Guidance for booking Amanuenses for Exams
Disability Service
What is an Amanuensis?
An amanuensis is a scribe who writes down a candidate’s dictated answers to questions in an exam.
An academic member of staff, Postgraduate students and external individuals can act as an amanuensis. Under no circumstances should the amanuensis be a friend or relative of the student.
Booking an Amanuensis
The Disability Service has a list of amanuensis which is updates before each exam period. If you are booking external individuals please use the list provided. Contact or ext 59000 for the list.
1)From the contact list book an amanuensis(preferably someone who has specialist knowledge in the area where possible).
2)Also book the amanuensis for a practice session 4-6 weeks prior to the exam. The practice session should be for 1 hour long. In the case of a short notice recommendation of an amanuensis, try to arrange a practice session wherever possible.
3)If an exam is set as a 3 hour exam and the student has 50% extra time, the School should book 2amanuenses for the whole exam. In these instances the exam will be 4.5 hours long and therefore the work will need to be shared between the amanuenses’s. The division of this work can be agreed in the practice session. The practice session should be booked with one or both of the amanuenses.
4)Book rooms for both the exam and the practice session.
5)Refer the amanuensis and student to the guidance (link) and ask them to make themselves familiar with it.
6)If there is a problem between the student and the amanuensis during the exam, the School should deal with this on case by case basis. The Disability Service will provide any advice and guidance that may be required.
Paying the Amanuensis
1)If a member of academic staff is acting as an amanuensis this should be considered as part of their duties and no payment should be made.
2)If the amanuensis is a postgraduate student or an external individual the payment should be £10.50 per hour (including the practice session)
3)TheDisability Service has a limited budget to cover this expenditure if the School cannot afford the fees. Please send an IDJ to the Disability Servicefor reimbursement.
Informing the student of the arrangements
The School has the responsibility to make arrangements for individual examination needs and inform the student of those arrangements. The School should not contact the students individually the check if the student is going to use the arrangements as this has already been discussed with the Adviser. It should be assumed the student will take up any arrangements made. Students are advised to notify The Disability Service if their needs change and the relevant Adviser will notify the School.
The School should send the student the arrangements via email or post. If a School tries to contact a student regarding confirmation of arrangements by phone, and the student is not reachable the school should always make the arrangements regardless and still send an email or postal copy of arrangements. This could be in a traditional exam timetable format or a clear and concise other format.
The school should always ensure that the student is sent the information via email or post, even if they have discussed it over the phone. Students are advised to check with their School if they have not heard about arrangements being implemented before the exam period. However, the School has the overall responsibility to ensure that students receive the relevant information about their exam arrangements.
Written by Rachel Challinor and Sumara Hussein
Last updated Sept 2010