Not the week I wanted, Not the service I needed Options

[Rockmeamadeus]

I asked for the last week of the exams for a reason, this year - three of my students are on school trips. My appointements came back as last week in June (Three weeks before the last week). Guess what, one student is away and the other two will have travelled back by coach from France the day before their date.

In the past the board has been good dealing with the odd problem but this is - a. the first time I've not got the week I wanted and b. the first time they have been unable to find me alternatives at the local centre.

I've been offered appointements over 30 miles away in two cases and 40 miles away in another in order to accompodate these pupils.

I asked for the last week for a good reason - if the board are going to give us a choice of weeks they need to honor it. We do pay through the nose for our 15 mintutes!

Finally - when I got my appointments I trried and tried to get through on the phone - in the end I had to sort it out using Email -which is much more stressful.

I'm sorry to say that I sense cut-backs.

[Scooby Doo]

Surely the answer to this whole issue is to make it clear to the parents / students that the exam dates are x to y, and the exam could potentially fall any time within those dates. If there is something else happening around that time that they really cannot avoid, then either they choose to take the risk, and do any re-arranging themselves if it needs to be done, or they don't do the exam in that session. It's rarely that important, unless perhaps someone needs a particular result for conservatoire entrance, in which case, presumably they would be happy to prioritise the music exam?

The only other way to guarantee a particular date is to organise a special visit, but this has to be outside the main exam period, so unless you want a very early or very late date, this may not suit either.

The majority of exam centres are private houses, and most people aren't prepared to allow the Board to take over their home for an unlimited time period, so situations can arise where the exam centre is fully booked.

Using an online booking system for people to book their own exam slots would create a whole new set of problems. Everyone would rush to book the after school (or whichever other preferred slots) over the entire exam period, probably leaving chunks of time free in the day. The Board isn't going to pay an examiner to turn up and examine just a few people, because that's all that booked for that day, or have one candidate at 9 o'clock and then no-one for an hour and a half etc.

Stop moaning people and get a grip!

[Seer_Green]

Stop moaning people and get a grip!

In fairness, I think we've experienced an awful lot of problems this session - in fact, it's been utter chaos in many respects.

I always point out that these are the dates of the session and it could be any time within that. For most people, that's fine. In the past, I've needed to rearrange three dates and have been able to do this without problem. The main problem this session has been there's been no room for rearranging. According to the Board, the whole country is currently fully booked so it's not just individual exam centres which are full.

I needed to change an adult pupil's exam this session because they couldn't get time off work - it's exceptional circumstances because it's a new job and they don't have any holiday owing yet. They were prepared to travel to another centre but out of the five neighbouring counties, there wasn't a single free slot. In the past, I'm convinced we'd have been able to sort something out. I think it's for adult candidates where my concern really lies. It's not as easy for them to take time off work as it might be for children to take time out of school. If we were to repeat the problems of this session, I think we'd probably be excluding a good number of them from taking exams in the future.

The problems this time have been exceptional, so any moaning is fully justified I think.

[jm-hamilton]

The main problem this session has been there's been no room for rearranging. According to the Board, the whole country is currently fully booked so it's not just individual exam centres which are full.

I needed to change an adult pupil's exam this session because they couldn't get time off work - it's exceptional circumstances because it's a new job and they don't have any holiday owing yet. They were prepared to travel to another centre but out of the five neighbouring counties, there wasn't a single free slot. In the past, I'm convinced we'd have been able to sort something out. I think it's for adult candidates where my concern really lies. It's not as easy for them to take time off work as it might be for children to take time out of school. If we were to repeat the problems of this session, I think we'd probably be excluding a good number of them from taking exams in the future.

The problems this time have been exceptional, so any moaning is fully justified I think.

There will be 2 spaces free at the centre I use - but as I can't get through to speak to the AB and they won't talk to you anyway about the exam appointments then they won't know this. Perhaps we ought to do a swap Seer Green?

[Scooby Doo]

The main problem this session has been there's been no room for rearranging. According to the Board, the whole country is currently fully booked so it's not just individual exam centres which are full.

I needed to change an adult pupil's exam this session because they couldn't get time off work - it's exceptional circumstances because it's a new job and they don't have any holiday owing yet. They were prepared to travel to another centre but out of the five neighbouring counties, there wasn't a single free slot. In the past, I'm convinced we'd have been able to sort something out. I think it's for adult candidates where my concern really lies. It's not as easy for them to take time off work as it might be for children to take time out of school. If we were to repeat the problems of this session, I think we'd probably be excluding a good number of them from taking exams in the future.

The problems this time have been exceptional, so any moaning is fully justified I think.

There will be 2 spaces free at the centre I use - but as I can't get through to speak to the AB and they won't talk to you anyway about the exam appointments then they won't know this. Perhaps we ought to do a swap Seer Green?

Surely this is an occasion to appeal to the common sense of your local rep?