How Do I Know My Exams Team Needs Support? Our Top Ten Hints and Tips
Your exams team does not have to be in crisis before you decide they need support.
In fact, waiting until your exams team needs urgent help can make the situation much harder to resolve.
Anything can happen at any time. An Exams Officer can be absent unexpectedly, a member of the team can leave, recruitment can become difficult, a particularly challenging exam series can put additional pressure on your team, or a new member of staff can suddenly find themselves responsible for exams without the experience they need.
So, what is your contingency plan?
If your Exams Officer was not available tomorrow, could someone step in and keep things moving?
If your exams team suddenly needed additional support, could you get experienced help at short notice?
And if you know your team is already stretched, are you waiting for something to go wrong before asking for help?
At Exam Officers & Data Solutions, we provide contingency and hands-on exams support for schools and colleges who need experienced support when they need it. Our contingency service gives centres access to experienced exams professionals without having to wait until a problem becomes a crisis.
What makes a good line manager?
Supporting your exams team is not simply about making sure the Exams Officer completes their workload.
Good line management means understanding the demands of the role, knowing when additional support may be needed, making sure responsibilities are shared appropriately and creating an environment where your Exams Officer feels able to raise concerns before they become problems.
If you are responsible for managing an exams team but have never had specific training for the role, our Exams Management Training Course can help.
The course looks at the role of the Exams Manager and the responsibilities of those managing exams, including supporting the Exams Officer, understanding the pressures of the role and helping to ensure that the exams function is properly supported.
Find out more about our Exams Management Training Course:
Exams Management Training Course – CPD Accredited
Ten signs your exams team may need support
Sometimes the signs are obvious. Sometimes they are much more subtle.
Here are our top ten things to look out for.
1. Deadlines are becoming a problem
Missed or last-minute deadlines are becoming the norm
One missed deadline may be an isolated mistake.
But if your exams team is regularly working right up against deadlines, asking for extensions, rushing submissions or incurring late fees, it is worth asking why.
Look at what is happening behind the deadline:
- Are there too many competing priorities?
- Does the Exams Officer have enough time to complete the work properly?
- Are other members of staff providing information when it is needed?
- Are responsibilities clearly allocated?
- Is the team relying on one person to remember everything?
A pattern of last-minute work can be a sign that your exams function needs additional resource, better processes or additional support.
2. Your Exams Officer is constantly stressed
Your Exams Officer is responsible for a huge amount of important work, often with multiple deadlines happening at the same time.
But there is a difference between a busy period and someone who is consistently overwhelmed.
Is your Exams Officer:
- Working evenings and weekends regularly?
- Doing overtime simply to keep on top of their workload?
- Taking work home?
- Constantly firefighting?
- Accumulating a large amount of time off in lieu (TOIL)?
Busy periods are part of exams. Constant overload should not be.
Ask yourself whether your Exams Officer needs additional support during particularly busy periods, rather than expecting them to simply work longer hours.
3. You are struggling to recruit invigilators
Recruiting and retaining a reliable team of invigilators can be challenging.
Are you:
- Constantly short of invigilators?
- Recruiting at the last minute?
- Struggling to cover the timetable?
- Having to repeatedly advertise the same roles?
- Losing experienced invigilators between exam series?
- Relying on the same small group of people to cover everything?
If your Exams Officer is spending significant amounts of time recruiting, training and chasing invigilators, consider whether they have enough support with this important part of the exams function.
Your invigilation team is an essential part of delivering exams safely and effectively. It should not become an annual emergency.
4. Communication is breaking down
Exams are not the responsibility of the Exams Officer alone.
There are many people across a school or college who have a role to play in making the exams series work effectively.
That includes the Exams Officer, Senior Leadership Team, SENCO, teaching staff, data team and other support staff.
So ask yourself:
Does everyone understand their role in the exams process?
Are important messages reaching the right people?
Is the Exams Officer constantly chasing colleagues for information?
Are decisions being made without considering their impact on exams?
Or has the responsibility for everything gradually ended up sitting with one person?
Good communication is one of the foundations of an effective exams function. If communication is repeatedly breaking down, it may be time to review how the team works together.
5. The same mistakes keep happening
Everybody makes mistakes.
Exams are complex, and no exams team is going to get everything right all of the time.
But repeated mistakes should make you stop and ask questions.
Are you seeing:
- Late entries?
- Stakeholder complaints that could have been avoided?
- Access arrangements not completed within the required timescales?
- Information being missed?
- Incorrect information being submitted?
- Repeated issues with the same processes?
The important question is not simply “Who made the mistake?”
It is:
“Why did the mistake happen, and what can we change to stop it happening again?”
Sometimes the answer is additional training. Sometimes it is a clearer process. Sometimes the team needs more capacity. And sometimes the Exams Officer simply needs somebody experienced to work alongside them.
6. Inspection, compliance and malpractice concerns are being raised
Nobody wants an inspection to identify problems within their exams function.
But inspection outcomes and compliance concerns can provide valuable information about where additional support is needed.
Have you had:
- Concerns raised during an inspection?
- Repeated issues identified by your awarding bodies?
- Problems with procedures or record keeping?
- Concerns around the conduct of exams?
- Malpractice or maladministration issues?
- Actions that have been raised but not fully resolved?
If so, do not simply put the report away and move on.
Use it as an opportunity to understand what went wrong, what needs to change and what support your team needs to make those changes.
7. Your Exams Officer is the only person who knows how everything works
If your Exams Officer went off sick tomorrow, could someone else take over?
Could another member of staff find the key information they needed?
Do you have documented processes and procedures?
Is important knowledge sitting in one person’s head?
If the answer is “We would be in trouble without them”, that is a warning sign.
Your Exams Officer may be exceptionally good at their job. That does not mean your exams function should depend entirely on one individual.
A resilient exams team needs shared knowledge, clear processes and appropriate contingency arrangements.
8. Your team has grown, but your processes have not
Perhaps your school or college has grown.
Maybe the number of candidates has increased, you are entering more qualifications, your timetable has become more complex or you have taken on additional responsibilities.
But has your exams function changed with it?
Processes that worked perfectly well when you had a smaller cohort may no longer be appropriate.
Ask:
Is the way we manage exams still fit for purpose?
Sometimes the answer is not another member of staff. It may be reviewing the way the work is organised, improving systems, documenting processes or providing additional training.
9. Your Exams Officer does not have anyone to talk to
The Exams Officer role can be incredibly isolated.
Sometimes the person responsible for exams is the only person in the organisation who truly understands the detail, the deadlines and the potential consequences of getting something wrong.
Who do they go to when they have a difficult problem?
Who can they talk to when they are unsure?
Who challenges their thinking?
Who can provide an experienced second opinion?
Having someone to talk to does not mean your Exams Officer is incapable of doing their job.
Quite the opposite.
Good professionals know when to ask for another perspective.
That might be through mentoring, training, professional networks or hands-on support.
10. You are relying on everything going according to plan
This might be the biggest warning sign of all.
If everything is currently working well, that is fantastic.
But what happens when something changes?
What happens if your Exams Officer leaves?
What if they are unexpectedly absent during an exam series?
What if recruitment takes longer than expected?
What if your candidate numbers increase?
What if an issue arises that nobody in your current team has dealt with before?
A good exams function is not one where nothing ever goes wrong.
It is one that is prepared for when something does.
So, does your exams team need support?
If you recognised your own exams team in some of these points, do not panic.
Needing support does not mean your team is failing.
It may simply mean that the demands placed on the exams function have changed, your team has outgrown its current processes, or your Exams Officer needs someone experienced alongside them.
The important thing is to act before a problem becomes a crisis.
At Exam Officers & Data Solutions, we provide a range of support for schools and colleges, including contingency support, mentoring, training and hands-on exams support.
Sometimes you need someone to step in and do the work.
Sometimes you need someone to work alongside your existing team.
And sometimes you simply need an experienced person to look at what you are doing and help you identify where the risks are.
You do not have to wait until you are in crisis to ask for help.
If you are thinking about the resilience of your exams function, now is a good time to review your contingency arrangements and ask a simple question:
“What would happen if our Exams Officer could not be here tomorrow?”
If you do not know the answer, perhaps it is time to put a plan in place.
What is your exams contingency plan?
Under Joint Council for Qualification (JCQ) General Regulations 3.31 All centres must have an up-to-date written contingency plan. You do not have to wait until your Exams Officer is unexpectedly absent to find out whether your contingency arrangements work.
At Exam Officers & Data Solutions, our contingency service provides experienced exams professionals who can step in when you need additional support.
Whether you need help because of unexpected staff absence, an exceptionally busy exam series or simply need an experienced pair of hands, having a contingency arrangement in place means you are not starting from scratch when something happens.
Could you put experienced exams support in place at short notice if you needed it?
If the answer is no, now is the time to think about your contingency plan and not when you are already in crisis.
Find out more about our Exams Contingency Service.
Frequently Asked Questions About Exams Team Support
Does an Exams Officer need a line manager with exams experience?
Not necessarily. A good line manager does not need to be an experienced Exams Officer, but they do need to understand the demands and responsibilities of the role and know when their Exams Officer may need additional support. Specific exams management training can help managers develop this understanding.
How can I support my Exams Officer?
Good line management starts with understanding the demands of the exams role. Regular communication, realistic workload expectations, appropriate training, clear responsibilities and access to additional support can all help. Managers should also create an environment where Exams Officers can raise concerns before they become problems.
How soon could we have an interim Exams Officer?
If your Exams Officer is suddenly absent, leaves unexpectedly or your team becomes overwhelmed during a busy exam series, you need to know who you can call and how quickly they can help.
We have previously turned around an Interim Exams Manager within just one hour.
Our Centre Support Team are experienced exams professionals who are ready to hit the ground running. They understand the pressures of an exams office and can quickly become part of your existing team, providing practical, hands-on support when you need it.
Of course, the exact timescale will depend on your requirements, availability and the level of support needed. But when an exams team needs help, we understand that “we will get back to you in a few weeks” is not always good enough.
That is why having a contingency arrangement in place before you need it can make such a difference.
Do you know who you would call if your Exams Officer could not be at work tomorrow?
About the author
Paula Wood is the Founder and Director of Exam Officers & Data Solutions Ltd. With nearly 20 years’ experience supporting schools, colleges and universities with examinations management, compliance and training, she is passionate about helping education professionals navigate the complexities of the exam cycle with confidence.
Exam Officers & Data Solutions Ltd