Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Original poster

Exam papers; when does your school release them to teachers?

28 replies

Pottedpalm · 04/05/2022 14:51

Does your school allow release of papers to staff once the exam
session is over and all candidates from your centre have completed it?
Some schools say you have to wait until the next day, but that makes no sense; the pupils have seen it so it is ‘out there’.
i have looked through exam regs and can’t find any statement. There used to-be something at the end saying papers could be released at the end of the session.

OP posts:
Cauliflowersqueeze · 04/05/2022 15:00

Has to be 24 hours after for all exams.

jellybeanjc · 04/05/2022 15:03

I don’t know where it says it (maybe in the JCQ regs) but I'm not allowed to see it until the next day. I used to be able to see it straight after the exam but my exams officer realised a few years ago (or maybe it's a newish rule) that it was supposed to be the next day. Not sure why but that's definitely the rule.

Original poster
Pottedpalm · 04/05/2022 15:07

Cauliflowersqueeze · 04/05/2022 15:00

Has to be 24 hours after for all exams.

Can anyone point to where it actually says this in the regulations?

OP posts:
Original poster
Pottedpalm · 04/05/2022 15:08

It makes mo sense to me when the pupils can walk put of the exam and tell me the questions.

OP posts:
Original poster
Pottedpalm · 04/05/2022 15:15

There is this on the JCQ website, under ‘the life of a script’

Exam papers; when does your school release them to teachers?
OP posts:
Strictlychacha · 04/05/2022 15:17

There is no rule stating the next day. Entirely up to the Exams Officer. Generally once all the exam scripts have been bagged and sealed ready for sending to the Exam Board to ensure safety of completed scripts.

PestorPeston · 04/05/2022 15:37

Which exam by which awarding body?
Your exams officer should be able to tell you.
A lot of rules have shifted over the last few years.

tkwal · 04/05/2022 15:41

There can be specific circumstances where some candidates may need to do a paper on a separate day, due to illness or a clash of subjects so not releasing the papers immediately makes sense.

Why are you so keen to have them released ASAP ?

Original poster
Pottedpalm · 04/05/2022 16:07

tkwal · 04/05/2022 15:41

There can be specific circumstances where some candidates may need to do a paper on a separate day, due to illness or a clash of subjects so not releasing the papers immediately makes sense.

Why are you so keen to have them released ASAP ?

In that case, the candidates doing the paper outside of the session would be isolated.it doesn’t alter the fact that the pupils who have done the exam will be at large.
As for your question, you can
make some conspiracy if you like, I just want to see the exam
I have been preparing them
for two years. If there IS a regulation then
fair enough, but I can’t find it and if it exists it’s pointless.

OP posts:
Strictlychacha · 04/05/2022 16:24

@Pottedpalm there is definitely no regulation. Develop a good relationship with your Exams Officer - that’s the key. As soon as ALL our completed scripts (incl clashes) have the exam registers completed and bagged we are happy to pass an exam paper to the teacher stalking outside our office ready to pounce. We want to help teachers as much as we can. But not before then just in case there are any script discrepancies from collecting them in.

We especially like to help those lovely subject teachers who get their entry mark sheets etc done before our deadlines without chasing.

Strictlychacha · 04/05/2022 16:27

@Pottedpalm forgot to add that if there is a clash - all the other papers MUST be returned to the secure storage until the clash students exam has ended. That is in the JCQ regs under Clash so even though the clash students are isolated the Exams Officers hands are tied in those circumstances.

xyzandabc · 04/05/2022 16:34

Ours usually release them the next day to teachers. However if you go to the exams office on the day they will let you have a look at the paper, but not let it leave the office, as long as all students have finished the exam.

ChicCroissant · 04/05/2022 17:03

Seems to be the day on MN to not trust schools over exams, parents on one thread and teachers now. As an ex-invigilator, I'm very surprised that a teacher doesn't just speak to the Examinations Officer in their school.

swashbucklecheer · 04/05/2022 17:07

We got guidance from our exam board (ccea) that it has to be 24hrs after exam was sat due to fact that with the possibility of clashes some students may not be able to sit until the next day. I would think most exam boards would be the same.

actiongirl1978 · 04/05/2022 17:20

I'm an EO. We give them immediately after exam. I have scoured ICE and there is nothing in there about any delay.

Original poster
Pottedpalm · 04/05/2022 18:09

ChicCroissant · 04/05/2022 17:03

Seems to be the day on MN to not trust schools over exams, parents on one thread and teachers now. As an ex-invigilator, I'm very surprised that a teacher doesn't just speak to the Examinations Officer in their school.

Now where does it say I don’t trust the school? I was Strictlychach’s stalker for many years, lurking outside the exam office to collect the papers and ferry them up
to the department. I am simply interested to know where the new-ish rule is to be found, and as I suspected, it isn’t. There seems little point keeping them from
teachers when pupils have seen them, except in the circumstances above.

OP posts:
BobblyBlueJumper · 04/05/2022 18:14

Usually when all the papers have been checked & packed for parcel force collection.

I heard an awful story once of a teacher taking what they thought was a spare paper from the exam room after all the candidates had left. It wasn't.

user1471530109 · 04/05/2022 18:20

I've been teaching just shy of two decades (😱) and in the past, we were always allowed to have the papers straight after the exam. I started at a new school about 6 years ago and was surprised when they said it wasn't allowed-had to be next day!
I have no idea, OP, but I agree with you. I want to see the paper too! I want to see the questions to 'guess' how they will have done.

user1471530109 · 04/05/2022 18:20

*off

ChicCroissant · 04/05/2022 18:43

Pottedpalm · 04/05/2022 18:09

Now where does it say I don’t trust the school? I was Strictlychach’s stalker for many years, lurking outside the exam office to collect the papers and ferry them up
to the department. I am simply interested to know where the new-ish rule is to be found, and as I suspected, it isn’t. There seems little point keeping them from
teachers when pupils have seen them, except in the circumstances above.

Show quote history

Asking for someone to point you to the regulations doesn't sound very trusting to me.

Sorting out the exam papers for your students after an exam and sending them off is pretty stressful for the exam officer, what time you see the paper isn't going to affect their results but the exams officer making a mistake with the paperwork might. Hope it goes well for your students.

WillowFae · 07/05/2022 14:57

JCQ regs are 24 hours later. Any school giving them out earlier could get into trouble if they were inspected and that was discovered

TableSetting · 07/05/2022 22:53

@WillowFae that is not in JCQ regs

Original poster
Pottedpalm · 08/05/2022 08:07

WillowFae · 07/05/2022 14:57

JCQ regs are 24 hours later. Any school giving them out earlier could get into trouble if they were inspected and that was discovered

General consensus is that there is no such regulation.

OP posts:
ElizabethinherGermanGarden · 08/05/2022 08:32

Just search Twitter after the exam.

mnahmnah · 08/05/2022 08:34

It’s only 24 hours. I get an idea from the students after anyway. I really don’t see the big deal. I’m sure the exams officer could show you the regulation if you want?