Involvement in examining and assessment – a School Leader’s perspective

Why would you encourage your staff to mark or moderate examinations and assessments with an awarding body?

I’m a great proponent of teachers becoming involved in examining and moderating as I think it’s a great opportunity for their professional development; both in terms of engagement with their subject, but also networking with other professionals which in turn opens up possibilities of sharing resources and ideas.

Staff training on generic issues in education is very important to the developmental journey of a teacher, but I think staff also enjoy training and development which is focused solely on their subject as we all enter the teaching profession because of a love for our respective subjects.  Being involved in examining and moderating; and the training opportunities it provides, gives staff an opportunity to participate in training devoted to their subject and is therefore very appealing.

How do you encourage staff to become involved in examining and moderating?

Because of the benefits it brings to a centre, I think it’s very important that Heads of Centre support those teachers involved in examining and moderating.  It’s a responsible role which usually requires attendance at a training session.  These training sessions are critical to the teacher’s understanding of how, for example, the mark schemes are applied to candidates’ responses.  The important learning from these sessions where the mark schemes are discussed and finalised can be brought back to the respective subject departments feeding into evaluation and continuous improvement.  Because I recognise the importance of teachers’ attendance at the training sessions, I ensure their participation is treated positively by senior management; and that we assist them by providing suitable cover.

I recognise being an examiner or moderator can be time consuming, but I ensure staff are encouraged to participate by asking those already involved to talk to their colleagues about the benefits being involved has brought both to themselves and to their departments.  However, I think that the benefits are fairly apparent anyway in terms of pupil engagement and outcomes.

What benefits are there to your centre when staff become involved in examining and moderating?

I think it gives teachers a unique insight into how the specifications they teach are assessed.  Obviously teachers teaching GCSE and GCE specifications have a valuable subject expertise.  However, being part of the examining and moderating process can enhance understanding of how the assessment objectives in a specification are assessed; and the differentiation between levels of response.  Really, I suppose, what can make an ‘average’ response ‘good’ and ‘good’ response ‘outstanding’ and so on.  The experience gained, I feel, carries through to the classroom both in terms of delivery and setting school based assessments which prepare candidates for the live examinations and assessments.

I think parents and governors too, recognise the benefits of teachers being engaged in the examining/moderating process and are very supportive of this.  Not only do they appreciate how it enhances the teaching and learning experience for pupils; but also how it raises the profile of the school in the community as staff are seen to be fulfilling important roles within the awarding organisations.