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Mocks and invigilation


		11-16 schools

		6th form schools

		Colleges

Changes to qualifications and assessment mean that schools and colleges have to provide for external tests and examinations more frequently than before.

This causes pressure on teaching time and facilities such as halls and ICT rooms. It can also involve teachers in spending more time invigilating exams.

The guidance in this page discusses the pros and cons of holding mock exams and how invigilation of exams can be carried out using a minimum number of teachers.

Mock exams

Invigilation of external examinations

Mock exams

Schools and colleges are reconsidering the need to hold mock or trial exams for students in key stage 4 and post-16. Whether they decide to do so or not depends on the institution's circumstances and decisions about a range of related issues.

The following table sets out some of the arguments for and against holding mock exams in exam conditions, in a single location and allocating the same amount of time as an external exam in the subject.

For mock exams	Against mock exams
They can provide information on student performance to inform decisions on whether students are ready to be entered for an external exam, and (where relevant) for which tier or level. They give staff and students information about areas of strength and weakness. They provide practice in answering the types of question set in the external exam. They provide practice under full exam conditions. They provide practice in exam technique. They can act as a spur for students to increase their efforts. They enable comparison between students who are in different teaching groups. They can be organised at the institution's convenience. They do not have the high stakes of external exams and are therefore less stressful for students.	They add to students' overall assessment burden. They cut into teaching time. They put facilities such as halls and sports halls out of use (in addition to time needed for external exams). They are not necessary for unitised courses where external assessment is available more often. Unitised courses require fewer large amounts of learning to be assessed. Most students already have a lot of experience of exam conditions. The length of mock exams might not match lesson length, so the rest of the timetable is disrupted for students not taking the mock exams and for staff. Students do not take them seriously in comparison with external assessment, so their value is limited.

The arguments for and against are rather finely balanced, although this will not necessarily be true for any individual school or college where some factors will weigh more heavily than others. Schools and colleges often have policies on assessment, including assessment for learning, that include mock exams within a wider context. Timing of any mock exams is crucial to their usefulness for the purposes above.

In considering the arguments for holding mock exams, it is worth thinking about which of the gains can be achieved by setting mock papers or questions within subject lessons. This can be arranged:

within a period of time designated across the institution as an assessment period, and to contribute to monitoring of progress
at different times for each subject, to enable students to concentrate revision on one subject at a time
at times determined by the coherence of learning in individual subjects
for some subjects only, for example, for those with unitised assessment.

Decisions might be different for different types of exam. For example, the advantages of mock exams for GCSE candidates could outweigh the disadvantages, whereas the reverse might be true for A level candidates. Decisions will also depend on factors such as:

students' prior experience of taking formal exams
whether assessment is linear or unit based
the proportion of external assessment within a qualification
the length of any external exam
availability of space
choice of assessment pattern for A levels
institutional policy on the use of re-sits.

Invigilation of external examinations

Instructions for the conduct of examinations are produced by the Joint Council for General Qualifications (JCGQ) and issued to centres each year. Section 6.1 of these instructions deals with invigilation arrangements and states that the Head of Centre has the responsibility to ensure that invigilation is carried out by suitably qualified and experienced adults, and the discretion to decide who can be used in this way. Other paragraphs detail specific cases, for example practical assessments, where subject specialist teachers need to be present.

Examinations officers are often responsible for the design and operation of institutional systems. Their role is changing with changes in assessment demands and might include the management of a team of invigilators employed for the purpose.

Whereas teachers have traditionally carried out invigilation, over the last few years there has been increasing use of other adults. They might be paid or voluntary. Examples include:

temporary staff recruited for the purpose
former members of staff
former students of an appropriate age
members of the PTA
governors.

Support staff, including learning support assistants, who have been deployed from other duties and part-time or job-share staff whose contracts have been extended for the examination period can also be used.

Advantages of using invigilators others than teachers

There are a number of advantages to using invigilators who are focused on their role, rather than teachers who are invigilating within their teaching day. These invigilators:

know the patterns and procedures of the centre's arrangements and the regulations governing them
establish consistent practice within and across examinations
are normally present throughout an examination
can be employed beyond the usual working day, and over lunchtime
know where the examinations officer stores all the necessary materials for examinations
can supervise candidates held incommunicado after oral assessments or while awaiting rescheduled exams
can also be used to invigilate internal examinations and tests, accustoming students to their role
can undertake tasks such as checking registers against scripts and packing them at the end of exams, reducing the burden on office staff and examinations officers (alternatively, office staff can add to their normal working hours or vary their usual pattern of work during this period).

Centres that use these invigilators point out their cost-effectiveness, given the difference in hourly rate between teachers and others. Teachers often consider it more useful to spend time released from their exam classes in carrying out assessment, planning teaching and learning activities, and working in subject teams to review schemes of work. If required, they can also provide cover for absent departmental colleagues, assuring consistent quality of teaching and offsetting the cost of the invigilators against supply teacher costs.

One experienced examinations officer sums up the success factors as 'getting the right people, giving them training and practice and building a team by treating them well and giving them appropriate responsibility'.

Recruiting and training invigilators

Parents' newsletters, parents' evenings and other communication with the centre's wider community can be used in addition to newspaper or website advertisement. A range of people who have retired or taken early retirement from jobs such as youth work, the police and education have found this work attractive. When parents are used, they must not invigilate their own children.

Invigilators, who might be alone with an individual or group of students, should undergo security checks in the same way as other staff involved with young people. It is a requirement that when a single invigilator is used there is another adult within sight or earshot (a walkie-talkie or mobile phone can be carried but switched on only in an emergency). This is for the protection of all concerned; invigilators themselves might be taken ill. A second available adult does not have to be carrying out invigilation duties.

Good practice includes giving all invigilators a handbook including:

the JCGQ instructions for the conduct of examinations
copies of the Notice to Candidates and Warning to Candidates
the checklist for invigilators provided within the instructions.

The contents of this handbook should be discussed with new invigilators.

Teaming experienced and new invigilators will enable them to see how the institution conducts examinations and build expertise quickly.

Building a team

A regular team of invigilators can be formed. Candidates come to know the team and recognise their status and expertise. Where this practice is well established, team leaders are identified and other invigilators, whether teachers or not, know which team leader is in charge of an examination. This reduces the burden on the examinations officer and the team leaders can deputise some functions if required. Giving some responsibility to the team makes the role more rewarding.

Also see

> Exams process
> Managing assessment