This summer was Liz Pearce’s first taste of life as a moderator – and it is something she is keen to repeat.
Liz was one of just three moderators for the skills assessment element of AQA’s environmental science GCSE, and the experience gave her an insight into how other teachers ran the practical tests.
“I really enjoyed doing it and it was so interesting to see how the different centres had interpreted what they were supposed to be doing,” she says.
Liz, a science teacher in a school near Leicester, applied to become a moderator as she approached retirement. A biology specialist with a keen interest in environmental science, she opted for that as her chosen subject.
Once she had been selected and her references checked, she was invited to a standardisation meeting, attended by the principal moderator and other AQA moderators.
“We went through several papers so we could see if our marks agreed with the teachers and each other,” she says. “It gave me a good idea of what was expected.”
Liz was allocated 26 centres, and her role as a moderator involved sampling papers from each centre to check marks had been fairly awarded. She sent her first 10 papers to the principal moderator for checking.
“There were one or two where I had been a couple of marks more lenient than he was, so I sent another 10 and they were spot on,” she says.
Recruitment for each year’s examiners and moderators begins in September, but even with an 80% retention rate among existing examiners, each year AQA still has plenty of opportunities for new examiners and moderators.
To be eligible, applicants have to be qualified teachers with at least three terms of teaching the subject at the level they want to examine within the last three years.
Examiners are provided with videos and online training materials, and are invited to take part in webinars and standardisation, says AQA recruitment manager Helen Webb.
“Before they’re able to mark live scripts they undergo standardisaton to make sure they’re meeting the required standard,” Helen says.
All examiners are given support and advice throughout the marking period, she says, and new examiners will initially be given a smaller allocation which may increase with experience.
“People have to be very good at time management,” Helen says. “They often have a full-time job and then have to come home and carry on marking.”
A first year examiner can expect to earn £500 to £1,000, she adds, a figure that will increase as their allocation increases in subsequent years.
Anna Hunt applied to become an examiner three years ago to help pay for her wedding, but that was not the only motivation.
“I chose the subject I did – AS English literature – to help me improve my understanding of the examination process. I thought I would pick a paper where I was able to make a difference, and it has made a massive impact on my teaching.”
For Anna, her first standardisation involved meeting the other examiners and going through six scripts that had already been marked by senior examiners. It is crucial that all examiners are following the same mark scheme, to ensure students’ papers are graded fairly.
“It is not about your opinions at this level, it is about reflecting what is in the mark scheme,” she says. “But it also makes sense to me: I like the way the paper is graded.”
A first-time examiner has to cope with both the pressure to get it right, and the knowledge that their judgements could be crucial for the candidates’ futures.
“It is quite daunting to start with,” says Liz. “But my first year was fun and I’m definitely interested in doing more next year.”
While Anna admits she was nervous at first, she says her training left her well prepared. “It is a massive responsibility but you are aware you have got to get it right and there is something really satisfying about it,” she says. “It blows your mind how amazing some of the students are.”
The ability to take direction is vital for any examiner or moderator, says Adrian Beard, AQA’s chairman of the A-level English literature.
“You can’t be a marker and say ‘This is what I think’,” he says. “You need subject knowledge but also a willingness to apply someone else’s mark scheme.”
After just three years as an examiner, Anna, a teacher in Leicester, is now a team leader. As well as providing help and support to other examiners, Anna normally marks around 200 scripts of her own.
“You have to be really disciplined, which is one of the reasons I like it because I’m quite good at lists,” she says. “I have kids, so my weekends aren’t as free. I tend to mark in the evenings when they’ve gone to bed.”
And she is in no doubt that those three hectic weeks of summer are worth it, even aside from the extra cash.
“I think there is definite continuous professional development (CPD) opportunities available to you if you have been examining. Certainly you can offer training sessions to people within your own department about it because, theoretically, you are the expert in that particular paper. Doing that can then lead to other opportunities within the school I think because you show an ability and confidence that perhaps senior management might not otherwise have a chance to see.”
For new examiners, she says organisation and flexibility are key, as is a willingness to put in preparation work beforehand, at least in English literature. “There are a lot of books you have to know really well.”
It is also important to recognise the pressure facing the students when they answering the questions. “You have to remember that these are 17-year-old students sitting an exam under exam conditions,” she says. “If you teach students the age you are assessing you are going to be fairer.”
Find out more about being an examiner with AQA here.
