Hi Duncan,

Please add my name to the list and thanks for all of the work you are doing on our behalf.

Many thanks,

Jenny.

Jenny Townsend

Exams and Assignments Manager

Redbridge College

Little Heath, Barley Lane, Romford, RM6 4XT

Tel: 0208 548 7425

Email: [log in to unmask]

Web: www.redbridge-college.ac.uk

Officially the No.1 college in Greater London!

From: The FE Exams Network mailing list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Duncan Buck
Sent: 15 November 2012 10:42
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Evidence required to "paint a picture of need" and to demonstrate the "normal way of working"

Hi All

My suggestion is that we use all of the empty Vodka bottle to beat the right answer out of the JCQ .....

Alternatively, now that I have had time to get my head around Nick's answer, I feel that we owe him a second chance before complaining formally and have penned the response below that I intend to send either personally or on behalf of all of us. Please can you let me know your views by 10:00 tomorrow when I intend to send it.

Regards

Duncan

Dear Nick

Thank you for your Email in response to our questions. Unfortunately it appears that the tone of the Email has disturbed you and that instead of answering our substantive points you have defended the position of the JCQ as well as muddying the water with the suggestion that the role does not lie with the examinations officer - it is a centre responsibility that is delegated to us by the head of centre who receives no more guidance of support than we do. Please can I ask you for a direct answer to our questions:

With respect to the paper trail that your inspectors will be expecting to find, please can the JCQ define, along with example documents, what it expects examination officers to hold available for inspection for each generic group of access arrangements.
Apart from the "picture of need" for 25% extra time of GCSE/GCE, a significant number of other access arrangements have from 12/13 required us to hold evidence of "normal way of working". This has not been trained on at the meetings held by the former QCDA Centre Support Officers that we have attended and hence when you introduce such changes, as you do every year on 1st September, you must give us both more notice and some form of training.

We look forward to hearing from you with a constructive way forwards to avoid a significant number of centres either failing to meet the needs of the candidates or the requirements of your inspectors.

Yours sincerely

Duncan

Duncan Buck

Exams Co-ordinator

Herefordshire College of Technology

DDI: 01432 365315

>>> [log in to unmask] 14/11/2012 11:27 >>>

Dear Colleagues

Please find attached the response from Nick Lait.

I'll withhold my comments until you have had a chance to make yours and I decide whether to adopt my new name.

Regards

Duncan

>>> nick lait <[log in to unmask]> 14/11/2012 11:17 >>>
Dear Mr Black

Thank you for your e-mail message.

The requirement to paint a picture of need is not new: it has not suddenly been introduced this academic year. The requirement to paint a picture of need was first introduced in September 2010 and solely applies to extra time of up to 25%.

Within the JCQ publication 'Access Arrangements, Reasonable Adjustments and Special Consideration' for the academic year 2012/13 the requirements for painting a picture of need in respect of extra time of up to 25% are given.

Page 8 of the above mentioned publication sets out clearly the picture of need, colour coded, particularly where a candidate has two or more standardised scores between 85-89 and no scores below 90.

Where a candidate has at least one standardised score of 84 or less the picture of need can be painted through Section A of Form 8.

I can re-call attending examination officer network meetings during the academic year 2010/11 with former QCDA Centre Support Officers where we explained the picture of need.

Training events run by Communicate-Ed and PATOSS for specialist assessors have comprehensively covered the requirements for painting a picture of need.

Form 8 has been in existence for many years and Section A requires centres to comment on history of need and provision. This is effectively the picture of need for a candidate requiring a computer reader, extra time of over 25% and up to 50%, an Oral Language Modifier, a reader or a scribe where he/she has a learning difficulty.

Where a candidate has at least one below average standardised score relating to speed of processing and requires extra time of up to 25%, the picture of need can be painted through Section A of Form 8.

The JCQ can only set the regulations governing access arrangements.

It cannot account for the behaviours within an individual centre.

Yes, an examinations officer does have to rely on the professional judgement and integrity of a specialist assessor.

Where a centre has an in-house specialist assessor I have always stressed that an in-house specialist assessor should, in an ideal world, assess the candidates, complete the paperwork, process the applications and hold the documentation for inspection purposes.

Personally, I do not think that examination officers should be involved in the process at all, aside from invigilation, training and rooming requirements.

However, it is for the senior leadership team to determine the roles of staff within their centre and not the JCQ.

Yours sincerely
Nick Lait
Senior Manager, Exam Services
JCQ

Dear Nick

I feel that JCQ needs to be aware that there is great confusion and concern amongst experienced examination officers regarding the evidence required to "paint a picture of need" and to demonstrate the "normal way of working" under the 12-13 JCQ Regulations.

We are generally supportive of the changes set out in the AARA&SC Section 1.1.3 and appreciate how this links to 1.1.4 and the possible provision of inappropriate access arrangements in the past. However, the JCQ are asking examination officers to take responsibility for signing (for example on Form 8, Form 9 or Access Arrangements Online) to say that we have evidence to "paint a picture of need" and to demonstrate the "normal way of working", both of which will be available for inspection by your inspectors, but without defining exactly what we will be required to hold immediately available.

Particularly in large colleges examination officers are unable to know all of the students personally, and as such we have to rely on the word of our professional colleagues such as SENCOs/specialist teachers and teaching staff. The JCQ needs to define, along with example documents, what it expects examination officers to hold available for inspection for each generic group of access arrangements. Your current approach of expecting each centre to develop the requirements for themselves without providing examples of what you are expecting is unsustainable and is resulting in inconsistency of provision to candidates.

Please can we ask you to reconsider the JCQ's current approach and to provide examination officers with a much clearer understanding of what your inspectors will be looking to find. In addition, in future when such major changes in working practice are planned you should consider providing training meetings before the changes are implemented to assist those who are expected to apply them to do so in the way that you desire.

Yours sincerely

Duncan

Duncan Buck

Exams Co-ordinator

Herefordshire College of Technology

DDI: 01432 365315

On behalf of:

Michelle Banks, Team Leader Exams, Tower Hamlets College
John Bland, Examinations Officer, New College Durham
Sue Brennan, Examinations Officer, Hertford Regional College
Duncan Buck, Exams Co-ordinator, Herefordshire College of Technology
Vicky Buckle, Examinations Officer, Bishop Burton College
Graham Buss, Examinations Manager, East Berkshire College
Elaine Christian, Examinations Manager, Birkenhead Sixth Form College
Stephen Collinson, Examinations Officer, Hartlepool College of Further Education
Amy Coombes, Exams Officer, Pontypool Campus, Coleg Gwent

Claire Coterill-Smith, Examinations Manager, Midkent College

Liz Crannage, Examinations Supervisor, Walsall College
Stella Daly, Examinations Officer, Sparsholt College Hampshire

Rachel Dearing, Examinations Manager, Manchester College

Paul Dingle, Examinations Officer, Plymouth City College
Chris Dulieu, Examinations Team Leader, Newham College of FE
Alan Fenton, Head of Exams, Newcastle College

Matthew Fletcher, Examinations Manager, College of North West London
Joyce Forster, Examinations Officer, Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College Darlington
Sara Galloway, Examinations & Achievement Officer, Hull College
Sally Graham, Exams Team Leader, Stockport College
Meg Gwilliam, Exams Officer, Ludlow College
Shirley Hallett, Examination Manager, Warrington Collegiate
Richard Harrison, Examinations Officer, Stafford College
Peter Hearn, Examinations Officer, Capel Manor College
Karen Heath, Examinations Officer, Hartlepool Sixth Form College
Chris Hemming, Examinations Officer, Hills Road Sixth Form College, Cambridge
Jen Henry, Examinations Officer, North Hertfordshire College
Jennifer Hoare, Exams Officer, Truro College

Colin Humphreys, Registrations and Assessments Manager, Coleg Morgannwg
Jayne Jenkins, Senior Exams Officer, Uxbridge College
Wilma Khaliq, Examinations Manager, Sir George Monoux College
David Kilpatrick, Exams Manager,Kent College Tonbridge

Michelle Lockett, Administrative Officer MIS/ Exams, Mid Cheshire College
Jake Meechan, Exams Manager, Guildford College
Sarah Moody, Exams Officer, City College Coventry
Elaine Monks, Assessments & Achievements Manager, Yeovil College
Pippa Newman, Admissions & Examinations Manager, Harrow College
Roz Nolan, Exams Manager, City College Coventry
Kate Oliver, Examinations Manager, West Thames College
Charlotte Pearton, Examinations Manager, Cambridge Regional College
Margot Pitt, IS Manager (Exams), Gloucestershire College

Jayne Pownall, Examinations Manager, Rotherham College of Arts & Technology
Sarah Rainford, Head of MIS and Examinations, Blackpool Sixth Form College
Gillian Russell, Examinations and Assessments Manager, Kingston College
Lynne Savage, Exams and Data Co-ordinator, North West Kent College
Sarah Short, Examinations and Accreditations Manager, Stockton Riverside College
Cath Smith, Examinations Officer, New College Stamford
Ros Stapleton, Achievement & Exams Officer, College of West Anglia
Karen Sturland, Exams Manager, Brockenhurst College
Mike Swann, Examinations Manager, Huntingdon Regional College
Mark Tate, Examinations Officer, City of Bath College
Fi Taylor, Cross College Examinations Manager, Sussex Downs College
Sarah-Jane Taylor, Examinations Officer, Carlisle College
Sarah Thompson, Exams Manager, King Edward VI College, Stourbridge
Janice Tweed, Examinations Manager, West Suffolk College
Samantha Vowles, Exams Officer, Somerset College
Trudy Wallis, Examinations Officer, New College Telford
Sandra Watson, Exams Officer, Swindon College
Dr Alan Waymont, Examinations Manager, Peter Symonds College
Shirley Westall, Examinations Manager, New College (Swindon)
Sue Wood, Examinations Officer, Brooksby Melton College
Marjanne Worsley, Examinations Officer, Central Sussex College

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