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?

User - of course all confidential material is removed and the right posters are up. Don't try and make out I don't know what I'm doing either. We are a very successful school with an excellent exams officer and a highly experienced chief invigilator. We use mainly the gym, hall and drama studio but other rooms are used as well (set up appropriately). Sometimes this means room changes for timetables lessons. This is how most schools manage it.
Yours is the exception. And yes, we have had some of the old unannounced checks on how the exams are being run. Have you?

@user1497480444 you will find if you scroll down that Noble has quoted from the guidance.
Back to the point though. This was unacceptable of the invigilators and I hope the exams officer can reassure your daughter tomorrow. C3 is the one my students all moan about too.

I have worked as a senior invigilator in university's (but not schools) for many years and I have heard a lot of excuses for students feeling agitated during exams. I have to agree with a lot of what user has said.

However general chatting (if that what it was, not discussing something to do with the exam/paper/other related problem) and having a mobile not switched to silent I agree is not on. Invigilators should know the routine.

Invigilators sometimes do have to talk in whispers as a candidate may have brought up a question/query with the paper and it has to be sorted maybe thats why another person entered the room later on maybe to clarify a query. Or someone may of appeared to try and cheat and discussions followed between invigilators.

Having up to 350 students doing multiple exams in sports halls some finishing before others, is a distraction for some others just get on with it and accept this is what happens. But also a class room with 10 can also cause distractions, someone who huffs and puffs or the pen twitches, the list goes on.

Did your daughter hear what was being said if they were so close to her? that is the question. Speak to the Exam Officer and please come back and let us know

@user1497480444, I've been a teacher for ten years. Believe me, I understand exams. In every school I've worked in - state, not private - every pupil who needed a scribe had their own, in their own room where, as noble quite rightly said, the scribe acted as the invigilator.

"
I didn't say 6, I said 6 scribes, in a room with OTHER candidates as well, such as those requiring readers, or candidates"

So did you or didn't you say 6? It's all very confusing and self-contradictory

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?
My school does this for scribes.Roving invigilator between rooms (as per JCQ regs).
Readers are buffered by shelving in the library (again in the yellow book) which works surprisingly well. There's a general hum but you can't hear what people are saying.
All signs are up at each room and material covered or removed.

I'm sick of usernames derailing genuine posters threads. Happened a lot yesterday.

posters'

oops

Am not understanding why ANY school would be unable to find classrooms for students needing scribes - given that an entire year group are on study leave one thing we are not short of is empty classrooms!

I hope they throw the book at the invigilators. It's appalling to think of all the work that has been put in by students and teachers, only for their performance to be spoiled by

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.

No user1497480444, DD was not complaining about heat in the room. In her opinion heat was not a problem. The school is a typical 1970s sweatbox. Students and permanent staff are inured to it. It is possible that being external, the invigilators were not used to it.

DD is no wilting flower, she is quite used to studying, revising and being examined in a bustling environment. What was distracting for her was the continued low level stage whispers (her description) about which windows & doors should be opened and closed to achieve the required airflow which the invigilators wanted. This all accompanied by experimental window and door opening and closing.

That this was in a classroom was relevant as the invigilators' desk was only a foot or so in front of DD's desk so the whispering and moving about by the invigilators was far closer to DD than would have been the case in a normal exam hall where the spacing is a little more generous.

The paper DD sat yesterday is one which she has sat in practice (in exam conditions) a number of times and has routinely scored 100% with time to spare.

DD doesnt expect to sit exams in perfect silence. She doesnt believe the continued disruption was malicious just thoughtless.

I'd never have been able to do my best in those conditions. Thankfully I had people invigilating who were professional and very quiet.

user1497480444
if you think it is "ok" or normal even for whispering by invigilators, scribes in the main hall etc... that is ridiculous.
never have I, or my dds, suffered such nonsense.
big halls, silent invigilators, those needing laptops, scribes, extra time in another room. Gnomedeplume i am incensed on your dd's behalf.
ffs.

In the JCQ document link attached www.jcq.org.uk/exams-office/ice---instructions-for-conducting-examinations/instructions-for-conducting-examinations-2016-2017 there is a section for invigilators on how to behave and this isn't appropriate.
Invigilators are also supposed to have training each year which updates them on changes that effect how exams are conducted.
It is a relatively recent change user that invigilators are allowed to scribe (or be readers). If invigilators have enhanced DBS checks they are allowed to be in with pupils on a one-to-one basis but the extra adult could be needed if they don't have this. Most schools would have a roving invigilator outside to cover smaller rooms.
Having said that this year, the school where I work has been short of invigilators and we have had to train new ones on the job as it were.
I am wondering if this was happening at the OPs school. Having said that the on the job training has happened in mock exams rather than the real ones!

I was in a room alone with a student, acting as both reader and scribe, with the JCQ inspector peering through the door to check all was in accordance with regulations. It was.

The scribe still needs to be invigilated

Did you actually bother reading the JCQ regulations at all? They quite specifically say that the invigilator can act as the scribe. So you are basically saying that the invigilator, who is acting as a scribe, also needs an invigilator.

You could, of course, try asking JCQ. They would happily confirm that you are talking nonsense.

On the evidence of this thread you need to read and understand JCQ AA Regs 5.7.11. This specifically requires the centre to ensure that the candidate and scribe cannot be overheard by, or distract, other candidates. It specifically states that normally the candidate and scribe will be accommodated in another room. Having, as you have described earlier, half a dozen candidates with scribes in the main examination room where they can be heard by other candidates is a clear breach of the regulations.

Sorry, but she is not A material, if a whispered discussion about the temperature in the room is going to make her lose marks*

An unnecessary distraction is quite likely to have a detrimental effect on someone's performance in an exam, especially if it goes on for a bit. Some people are quite good at getting back to what they were doing, others may find it more difficult. That has nothing to do with whether they are "A* material".

And phones should not be ringing.

Invigilators should know better than to have long conversations. I don't think it's unreasonable to complain at all. The exam board may not make any concessions, but there is absolutely no problem in raising the issue. And maybe the invigilators will learn not to chat in future! I am not an invigilator but I have sat many exams in my life and I don't remember there ever being long conversations by those invigilating.

A bit of a non-update I'm afraid. The exams officer wasn't in today.

I have been a reader and scribe many times when I was a TA. I was on my own with the student, who I did not normally work with, in the SENCOs office.

We even went so far as to make sure I did not scribe for science exams (my subject) as I would naturally spell subject specific words correctly and write formula correctly, which would interfere with the integrity of the students work. I mostly got Humanities subjects. A level. Bloody essays.

This was in 2007 so dare say some rules have changed since.

user number person Leave all unauthorised items outside this thread. Check that you have the correct JCQ paper in front of you and read the instructions from carefully. It is your responsibility to follow them. Raise your hand if require the attention of an invigilator.

Iris has entered the building

whispering is not noise!

Actually, user whispering can be more distracting than speech at normal vocal levels. It is very difficult to "shut out" the piercing tone of a whisper, even though the words may not be distinguishable. It's like that horrible "tss, tss, tss" noise you get from other people's ill-fitting headphones - it is highly irritating!

The invigilators should not have been having discussions of any length (though occasionally something may arise which has to be addressed) and their telephones should have been off or on silent when in the exam room.

They didn't just distort the students, but if they spent a lot of time in discussion they aren't doing their job of ensuring that there is n cheating, and that students have extra paper etc if required.

Invigilating is as boring as hell! (I speak from experience), because the whole focus needs to be on the silent room of busy students and alertness must be maintained. The invigilator can't chat, take their knitting, read a book - nothing that distracts from the students is acceptable. And nor is anything that distracts the students.

These invigilators don't seem to have been doing their job professionally.If a long discussion about something was required, the correct protocol would be to bring in another invigilator, have the discussion out of the room, and then return - though I can't thin of anything that would have needed more than a sentence or two, and that only rarely.

*distract, not distort

User number, I'm sorry, but I feel that your claim to have 'the most experience of anyone here in running in exams' is manifestly unsubstantiated.

I've been doing it for longer than my current IB students are alive, & this thread is clearly full of other experienced teachers & exam officers with a good knowledge of the JCQ guidelines.

You are not, on the basis of your posts, complying with some pretty basic & undisputed standards.

I'd be complaining if you were involved in running exams in a school where I taught or my own dc were sitting exams - you are so abundantly ill informed that I'd be genuinely worried that one of your decisions might jeopardise whether their papers were accepted by the board.