Highlights from The Exam Man podcast, Series 2 Episode 9
In this episode Sophie chatted to John about how he became an Exams Officer and his early experiences organising exams, both the positives and the pitfalls. He reflects on 13 years in the job, why he still finds it rewarding and shares some tips for those just starting out in the role.
Can you tell us a little bit about how you ended up as an Exams Officer, because it wasn't, let's say..... planned?!
No. A common theme of our conversations with other Exams Officers is that most people have come into the role by accident. So no one's set out planning to be an Exams Officer. We've had the odd person who kind of knew what they were letting themselves in for, but I think most people who've taken on the role don't know. It can come as something of a shock when you do actually find out!
So I fell into it completely by accident. We were living in London, and I was working at London Bridge, doing something completely different. I was working in communications in a job in central London. And you got a job in Brighton, and initially you were commuting to Brighton, weren't you? Which involved you getting up at some ungodly hour.
I had to be in really early, 7.30 in the morning.
You couldn’t be late, so we thought a better solution to this would be to move to Brighton, and then I can get the train every day. I worked at London Bridge, so it was just a direct train line up to where I worked. So we moved. The journey, as anyone who's ever done that train journey will know, it's not a long one, but it's constantly kind of messed up- the trains often aren't running.
And you had a really hilly walk at the end of a long day!
I found myself leaving the house at six in the morning, and not getting home until after eight o'clock in the evening. And I just thought, this isn't really that much of a life and the job I was working on, I didn't really like. So I did the foolish thing, which you should never do, kids, of quitting my job without having a job....
You didn't actually tell me about this job, did you? I remember you sitting me down in a Greek restaurant in Brighton and saying, I've got a new job.
I didn't tell you I'd applied for it.
And I said, what is it? And you said, Exams Officer. And obviously, I was working in a school so I knew what that was, but you'd obviously never expressed any interest in being an Exams Officer.
Something that's interesting about Brighton is that it’s like London in that it's really expensive, but it's not like London in that it doesn't have loads of jobs to apply for. So I was just constantly looking all the time, looking on the council jobs board and things like that, just looking for anything that came up. And this job came up at the school I work at now. And so I went and to be honest, because I hadn't had an interview in a while, and I just thought, I need to go and give this a go. I don't have any experience. I don't know anything about this. I had worked in a school, so …..maybe.
You liked working in a school.
Yes, but I thought it was really unlikely that I'm going to get this job. So, I went in and I interviewed for the job. And if I remember this correctly, I interviewed for the exams assistant role. As it turned out, they didn't have anybody who'd ever been an Exams Officer apply for the Exams Officer role. I think probably of the people who interviewed for the exams assistant role, I did the best job at the interview. I got offered the Exams Officer job, when I wasn't expecting to even get the exams assistant job. When they offered me the Exams Officer job, I thought cool, that sounds good. So I took it, and then I got thrown into this world.
But you loved it, didn't you? Instantly, you loved being in the school.
I think so. I have a memory of around about the first half term nearly having a breakdown, because I thought, I can't do this. It's mad. It's insane how much work this is.
How many years ago was that now?
It was September 2011 that I started, and it was different back then. There were modular exams. There were a lot more exams to sort out. There were controlled assessments in schools as well, which I was in charge of. And obviously mock exams too. And then all the different modular exams. We had a big sixth form at the time as well, which we don't now. So it was a huge task. It was a huge job.
They recruited me as the Exams Officer and they then recruited an exams assistant as well. She was brand new too, she'd never done it before either. It was great in a way, because although maybe it would have been nice for one of us to have some experience, we were both in the same boat. And we were both quite determined to do this thing well. I think it was a bit like, when people are expecting you to fail, it gives you that sort of feeling, right, we'll show them!
But I'm sure the team that interviewed you were just looking for people who were committed, had energy, and would give it a go.
I think like most things, it's not as though you have to have been an Exams Officer for 10 years to be able to do it. If you have the right kind of attitude and you're willing to learn, then there are lots of jobs that people can pick up and they can develop good skills quite quickly.
And it's such an important job, isn't it?
You feel like it's important, you feel, I can't mess about here.
I do remember you being very overwhelmed by it, white as a sheet. But you loved it. I do remember you instantly saying, this is mad, but fun.
I'd worked in jobs before where I never really saw that kind of tangible outcome from what I was doing. Whereas with exams, you really see it. I'm going to do this job, and when this job is done, it's going to have this outcome. I'm going to see that. I'm going to get that feedback fairly instantly. And if I've organized it well, then it will run well. And if I've organized it poorly, it will run poorly.
So did anyone give you any advice? Were there structures in place?
I obviously inherited stuff from my predecessor, but she'd only been in the job for a year. The turnover in Exams Officers is high. I think she'd done a really good job, but she had only been in it for a year. So I inherited the systems that she had in place, but we changed some of them and we kept some of them. And some of them, I probably didn't change for four or five years until I realised that, actually, there might be a more efficient way of doing this.
So it was kind of overwhelming. And the other thing was that in the first ever exam season that we ran, which was November 2011, for about three weeks in the school, the entire school network went down . I don't think you hear about this happening in schools very often now, but it was a thing back then. So, there were no IT systems at all, and we had to do everything manually.
We had 190 kids sitting science exams and stuff like that when they used to do modular science exams in November. But, in retrospect, I think it was a really good experience, because it showed us that we could do it. Even if everything was loaded against us being able to do it, we could do it, we could pull it off, and we could make it work.
I think that from that point on, we had a lot more confidence, and a lot more trust as well from senior management and staff, that we were able to take this job on and tackle it properly, cope under pressure. To be honest, I surprised myself as well. Before that, I don’t think I would have said that I was someone who coped necessarily that well under pressure. But there's something about the job, which means that I do, the way I hadn't maybe necessarily in other circumstances before. I don't know really what that is, but I do find that I'm able to remain relatively calm when I'm running exams. I have the odd day like everyone does, but on the whole.
What mistakes did you make though? Being new to exams, there must have been a few howlers in the first year or so.
I remember one exam where we hadn't checked whether or not students were allowed calculators. Our school is one of those schools where we tend to supply equipment for the students. There's a good reason for doing that, which is not about spoon feeding. It's about ensuring that everyone's compliant with the rules and also it eases the burden on invigilators if they're not having to check everyone's calculator to make sure that they fit the regulations. But I remember we got everything out, we were ready to go, papers were there and being distributed. It was literally about five minutes before the exam was about to start.
And someone looked at the paper - this paper needs calculators! And that was the first time where I'd ever had one of those moments - and I've had plenty of them since - you've got to remember to look at all these different things and we were just like running around like mad. We did have a store, but then it was getting them out, getting them out to everyone in all the access rooms and stuff like that, getting them handed out. Everyone's going mad- mad, mad, mad, mad panic, right before our first day of our public exams.
It was very unsettling. And obviously then the invigilators, this is the first time they've run exams with us. They're looking at us - come on, what's going on here? So that was hard. But things like that, you learn and you learn to check everything. And now obviously, I make sure that I’m always checking these things very thoroughly.
It tests the balance of the team, doesn't it, as well, if you know how everyone copes, you get to see how everyone works together?
Exactly. And obviously, when you start as well, you're inheriting a team of invigilators. We've talked about recruiting invigilators. I remember my first ever meeting with them, being incredibly nervous before that, because you're just introducing yourself to 30 strangers. I was just about turning 30, I think, so I was young compared to all of them. And all of a sudden, you're saying, right, I'm in charge of you guys, and I've never done this job before.
And I haven't been in the exam room since I did my exams…..
Exactly. And so I remember being really, really nervous about that. But again, Jules, who was my assistant at the time, she was really, really supportive in helping me prepare that meeting and taking care of a lot of the admin and things like that so that I could just focus on presenting and talking to people and stuff.
I was very lucky to inherit a really, really good team. But it was difficult as well. There were some people who either were not that happy with what had gone before and were expecting me to sort it out or were unsure about me and that kind of thing.
So there's a lot to take on when you start.
There's a lot to take on.
What would your top tips be then for a new Exams Officer coming into the role if they've not worked in exams before?
I think it would be not to sit in your office too much, because you've got a lot to get your head around. You've got so much to learn. You've got to learn all the technicalities of how you make entries and how you seat students. How do you do all the organisational stuff? But I think what you come to learn, is that you are like one function within a big organisation and you have to co-exist with all the other things that are going on in the school. And so you have to, I think, get yourself out there early on and try and make some relationships with heads of subjects, senior leaders, people working in support staff roles.
The site manager is going to be one of your most important people, for example. You need to have a good relationship with the site manager because potentially they're going to be setting up all the desks for you and things like that, organising the exam venue, rota etc. So it's really important to get out there. I remember my line manager at the time, who's now actually the Headteacher, asked me in my first week to come and present to a big meeting of all the heads of subjects about the upcoming year in exams, to talk through mock exams and when we're going to do my entries.
Bear in mind, I'd been in the job for about three days when he asked me to do this, and I didn't have a clue about anything. And at the time, I thought why has he asked me to do this? But actually, in retrospect, it was a really good thing to do because it meant that everybody within that group of middle leaders knew who I was. And they knew that even if I didn't know everything, that I was trying and I would be there to try and give them information if they needed it, and I was open to working with them.
Well, it's in everyone's benefit, isn't it, that you do your job well?
Yeah, and also one thing you should remember is that, and we've talked about it a lot in this podcast, a lot of people don't really know what you do. So it's not like everyone's going to be sitting there going, oh, this person doesn't know what they're doing, because they don't know what you're meant to be doing, a lot of the time. So make relationships with people and get yourself out there so that people know who you are. I think in the long run, that really helps you to do your job effectively. I would definitely, definitely recommend that.
But you had a bit of a varied career before you became an Exams Officer, which we've covered in a previous episode. But which of those roles really helped you being an Exams Officer?
I think possibly they all did to some degree. I think that one of the skills that I developed through probably all the jobs that I did was effective communication, both written and interpersonal communication. So one job I did was as a special needs case worker. I was writing the equivalent of what are now EHCPs. You have to communicate very clearly, effectively and sensitively in that area.
And you had to deal with a lot of different stakeholders in that role, didn't you, as well?
Yes. And I'd also worked in communications as well, for a kind of government organisation. I think that while I didn't necessarily want to work in that area, I think that I probably gained valuable skills from that in terms of presenting information clearly and concisely to people, and also understanding the value of making relationships with people and how that can have a positive impact on how you deliver your job.
And what about working as a TA, because you were a TA in the school? That's why I thought when you started working as an Exams Officer, you'd probably like it a lot, because you really loved being a TA in a school. What was transferable about that? That must have been quite helpful.
I think it was. Firstly, you understand how schools operate.
Not to be underestimated, is it?
No, it really isn't. I think a lot of people get a shock, when they switch into work in schools, whether it's in an admin role or as a teacher. It’s a very specific kind of environment, not really replicated anywhere else, I don't think. I'd already had that experience a little bit. And obviously I'd worked with teenagers as well.
Were you mainly one-to-one, or did you do group stuff as a TA?
I did both, so I would work in classes and I would do one-to-one as well. But often I'd be working with some of the most challenging students as well. And with the students who were struggling. So I think I had some experience of that, which was helpful as well.
Because quite a few Exams Officers have said that they find that aspect of it a bit intimidating at first, which is understandable. I guess you didn't because of that?
I think some of the skills that you need to be an Exams Officer are just not related to that at all. So, for example, if you were a really good events planner, or you had had a career in logistics, you could make a very, very good Exams Officer. But you would potentially have had no experience of dealing with teenagers or working in an environment like a school before. So those are the things that you'd really have to learn if you were coming from those kinds of backgrounds. I guess I was a bit more the other way round in that I hadn't really had that much experience of working in planning and logistics. That's the bit that I had to learn. I think the reason I enjoyed the job was that it used some of the skills that I already had, but the new skills I had to learn were things that I found I really enjoyed doing.
That combination is what's made almost the ideal job for me, really. And totally by chance, because when I went for the job, I didn't really know what it was. I wasn't expecting to get it. People will often talk about kids knowing what they want to do when they're a certain age, and obviously there can be benefits to that. But sometimes the things that you really enjoy doing or you get a lot out of can happen completely by chance. The idea that 13 years later I'd be sat here saying I really enjoy doing the job makes me grateful that the stars aligned in that respect.
What did you think were the best bits about the job? And is that still the same 13 years on?
I still like the buzz of running exams, in particular the high stakes ones, the GCSE and A-level exams. It's almost, and other people have said this to me, a kind of adrenaline junkie job. People wouldn't think that at all from the title. It sounds kind of boring, doesn't it? But actually, it's very fast-paced when you're doing it. There's a lot of pressure.
There's a lot that can go wrong......
There's a lot that can go wrong. It's very high stakes for the students. You’ve got a lot of people to manage. And yes, there's quite a lot of jeopardy. Teenagers are unpredictable. There's a lot of jeopardy involved in it. And I think I like that. I think that I always found the jobs that I'd done in the past, they tended to be office-based jobs. And while there are aspects of them that I enjoyed, I think I just always got quite bored.
One of the beauties of this job is that it gives you a mix of things to do. So some of the time you will be confined to your office doing logistical tasks. But you have a considerable chunk of the year as well when you're out there, you're doing things under pressure, you're dealing with people. And I think I like that mix and that combination. I couldn't do either of those things all the time. I'd get bored if I was doing office work all the time, but I think I'd burn out if I was doing the other stuff all the time.
That mix is very, very appealing. It's a good job for anyone who feels that they are a bit bored just doing a regular office job, but also for someone who is in a very high pressure job and they're struggling with it, but they don't want to lose some aspects of that feeling that it's important and there's a bit of pressure. It's a good compromise position. I'd recommend the job to anyone in either of those positions!
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