NUT GUIDANCE
ON ARRANGEMENTS FOR
EXAM INVIGILATION
THE BACKGROUND
Teachers cannot be required to invigilate external examinations1, such as National
Curriculum tests, GCSE and AS/A2 examinations. This applies additionally to ‘mock’
examinations and other tests requiring alterations to the normal school timetable.
The main exceptions are:

internal examinations and tests where these take place during normal timetabled
teaching time; and

practical/oral examinations in teachers’ own subject areas.
Teachers are, however, required to undertake the preparation of pupils for examinations.
Section 4 of the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD) sets out the
principle underpinning this position, namely that ‘invigilating examinations is not a
productive use of teachers' time’.
ROLE OF THE TEACHER DURING EXAMINATIONS
The STPCD sets out that it is reasonable to expect that teachers should be present at
the beginning of external examinations in their subject areas to check papers and to
ensure that there are no problems arising from them. Those invigilating examinations
should be made aware of the procedures for dealing with emergencies and for
contacting teachers in the subject areas under examination should candidates raise
concerns or problems with papers which require their professional judgement. It may be
appropriate for teachers to be present at the end of external examinations to ensure their
efficient conclusion (STPCD Section 4).
None of these tasks constitutes invigilation. They do, however, require the professional
expertise of teachers. When carrying out such tasks, the STPCD states that teachers
should not be expected to stay in the examination hall/room for any longer than is
necessary to perform the tasks (STPCD Section 4).
1
The contractual change on invigilation formed part of the third and final phase of changes to
teachers’ contracts set out in the STPCD. It took effect from 1 September 2005 and applies to all
teachers in maintained schools. Further details on the contractual changes to examination
invigilation can be found in the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD).
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STRATEGIES FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CONTRACTUAL CHANGE ON
INVIGILATION
Schools have developed a wide range of strategies in order to comply with the
contractual position on examination invigilation. These include:

the employment of members or teams of support staff to co-ordinate, supervise
and train a team of external invigilators, paid casually;

the employment of lunchtime supervisors as invigilators;

the training and deployment of past pupils and parents who are not related to
anyone sitting examinations to carry out invigilation functions.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ON EXAMINATION INVIGILATION
Some of the questions and answers below have been adapted from guidance
originally prepared by the National Remodelling Team.
Which external examinations are teachers not required to invigilate?
All external examinations, e.g., National Curriculum tests, GCSE and AS/A2
examinations are included within the phase three contractual changes arising from
school workforce remodelling. (STPCD section 4)
What about internal examinations?
Teachers may be required to invigilate internal examinations and tests where these take
place during their normal timetabled teaching time. Where, however, school timetables
are re-organised to replicate the external examination process – as, for example,
frequently occurs in the case of ‘mock’ examinations - teachers should not be required to
invigilate. (STPCD section 4)
What about practical and oral examinations?
Teachers may be required to conduct practical and oral examinations in their own
subject areas and to undertake the preparation of pupils and those aspects of
assessment, recording and reporting associated with external examinations which
require the professional input of a qualified teacher. (STPCD section 4)
What about preparing pupils for examinations?
Teachers are required to undertake the academic preparation of pupils for examinations.
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Who should invigilate in circumstances where a pupil with special needs is taking
an examination outside the main examination hall?
Where pupils with special needs are taking examinations outside the main examination
room, the nature of the candidates’ needs should direct the choice of the most
appropriate person to invigilate and provide other professional expertise. Such support
does not constitute invigilation and would, in most cases, require the professional
expertise of appropriately trained learning support assistants, or equivalent, rather than
teachers. It should be stressed, however, that where members of support staff are
deployed in this way, no other duties – such as the invigilation of other students - should
be combined with the support role already allocated2.
When can a teacher be called into an examination?
Teachers may be called into examinations where specific problems or concerns arise in
connection with examinations. Invigilation staff should be trained to follow a clear
procedure in the case of unforeseen problems or emergencies.
Do Key Stage 4 ‘mocks’ count as invigilation if they take place during lesson time
but pupils are directed to the school hall?
Invigilation, as defined in the STPCD, does not apply to the completion of practice
papers in classrooms during normal timetabled lessons. Where examinations are
conducted under quasi-public examination conditions, in which normal school timetables
are re-arranged, however, the contractual arrangements on invigilation apply.
Do CATs count as external examinations to which the contractual change on
invigilation applies?
CATs are not external examinations or statutorily required tests unless they are part of a
secondary school’s or local authority’s admissions process to secondary schools.
Where CATs are part of the admissions process then the NUT’s guidance on external
examination invigilation applies. Teachers may be required to conduct such tests.
Where the role required is simply one of invigilation for an interim test conducted during
normal timetabled teaching time, however, the task can be transferred to appropriately
trained support staff.
Does the 11+ fall within the scope of the contractual change on invigilation?
Where admissions authorities operate 11+ examinations as part of their admissions
arrangements, secondary school teachers should not be required to invigilate such
examinations whether they take place at secondary schools or at feeder primaries.
Should a teacher remain in the hall as a precautionary measure, in case issues
arise which invigilators cannot deal with?
Where the intervention of teachers is required in external examinations, they should
confine their attendance in the examination hall to the length of time during which the
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issue requires their attendance. Support staff should be appropriately trained to deal
with the overwhelming majority of issues likely to arise.
Can teachers be directed to cover for colleagues who are conducting practical
and oral examinations?
They can, but ‘only rarely’ in accordance with the STPCD cover provisions.
Is it rather unfair that whilst most teachers have been relieved of their obligations
to invigilate exams, teachers of subjects involving practical or oral examinations
will have to continue doing so, even in their PPA time?
Where teachers suffer unavoidable encroachments into their PPA time as a result of
involvement in the delivery of practical and oral examinations, such time must, of course,
be reimbursed in full.
Does cover for absent teachers whose classes have been set internal
examinations to be completed in lesson time count as invigilation?
The NUT argues that cover in which pupils take internal examination during lesson time
would not constitute invigilation as defined in the STPCD. It would fall within the context
of a timetabled lesson requiring cover in the normal way. Any cover provided by a
teacher in such cases – including where ‘gained time’ has been used for such a purpose
should take place ‘only rarely’ in accordance with the STPCD cover provisions.
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APPENDIX: Instructions for Conducting Examinations from the Joint Council for
Qualifications (JCQ)
The information set out below has been produced by the Joint Council for Qualifications
(JCQ).
This and further details can be found on the JCQ website, at
http://www.jcq.org.uk/
Although teaching staff are no longer required to participate in full examination
invigilation, this extract makes for very useful background reading. NUT school
representatives may find it helpful to share with interested parties, e.g. senior
management/colleagues from the support staff unions.
6.
Invigilation Arrangements
The invigilator is the person in the examination room responsible for conducting a
particular examination session in the presence of the candidates.
6.1
The head of centre or exams Officer (the person designated by the head or
governors to administer the examinations in that centre. If there is no appointed
exams officer then the head of centre will automatically be the exams officer)
must:
•
make these Instructions available to each invigilator in the examination
room;
•
appoint invigilators to make sure that the examination is conducted
according to the following requirements:
-
at least one invigilator must be present for each group of 30
candidates or fewer;
-
invigilators may be changed, as long as the number of invigilators
present in the examination room does not fall below the required
number (see above);
-
when one invigilator is present, he or she must be able to get help
easily, without leaving the examination room and without disturbing
the candidates;
Advice: There is a range of acceptable ways to meet this requirement, including using a
mobile phone or a two-way radio. Mobile phones are only allowed in the examination
room for this purpose. Any mobile phone used in this situation should be switched off to
prevent any incoming calls or messages which may disturb candidates. A mobile phone
should only be switched on and used if there is a need to ask for help.
If a number of examination rooms open off the same corridor, it may be possible to have
a person stationed in the corridor to give or to ask for help.
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•
Make sure that all invigilators are suitably qualified and experienced adults who
must not be students at the centre. Although you may decide who is suitably
qualified and experienced, any relative of a candidate in the examination room
must not be the sole invigilator.
•
Make sure that a teacher who has prepared the candidates for the subject of the
examination during the academic year of the examination is not the sole
invigilator at any time during a written examination in that subject.
•
Make sure that for practical tests, there is one invigilator for each group of15
candidates or fewer. In these examinations it is essential that a teacher of the
subject should also be present in the examination room at the start of the test
(and as necessary after that) to deal with technical difficulties that may arise,
including matters of safety, and to help with the invigilation in general. For
assignments to be carried out under controlled conditions (for example, Art)
teachers of the subject may be the only invigilator.
•
Make sure that in examinations in which questions or passages need to be read
to all candidates, or to a group of candidates, an invigilator is present as well as
the reader.
•
Keep signed records of the seating plan and invigilation arrangements for each
examination session. The awarding body may need the seating plan and
invigilation records, so you should keep them until the deadline for Enquiries
About Results has passed. This deadline is stated in the document: Post-Results
Services, Information and Guidance for Centres Relating to: Enquiries about
Results – Re-Mark Services Access to Scripts – Photocopies and Original Scripts
Services (http://www.jcq.org.uk/)
6.2
Invigilators must:
6.3

give all their attention to conducting the examination properly;

be able to observe each candidate in the examination room at all times;

be familiar with the ‘Notice to Candidates’, the ‘Warning to Candidates’
and any specific instructions relating to the subjects being examined.
Invigilators must not:

carry out any other task, for example marking, in the examination room.
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Created: 8 September 2011/LS&SA
Revised: 21 September 2012/SA
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