Exam Invigilating

One year, I was the chief invigilator at our small local high school. It was pretty stressful trying to be on top of all aspects of it, but I was still young enough to enjoy the responsibility. We had a few incidents (including the physics teacher who knocked on the door to demand his calculators back and fighter jets flying right overhead twice disrupting the Higher French transcription exam!!) but I was proud of myself for having the confidence to do it. It’s fine to take a magazine to read or a notebook to scribble in, as long as you don’t get so involved that you don’t notice a pupil needing more paper or whatever. I made a point of raising my head every five minutes to check all was well and no cheating going on. It’s a big responsibility, but I think you’ll enjoy it. Give it a go.

I did it years ago for Boots the Chemist when pharmacists were sitting their examinations. It was easy (#lazygran) but very boring so even I didn’t do it for very long!

I did it fir several years, and used to enjoy it, up to a point. The school I was in was a local girl's grammar school, pretty high standard. This didn't mean that cheating didn't go on (hiding a text book in a toilet, which was later discovered. Silly boy (boys on sixth form) had written his name in the book! I used to prefer doing the 1-to-1 stints, as we were allowed to read a book, until they changed the rules, then became too boring. Also, when I received my state pension, it wasn't worth it financially as I would have been taxed on the meagre pay.

I did it in a high security prison I was teaching in part time when my children were young. I was paid the same rate as when teaching so it was well worth the boredom. I would have no more than two or three students (prisoners) in a room with an officer marching up and down the corridor outside. An emergency bell, which I never needed to use, was behind my desk.

As a retired teacher you couldn't pay me enough to do that job! 🤣😴😴😴😴😴 hated invigilating. A few of my non teacher friends have done it and they enjoy it.

Charleygirl5

I did it for a few years locally. It was minimum pay. I was frequently in charge which was stressful when we were invigilating 90+. If a teenager needed the loo they had to be escorted so there was usually a steady stream. Sometimes I would be standing/walking for 3 hours. I was younger and fitter.

A lot depended on the subject eg German and there may only have been 20 sitting. Whereas the arts and there could easily be 120.

It was stressful at the end making sure that each teenager had written the basics such as their name.

I much preferred it when I did 1:1 invigilating and I could read my book.

Over the years I only saw blatant cheating once. I got a colleague to witness it and we each had to write a statement.

I have done exam invigilation since retiring as I did it regularly as part of my job in school. You can't read a book in an exam nowadays. The rules for what you can and can't do tighten up every year, so 1;1 invigilation can be incredibly boring especially if the student doesn't use the help they are entitled to such as reading or scribing for them. They often finish long befire the end of the exam so there is nothing to do! At least in the main exam hall there is plenty to do, escorting students to the loo and managing the list of those waiting to go! You'd be amazed how many of them don't go before the exam despite being reminded to! At the end the papers have to be properly collated, all the student photos collected and put in order and all the equipment lent out must be collected in so no time to get bored. However my favourite exams were with students I knew well who required a scribe and used their extra time, so the sessions and therefoe the pay was more. When I was working in the special needs dept. we supported the students in exams that we had worked closely with in lessons. Last year the rules for that changed again and now LSAs can't support their regular students in exams any more. One of the student I supported was severely disabled and would have been badly disadvantaged if that rule had been in place when he was still at school as one needed to know how to position him and move him etc as well as scribe for him. I guess I would have been allowed to support his exams in different subjects than those I did with him in class but he couldn't have been supported by someone who wasn't experienced in the specifics of his disability!

I started invigilating by going to disabled students homes for the OU. You were only sent to people of the same sex for safety reasons but it could be difficult with dogs and cats and even rabbits on one occasion. I gave up after a particularly difficult visit. I then went to UCL for some years in the room for students with problems. It was very challenging at times
It is now many years since I stopped so I have no idea of the current situation

I do it for the sumer GCSE and A level at the winter resits. We get paid £15 per hour minimum of 3 hours even if the exam is only 2 hours!!. Most do invigilating in the hall, walking up and down. I have mobility issues so I do the small groups, either subjects with low uptake or those that need special conditions.