Exam staffing is changing. Are you ready?
Would losing your Exams Manager keep you awake at night?
It should.
If not, you must be one of those ridiculously zen people. You meditate daily. Resist swearing at other drivers. And listen patiently whilst your kid restarts their story for the 14th time.
I salute you.
And I gonna guess you’ve never been through the ordeal of recruiting an Exams Manager.
But if you cringe thinking of the fallout caused by losing the ONE person who gets the masses of JCQ guidance…this is for you.
If you’ve been there before and have the Exams recruitment PTSD to show for it, you’ll know:
There’s a teeny tiny pool of people with exams experience.
Exams Managers are leaving the profession.
Such a niche skillset. Anyone know an organised, meticulous, adrenaline junky?
I recently worked with a 6th form college in London to recruit for an Assistant Director of Exams: £63k, and an Exams Manager: £53k. It was a solid month of speaking with exams specialists
The London jobs market moves quicker, competition for candidates is fiercer, with more senior education roles.
The London market has the same issues as the rest of the UK but on steroids. The contrasts are starker.
And I realised why we’re getting it so wrong when it comes to Exams staffing.
Clue No. 1: Speaking with Debbie, a national Exams Manager for a MAT.
Debbie made a comment that made my brain “ding ding ding!!”. I remember thinking “whoa Debbie, the last 15 years of me struggling to find Exams staff has just made sense”.
She said:
“The problem is some schools still think Exams is an admin role”.
Qualifications are the reason we send our kids to school. They’re a key measure of a school’s success. Exams roles have developed hugely in recent years but in most MAT/school structures Exams are classed as Senior Admin.
Clue No. 2: A Head of MAT MIS reposted a LinkedIn video I’d made. “The Toughest Ops Roles to Recruit for”. Video here.
He commented:
Absolutely spot on! Top three toughest business roles to recruit for in schools:
1 - Exams Officer
2 - ICT Manager
3 - Data Manager
Why?
All three require highly specialist and/or technical domain knowledge, skills and experience, which is hard to come by.
All three are significantly undervalued compared to equivalent roles in the private sector.
Yet all three are absolutely business critical...
Clue No.3: The two London Exams candidates I offered the £63k and £53k roles to were swiftly counteroffered by their employers.
In true Don Corleone style, within just 24 hours their managers came back with:
£10k salary increase.
Flexi time.
A change of software (for the Exams Manager).
And 2 extra members of the team for the Assistant Director.
The situation
Exams Officers take on massive personal responsibility. They impact on the organisation and students’ futures. And losing Exam Centre accreditation is the stuff of night terrors.
There’s a sector-wide disconnect. In recognition and salary.
Many London settings have realised this and have been forced to act to survive.
The solution
In your shoes I’d:
Put my Exams Manager on 3 months’ notice.
Be prepared to counteroffer a great member of staff.
Show the EO that their opinion is valued. The EO’s word should be law when it comes to exams, even the Head shouldn’t be allowed to overrule them.
If an Exams Officer oversees a school, they’re an Exams Manager. Research shows that people value a senior job title over a pay rise. Change the title, you’ll be surprised at the pride and loyalty that’ll trigger.
Bring them flowers, fill their office with puppies, and offer regular foot massages.
Okay, bit much. And it could have the opposite effect.
But it’s worth thinking – what would you do to avoid struggling through an exam season without an EO?
I believe we’ll see Exams roles being recategorized as ‘Strategic’ rather than ‘Support’. I see them sitting alongside Managers in Finance, IT and HR.
Something absolutely needs to shift if we’re going to support students through the most critical time in their education.
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