Examination system costs £610 million
A new report from the exam watchdog the National Assessment Agency (NAA) has concluded that the UK’s exam system costs at least £610 million a year.
This figure does not take into account the work of teachers and lecturers in assessment activity or qualifications taken in further education colleges such as City and guilds.
The report from PricewaterhouseCoopers was commissioned as part of the NAA’s attempt to modernise the examination system. It concludes that the system cost £610 million in 2003/04, comprising of £370 million for running the organisations involved in the system and £240 million of staff time,
It suggests there is “scope for improvement” – and savings – through allowing exam centres to access and update information directly with the qualification awarding bodies, standardisation of all documentation, and for the awarding bodies to target information sent out to examining centres.
The sheer amount of paperwork sent out by some boards is identified as risking overwhelming staff and potentially leading to the important communiqu s being missed.
The NAA also adds that the teachers’ time involved “may represent a very large area of potential system cost saving but further work is required to establish the extent of these costs”.
Ken Boston, chief executive of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, said that the report “demonstrates the extreme complexity of the exam system in England and the large costs involved”.
David Gee, acting managing director of the NAA, said that there had been “substantial investment in change” as well as improvements in logistics and recruitment of examiners and markers.
“Significant benefits have been realised since the report was prepared, with markers and examiners receiving better pay, over 3000 exam officers receiving training in good practice, schools having received information about invigilation and 40 regional field officers recruited to visit schools and colleges to ensure that exam officers have the best possible support,” he said.
Tim Collins, Shadow Education Secretary, said that the QCA was part of the problem – not the solution.
Mr Collins said: “This report highlights the dire straits into which four Labour Education Secretaries have led our public examinations administration over the last eight years.
“Once rigorous, demanding and the envy of other countries, Ruth Kelly and her predecessors have turned it into a wasteful and bloated bureaucracy presiding over an opaque and devalued system that few would seek to copy.
“Rather than pointing the way towards higher standards, the QCA has vigorously led the path downhill. In its present form, the QCA is not part of the solution – instead it is the heart of the problem. It needs radical overhauling.”
