Markers' Meetings

Still no sign of any scripts but the good news is that the ETS Parcel Tracking system tells me that 6 parcels are "currently in transit" and the remaining 8 are "to be collected".


The markers' meeting last week was attended by all the usual suspects. Retired teachers supplementing their meagre pensions, newly qualified teachers (some of whom looked about 14) supplementing their meagre salaries, pregnant women on maternity leave and, as ever, more females than males.

There are always those (generally new) markers who regard this meeting as a chance for them to provide their own input to the mark scheme.
"I think we should allow this ...."
"What if they've written that ..."

They don't seem to realise that no Chief Examiner is ever going to change the mark scheme at their suggestion and the sole purpose of the meeting is to ensure, as far as possible, that all markers mark consistently.

Markers are divided into teams of about ten, each under a team leader who will monitor your progress throughout the marking period. It's best to keep on the right side of your team leader for it is he or she who will grade your overall performance and possibly recommend you for team leader next year.

One year I had a team leader who was very keen on team spirit and identity, and she insisted that we should each introduce ourselves so we could bond more easily.
"I'm Sally, I have Annabel who is nearly 4 and has just started nursery, Josh who's just learned to walk and is into everything, and I'm expecting another in 3 months. This is my first time marking cos I want to keep my hand in ready for when I go back."
"I'm pascal, my eldest is 43 and works very hard, as does my middle one who is 38. My youngest is 34 and she's a bit of a wanderer. I've been marking every year since 1973 and I do it for the money as it helps pay for my holidays."

This year's meeting was held in a very posh hotel, the food was excellent, the work space was inadequate, the chief examiner was efficient and clear and the admin was organised by two charming American girls in neat blouses and skirts. They were presumably employees of ETS, had very strong accents, spoke very quickly and, thus, were virtually incomprehensible.

Still, we got away by 5.00pm and I was in the garden enjoying a beer at 6.30!

KS3 Mathematics

Last week's tests have been completed by thousands of children. On Saturday I attended the Markers' Meeting where we went through the mark scheme in detail and completed some training scripts. Most of Sunday was spent completing the standardisation excercise online, (apart from a couple of hours off watching Manchester United clinch the Premiership title .... well done Giggsy!) and it was pleasing to be told "you have successfully passed standardisation" and may commence marking.

So, the past three days have been spent getting stuck in, and making inroads into the mountain of scripts on the floor of the spare bedroom. I wish ......
The trouble is, there aren't any scripts. They haven't arrived yet. They probably haven't even been dispatched yet.

I have been marking KS3 Maths every year since it began, 1993 or 1994 I think. Over the years the Tests have been delivered by a number of agencies, Edexcel (twice) and AQA, and this year the organisers are someone called ETS Europe, a division of ETS Global BV.
In every other year the schools sent the scripts directly to the marker and, as soon as the marker had completed the standardisation exercise, marked the sample scripts and had them approved by the Team Leader, he/she could get stuck in to the marking.
This year, in their wisdom, ETS decided to have all the scripts sent to a central point (in Hartlepool I believe) from whence they would distribute them to the markers. Someone has been spending the last few days sorting through in excess of 100,000 scripts and (hopefully) started to send them out.

At lunchtime today I'm off to look after the grandchildren for a couple of days. I was hoping to take lots of marking to do while the children are at school but the chances of any scripts arriving before I leave are fairly slim.

Never mind, it says in the handbook "scripts should arrive in three working days and certainly before May 27th."