Schools should be offered a discount on exam fees for producing markers for GCSEs and A-levels, a headteachers’ leader has said.
Barry Sindall, chairman of the Grammar School Heads Association, made the plea in the wake of claims by the head of the OCR (Oxford, Cambridge and Royal Society of Arts) exam board Mark Dawe that it would have to hire an extra 5,000 examiners to mark the Government’s reforms work.
One way of overcoming recruitment problems would be to persuade heads to encourage their staff to volunteers. (Getty)
Mr Sindall said the employment of examiners reminded him of a “cottage industry” akin to the employment of agricultural workers in the 19th century. Examining was a “low pay, low status” job, he added.
One way of overcoming recruitment problems would be to persuade heads to encourage their staff to volunteers. “Discounting fees to those schools who offer a lot of markers might help,” he told a seminar organised by the OCR exam board in London on 29 July.
Mr Dawe, who told the Independent in an interview on 27 July that the 5,000 extra markers were needed to cover the switch from coursework in exams to end-of-course tests, admitted: “Getting exam markers isn’t easy.
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“It is getting harder and it is going to get harder but - if the examination system is going to work - we’ve got to get enough good enough.”
He suggested education standards watchdog Ofsted should review schools’ contributions towards the exams system before awarding them “outstanding” status.
