Senior Examiner

[Butterfly94]

So I've been doing the exam marking for AQA this year and have kind of enjoyed it, weirdly. I'm looking for information on their website but it isn't really clear - what is a senior examiner, and how do you become one? What does the job involve? It just gives me information on becoming an examiner, but I want to see if there's anywhere higher I can go with this! I'm looking to potentially getting out of teaching, so thinking this may be a route out.

It depends what you mean by "senior examiner". Team leaders and lead examiners are recruited from the main pool by recommendation. Other posts are advertised.

What do you mean by main pool? Sorry for the stupid questions, I wish there was a little more info!

The main pool is everyone marking whatever it is. There will be thousands in the pool for a big exam. Then a few hundred team leaders, a smaller number above them, and then ten or so very senior people

Its not a route out for many.
if you have a good couple of years marking as an AE, you may get recommended for a TL slot. You need to wait for one to become available ( 0-several years)
That currently probably not quite doubles the pay an AE gets per paper.
You would need then to be recommended ( and a slot available) to become a seeder, and then move up to ALE/APE, its a bit dead man's shoes, eg I have been a TL on 2 papers for a number of years now the seeders, ALEs haven’t changed in that time.
I would guess virtually no-one in an examiner role earns anything approaching a teaching salary tbh.

To follow on Mrs Hamlets comments
in my subject there are about 8 -10 ALEs each with 6-8 TL, each supervising around 10 AEs. That is for the exam board with the largest market share in a subject everyone has to study ( but there are several exam options available)

Thanks both. I know it's probably not the answer to getting out of teaching properly, but I'm just looking for a stepping stone while I retrain in something else, as I feel a bit stuck! Nothing seems to pay as much as teaching it seems! Should I ask my TL about it and see what he says?

How long have you been teaching? How long as an examiner?
There's no harm in asking. But it's certainly not a full time job except got the very highest ranking people.

7 years teaching, a few years examining, obviously with covid etc. for most of them. It's definitely not a full time job, but more pay would be good, and something to have on the cv!

Sorry to jump onto this thread, but I'd be interested in knowing is the Team Leader salary that much higher than an assessment associate (i.e. exam marker's) salary. I was wondering if I'd like to be one, but I'm not sure about the extra workload so it would really have to be worth it financially.

It's in the contracts that you can't disclose that information. If they invite you to be one, it's all in there.

You can get paid more just marking than being a TL especially marking in the pool after the main marking period ends, but it is a different job some people prefer, some not.