2008 Survey of Examinations Officers in England and Wales

7th Annual EOA survey of Examination Office Staff

(Academic Year 2007 - 8)

November 2008

CONTENTS

Page 31. Introduction

Page 32. Profile of Exam centres of respondents

Page 53. Profile of respondents

Page 5- NTEOS or TEOS

Page 6- Job Titles

Page 74. Teaching Examination Officers

Page 85. Length of time in post

Page 9 6. Recent job description

Page 107.1 Agreed hours of work

Page 117.2 Actual hours worked

Page 128. Rates of pay

Page 149.1 Reporting structure

Page 149.2 Level of support from Line Manager

Page 1610.1 Training

Page 1710.2 Support to attend a course

Page 1911.1 Invigilation Team

Page 2011.2 Pay levels for invigilators

Page 2212. Non exam office responsibilities

Page 2313. Size of exam office team

Page 2414. Additional administrative support

Page 2515. Responsibilities for exams

Page 2716. Percentage of time spent on different qualifications

Page 2817. Exam budgets

Page 3018. Support from SMT

Page 3219. Use of EOA website, representations, conferences and CPD

Page 3320. Use of Awarding Bodies website, meetings or other

Page 3421. Use of NAA website, CSO, meetings and tools

Page 3522. Comparison between use of EOA, Awarding Bodies and NAA facilities

Page 3623. Factors preventing the respondents from carrying out their jobs

Page 3724. Working conditions

Page 3925. Issues with which the EOA should be dealing

Page 4026.1 Customer service levels provided by Awarding Bodies

Page 41- AQA

Page 41- CCEA

Page 42- Edexcel

Page 42- OCR

Page 43- WJEC

Page 43- C & G

Page 44- NCFE

Page 44- ABC

Page 4526. 2 Comparison between Awarding Bodies

Page 4927. Membership of Unions

Page 5128. Summary

1. Introduction

Examination Officers across the UKwere surveyed by the Examination Officers' Association between August and October 2008. 2500 surveys were sent out and there were 209 responses a 8.36% response rate. All responses were anonymous, so it is not possible to identify geographical locations of the exam centres.

Many of the respondents left questions blank so the total of responses does not always total 209.

1. Profile of exam centres of respondents

The exam centres of respondents were broken down into nine groups for the analysis of the data:-

Secondary Schools (State)154

Secondary Schools (Independent)12

Further Education & Adult Education17

Further Education with Sixth Form 2

SixthFormCollege 5

Secondary School (11-16 years olds only) 9

SpecialSchools and Pupil Referral Units 5

Academies 2

Not Identified 3

The size of the schools were:-

This table shows the proportion of each kind of school to the number of pupils.

3.Profile of respondents

3.1 NTEOS or TEOS

The respondents were broken down into two groups - Non-Teaching Examination Officers (NTEOS) or Teaching Examination Officers (TEOS). 90% of respondents were NTEOS:-

3.2Job Titles

The job titles for the respondents varied significantly, although 22 were called Exams or Examinations Managers and 129 were called Exams or Examinations Officers, making a total of 151, or 73% with one of these four titles.

Job titles by centres

Other job titles included:-

Academic Services Administrator

Academic Manager

Vice Principal

Head of Student Services

i/c learning

Personnel & Training Officer

Achieving Standards Officer

Assistant Head Teacher

Academic Registrar

4. Teaching Examination Officers

The TEOS were a very small group of 21 respondents and they didn’t answer many of the questions. As a result the data is not very accurate or representative of the group.

Eleven TEOS responded to the question about hours spent in non-contact time carrying out the Exam role. The question didn’t say whether this was hours per day, week or month, so the respondents may have interpreted this in different ways. The responses were:-

1, hour, 2 hours, 2¼ hours, 2½ hours, 3 hours, 5 hours, 6 hours, 9 hours, 15 hours and 18 hours. One responded “as required”.

When asked whether the TEOS were expected to maintain their teaching role during exam periods eleven said “yes” and three “no”.

Asked whether their exam office responsibilities impacted on their classroom teaching, they responded:-

Particular comments were:

Late for lessons when organising start of exams

Miss the lessons but still have to set and mark work

Arriving late for class and leaving to attend an emergency

Non preparation of lessons

Need contingencies in place if called away to an exam

Marking load needs to be reduced

5.Length of time in post

The majority of respondents, 78%, have been in post for more than three years, but 22% took up their positions less than three years ago. A small proportion, 7%, have been carrying out the examination officers role for more than 12 years. The largest proportion, 50%, have been in position for between 3 and 5 years.

The same pattern holds true across all centres, although the respondents at the Sixth Form Colleges seem to have been in post for the longest time:-

6.Recent job description

67% of respondents said they had recent job descriptions, 33% said they didn’t.

Only the secondary independent schools responded that the majority of them have not got a recent job description.

7.Hours of work

7.1Agreed hours of work

72% of respondents work full time in their roles – many commented that this was a term time only role, but this data wasn’t requested, so there are no statistics for this.

7.2Actual hours worked

The actual hours worked by examination officers is considerably more than their agreed hours, particularly during exam times. A number of respondents commented that there was becoming less down time between exams and assessments and so hours worked were getting longer throughout the year and not just at summer exam times.

1. Rates of pay

The survey asked for respondent’s rate of pay per hour. Some were unable to calculate this as they received an annual salary and others responded that they were on a specific pay scale rather than an hourly rate.

This table shows the total responses for each hourly rate:-

The level of hourly pay varied between school types. State secondary schools paid the worst rate, although there were a few better paid positions. Independent schools and Sixth Form colleges paid the best rates.

1. Reporting

9.1Reporting structure

The respondents were asked to whom they reported. The job title of the line manager varied, but 17% reported to the Head or Principal and 50% reported to either an Assistant Head, Deputy Head or Principal or a Vice Principal. 15% reported to either the Bursar or the Business Manager. Amazingly, two people actually stated that they did not know to whom they reported!

9.2 Level of support from Line Manager

The majority of respondents, 77%, felt that they were supported by their line manager.

Do you feel supported?

However, an analysis of those that didn’t feel supported by their line manager showed that the job function of the line manager made a significant difference to the level of support received. Of the 45 respondents who didn’t feel supported, 20 or 45% had the Bursar or Business Manager as a line manager. Out of the total of number of respondents there are only 30 reporting to Bursars or Business Managers, so there is a very high level or dissatisfaction amongst examination office staff when reporting to this job function.

Job title of line managers for examination office staff who do not feel supported.

Support from line managers across all types of schools. The FE staff had a higher level of dissatisfaction at the level of support than other centres:-

1. Training

10.1 Training received

The survey asked whether examination office staff had received any additional training for their role. The response was very evenly split with 53% saying they had and 47% saying they hadn’t.

Those who had received training had gained it from various sources:-

10.2 Support to attend a course.

The survey asked whether examination office staff felt their centre would support them to attend a professional course. The majority felt they would, although it was clear that some had not ever asked if it would be possible.

Would your centre support you on a professional course?

Support from centre to attend a professional course by type of centre. The balance of yes to no would appear to be similar across all types of centres:-

For those that responded ‘no’, the reasons given were predominantly due to cost, although some commented:

Will not commit to allocating any time during working hours

Applied to do EOA BTEC level 4 but the management are still debating how it will benefit students before approving application

There would be no-one left to cover the work

1. 1 Invigilation team

The majority of respondents, 92%, are responsible for an invigilation team.

The numbers of invigilators varies considerably, but the majority of examination office staff are responsible for between 10 and 19 people. There was some confusion over the responses with some respondents including academic staff within their centre as well as external invigilators. Four respondents were responsible for over 50 invigilators and it wasn’t clear whether they included academic staff or not.

Numbers of invigilators which examination office staff manage:-

Although the size of the invigilator teams varied across the types of centres, understandably, the Further Education and Sixth form colleges, with the largest numbers of pupils, had the largest teams.

11.2Pay levels for invigilators

Invigilators pay per hour ranged from £6 per hour to £11 per hour with 38% falling between £7 and £7.99. A comment made in a later question in the survey, suggested that Invigilators would benefit from some training.

The pay levels are slightly worse in the state sector than in the independent sector, but otherwise are fairly similar across all types of centre:-

12. Non exam office responsibilities

The responsibilities of examination officers extend beyond the exam office for many of the respondents.

43 are also Data Managers, supervisors or administrators

26 are also Cover Managers

10 noted that they had general administrative duties

8 are responsible for reports

5 noted that they also worked on reception

7 are responsible for the timetable

5 are also the PA to the Head

4 are also Librarians

3 also have purchasing responsibilities

Others include FA Coach, Health & Safety Coordinator, School transport coordinator, preparation of Annual Review, Marketing, School Governor, Duke of Edinburgh Unit Leader and HR Officer.

13. Size of exam office team

The majority of examination offices, 86%, are manned by only one or two people, but there are a few that have more staff, in particular the very large Further Education Colleges, one of whom recorded an exam office staff of 31people.

Numbers of people in addition to the respondent working in the exams office:-

Across all types of centres the breakdown shows that the larger colleges have more staff in the exams office:-

14. Additional administrative support

The survey asked if the exam office gets more administrative support when required and although fairly evenly split, more respondents said that they didn’t get support.

Most centres seem to be in a similar position:-

For those centres that do receive additional administrative support, the overwhelming response was that it was given “as and when required”, particularly during exam periods. A few responded with specific hours and these varied from 1 hour up to 37 hours per week.

15. Responsibilities for exams

77% of respondents are responsible for internal exams.

Are you responsible for internal exams?

And by the different types of centre:-

98% of respondents are responsible for external public exams.

There is no clear reason why five respondents are not responsible for external exams!

16. Percentage of time spent on different qualifications

The information from this question is impossible to analyse as there are 209 different answers. I suggest this is totally reworded and restructured for future surveys.

17. Exam budgets

The survey asked for details of exam budgets. Several left this blank either because they didn’t know what it was or because the budget was part of another budget within the centre and they couldn’t identify the figure. Of those who responded the exam budgets came within the following ranges:-

Breaking it down to the type of centre, the largest budgets are in the largest centres, in particular the Further Education and Sixth Form colleges.

There was clearly some confusion over how to answer the question about a rise in the exam budget, some responding with changes to internal budgets and others in fee increases from Awarding Bodies. Overall the response to this question was low, but these respondents thought there would be a fee increase.

The rises suggested by the 40 people who said yes, were between 5% and 20%.

1. Support from SMT

The survey asked whether examination office staff felt supported by the SMT in their centre. 85% did feel supported.

Comments made about the support they received included:-

A thank you card at the end of the exams

Support with exam process

Paid for BTEC course

They trust me. I run all exam processes

SMT get involved on exam days

As a TEOS my opinion is valued and asked for at SMT meetings

Comments made about the lack of support included:-

Only my line manager is aware of what I do

Don’t feel supported by the SMT – they don’t understand the pressure of the role

SMT don’t understand the job

Excluded from decision making

I collapsed from dehydration, exhaustion and was sent to hospital after suffering several anxiety attacks

SMT contradict all of the rules

Only Assistant Head knows what goes on

They only notice us when something goes wrong

Lack of accommodation

My decisions are overturned

Am not told info I require ever when requested

19. Use of EOA website, representation, conferences and CPD

Overall respondents used the EOA facilities a little. Out of the respondents who specified which they used, 49 used the web site, one had attended a conference and two had used CPD.

1. Use of Awarding bodies website, meetings or other

Overall 83% of the respondents to the survey used the Awarding Bodies facilities a lot, in particular the web site. 56 responded that they used the web site a lot and two had attended meetings.