it.

What difference does it make that the exam was in a class room, rather than a hall? Most schools have only one hall, or two at most, and will be using many classrooms for exams, this is normal practice.

In our school rooms are found for students with scribes. Word processors are positioned in a way to minimise disruption in the exam room. To suggest noble doesn't know what she's talking about is ridiculous.
As is your suggestion that only SEN students need special access arrangements. That's just wrongZ

I'm absolutely horrified at the claim that there may be up to six children - WITH SCRIBES - in one room. This is such a gross violation of academic integrity - what is to stop the students from listening to, and copying from, each other?

Indeed @CharlesBakerHarris. User's school could and should be in serious trouble.
As I said, we find rooms. Even if it means people thrown out of their offices for a while. And if it's not possible then the school isn't fit to be an exam centre - it's breaking the rules.

As is your suggestion that only SEN students need special access arrangements

requirement of special access arrangements is BY DEFINITION a SEN

I'm absolutely horrified at the claim that there may be up to six children - WITH SCRIBES - in one room. This is such a gross violation of academic integrity - what is to stop the students from listening to, and copying from, each other?

as many other posters on here, you simply don't understand the reality of exams.

I didn't say 6, I said 6 scribes, in a room with OTHER candidates as well, such as those requiring readers, or candidates that are too distracted or distracting for the main hall, etc.

I am just trying to explain to the OP that her DDs complaints are entirely unreasonable, she is trying to say she will lose marks because of the invigilators whispering about the temperature in the room.

i expect most invigilators in the country were whispering about the temperature in the room yesterday, and I expect that in the same school as the OPs dd, and in all schools, there were candidates who both wanted more talk and action about it, and who wanted less.

It is a total nothing, as far as exam conditions go, invigilators have to talk bout all sorts of things during exams. And there will be plenty of other noises as well. I haven't even mentioned noises from outside the room, or even outside the school, completely out of the control of the people running the exams, and everybody will have them at some stage or another.

I did say earlier the invigilators should be spoke to, but that was before I read that they were only discussing and sorting out the temperature. How are they going to discuss and monitor and sort out the temperature without whispering????

Your DD just has to get on with it and concentrate on what she is supposed to be concentrating on.

it's breaking the rules.

no it isn't, again that is just ignorance.

Its not breaking the rules, you just don't understand what the rules are, or what normal practice is

And if it's not possible then the school isn't fit to be an exam centre

so that would be most of the schools in the country then......

As I said, we find rooms. Even if it means people thrown out of their offices for a while

this is in fact far more likely to be breaking the rules. Are the offices emptied of all written material? Are the correct number of exam notices displayed on the walls and in the corridor outside? Are the correct number of supervisors deployed outside each room? Are the scribes being correctly invigilated themselves?

I am afraid, user, that your centre is an example of bad practice. All our pupils who have scribes are in separate rooms, SMT give up their offices for the core subject exams. Noble is, once again, correct. I worry that you see yourself as an expert in these matters.