Measures are being put in place in a bid to persuade thousands more teachers to take on examiner roles.
An estimated 6,800 additional examiners will be needed in the coming years to cope with the impact of the government’s on-going qualification reforms.
The looming problem has been highlighted in a report published on Monday (January 23) by the Working Group on Building Examiner Capacity and Culture.
Currently, around eight million qualifications are awarded to 15 to 19-year-olds in England, Northern Ireland and Wales.
This system operates thanks to around 34,000 examiners who mark and moderate the assessments related to these qualifications. The vast majority of these examiners are practising teachers.
However, the report warns that approximately 20 per cent more examiners (around 6,800) will be needed in the coming years to cope with changes in the way qualifications are being assessed.
The working group is made up of experts from school leadership associations, the major examination boards, and the Joint Council for Qualifications. Its remit included determining the key requirements for examining over the next five to 10 years, including numbers and skills required.
Their report concludes that the examinations system is “fundamentally fit-for-purpose” but warns that there are a “number of challenges with regard to how the system operates now and how it is changing”. It also highlights what it calls “practical challenges” facing teachers who want to become examiners.
The research states that government reforms to reduce exam resits and prevent multiple entries will actually reduce the overall demand for examiners. However, the move to terminal examination will see an increased demand during the peak summer marking period.
The qualification reforms are also reducing the amount of non-exam assessment and increasing the amount of examination overall. Most reformed GCSEs, for example, have 3.5 hours of assessment compared to 2 to 2.5 hours previously.
Furthermore, a move towards assessing higher-level skills is set to “increase the proportion of assessments that need to be marked by a highly skilled subject expert”.
The report states: “These changes are likely to drive an overall increase both in the number of examiners needed and in their skill level and quality.”
The report predicts that the increase in cognitive content demand in new specifications will mean markers have to spend more time marking students’ responses, meaning they will mark fewer papers. The analysis predicts that it could take up to 10 per cent longer to mark some papers. For example, this would mean that in A level English literature unit 1 180 markers will now be needed instead of 161.
Longer exams will also reduce the number of papers that can be allocated to each examiner. For example, for GCSE English literature unit 2H, a predicted 45 per cent increase in exam time means that 1,515 markers will be needed instead of the current 882.
Other challenges facing the system include the national teacher shortage, which inevitably has an impact on examiner recruitment. Workload issues are also blamed for making teachers reluctant to take on additional responsibilities.
The report adds: “(These factors) point to an increasing demand for a pool of high-quality examiners at a time when demands on teachers in schools and colleges are unprecedented. To attract the right quality, the benefits of examining need to be clear to teachers and the requirements of the role have to be realistic. Inevitably there will be a significant number of new examiners joining the system as reform qualifications are introduced.
“We predict that overall, taking all factors into account, there will be fewer panels of markers required but greater volumes in each panel and, recognising that no two subjects will be the same, the demand for markers is likely to go up by an average of approximately 20 per cent.”
As the report was launched this week, the working group also unveiled a number of measures to try and encourage teachers to take on examining roles.
These included two new award schemes to recognise exceptional individual examiners and schools’ contributions to the profession. It is also launching a new website for teachers and school leaders interested in learning more about becoming an examiner and to share best practice.
School leaders’ associations on the working group have also pledged to do more to promote examining as part of effective CPD and to encourage schools to offer practical support to staff who take on these roles.
Exam boards, meanwhile, have pledged to improve support for examiners who are no longer teachers to encourage them to examine for the reformed qualifications. They are also to pilot schemes to give recently qualified teachers the chance to engage with senior examiners.
The exam boards are also to make examiner payment structures clearer. A typical examiner can expect to earn around £500 to £1,000 per exam series, depending on the type and volume of work, with those in senior examining roles generally earning considerably more.
Dale Bassett, chair of the working group, said: “Our current system of exam marking works: results are delivered on time, over 99 per cent of students get the right result, the regulator believes that people can have confidence in the system and it has proved resilient under pressure. But exam boards can always do more to improve and to pre-emptively address the challenges presented by qualification reform.
“The actions set out in this report should serve as the start of a renewed commitment by all to play our part in building the capacity for the future and ensuring that young people continue to receive grades that are a fair and accurate reflection of their work. These solutions will only work if examination bodies, schools and teachers work together to implement them.”
- The new examining website can be found at www.examining.jcq.org.uk