Exam Invigilating

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.

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

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!

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.

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.

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 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!

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.

IMO it is one of the most boring jobs on earth or tasks that can be wished upon teachers.

You sit or stand for hours, can neither read, knit or sew, and become quite desperate for some-one to need to be chaperoned to the nearest toilet.

Been there , done that, bored to death. Up at 6 to get to the school and find a parking space, did my rota, paid tax on my earnings, worked out at £5 per hour after taking in petrol costs. No more thank you

I’ve done it, and unlike many of you, I did not like it at all. Simply too boring!

I did it for a couple of years, usually twice a year for Mocks and the main exams. It was harder than I'd thought as you have to stand throughout to make sure you can keep an eye on all the students, plus walking up and down aisles for the same reason. There was always a Lead Invigilator who took charge of 'posting' us around the room, usually one at each side i.e. 4 minimum, plus the Lead. Also the Lead Invigilator was usually responsible, with one helper, for sorting the question papers (often there would be different tiers for one exam or a couple of different subjects being tested simultaneously, which can mean different timings. Again sorting that was largely their responsibility. That all sounds more onerous than it actually is. In practice it all works well (at least 90% of the time). You'll have to do some training, which in my case was a morning, mostly online with an opportunity to ask questions.

I actually found the time went quite quickly, as you need to be alert constantly. It helped that I was in a school where I was previously a TA, so was familiar with my surroundings.

Good luck - I loved it, particularly the camaraderie and support from the other invigilators. You're never on your own, even if you are in one of the 'other' rooms - that's the extra rooms sometimes used for students who have allocated extra time/use of laptops etc.

That's a nice job as is election supervision and making up the voter register.

Yes I have been invigilating since I retired at 58, 10 years ago. It fits well around my various activities, and flexible enough to allow me to have some choice about specific days/times when I am unable or do not wish to work. Obviously I try to keep the GCSE and mock periods available for work. The examination officer works closely with the invigilators and gives advance notice of timetables, training sessions and meetings and it is up to the invigilating team to advise their availability as soon as possible to allow him/her to issue a rota for all the team. It is a lovely way to make new friends and gives structure to my life. The money comes in useful to add to our holiday kitty.

My daughter does this. It fits in well round operating her two holidays lets and her family. The school uses outside invigilators for internal exams, not just GCSE and A level, so there is work available quite a few months of the year. It varies from being in sole charge of a pupil with special arrangements to part of a team in a big hall. She seems to enjoy it and is well-regarded.

I invigilated for several years. It is not just a matter of walking up and down between the desks. It can be hard work with groups as small as 15 to hundreds of students in one hall. Dealing with hysteria attempted cheating, ear plugs playing music, the list goes on. Not highly paid or appreciated. Many schools are using agency staff now which must be more costly.

I have done this for the last 10 years. Pay is typically minimum wage but the hours are flexible. There is a lot of training to complete re rules and regulations and safeguarding, but if you like schools, young people, and can absorb and apply the many rules and regulations it's an agreeable part time, seasonal job. Overall, you are there to protect the wellbeing of the candidates, the integrity of the exam and to prevent administrative errors.

I'm 70 .. still work part time as a TA in a senior school. Invigilators set up the exams ..sometimes in a smaller room for students who have exam access arrangements. I get called in to be another person in the room sometimes. It's boring as you can't read or do anything for couple of hours. I did sometimes quite like the peace tho!

Coolgran65 you have given me an idea! I used to do one to one tuition in the home and it was always hard getting invigilators to come in from the school.

Maybe I could offer my services for these circumstances? I may make a few phone calls today- it would suit me to do this and benefir the kids and the schools. Win win maybe?

I have done it on a 1 to 1 basis. The student had special needs autism or something similar I think, and it was done in his home. In that situation there had to be two invigilators. We covered two exams on different days.

The first maths GCSE paper the student didn't have a calculator which is allowed. The exam started on time while his mother took off to buy a calculator. Arrived back an hour later empty handed. Ten minutes later the student said he was finished. Still nearly an hour left. I suggested he check his work. No, he went to his room.

The second exam GCSE English on a different day, he locked himself in his room. We had coffee with his mother and chatted for the two hours.

I did it for several years in High schools. It was extra money but no idea what pay rates are now.

My worst experience was when a large bird flew in the gym windows where exams were held and you might guess there was a girl with a phobia of birds!

I have invigilated for 7 ish years. I mostly enjoy it but pupil behaviour can sometimes be a problem. This is making me wonder whether to continue. Pay is not fantastic but you can choose your hours/days so suits some people.

My eldest daughter does it as it fits in with her 3 girls. He husband goes away a lot so she can't commit to a regular job.
She likes the pocket money she earns.

I did some invigilation in local schools and colleges when Cambridge were trialling their university entrance exam and I have to say I have never been so bored in all my life. The tests were usually only one hour or one and a half hours long so I would have found three hours plus ( some candidates have extra time) ones extremely tedious. Then there is the hassle of the DBS (or whatever it is called now) check. I don’t know whether everyone has to have it but we did. What with photocopying the test paper in different colours for some dyslexic candidates, making sure the anxious ones were near the back, phones were left at the front, smart watches were taken off and water bottles had their labels removed not forgetting pens etc were in a see- through pencil case, it all seemed a bit like policing. I am now too weary to be on my feet all the time so I wouldn’t do it again but I must say I was extremely surprised to see the pay was only£12 an hour approx. We were paid considerably more than that in pre Covid times so it may pay to shop around.

I used to do it for small classes and I could usually read or do my writing .
I have never caught anyone cheating , but I did tell an early finisher off for being disruptive .
One of my friends has done it for years .
She says that it's a bit boring and not that well paid , but that she's more than happy to earn some extra money .