Thousands more teachers will be needed to work as examiners as qualification reforms kick in, suggests a report. About 34,000 examiners currently set and mark eight million GCSEs and A-levels for two million 15-19-year-olds in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
But changes to qualifications and a rise in student numbers mean about 20% more will be needed by 2019, says a panel of exam boards and head teachers. The report heralds a push to recruit more teachers as examiners.
Reforms to exams are under way in all three nations which are, according to the report, "creating new challenges for the system".
The report highlights changes to qualifications in England which "are driving a change" in the numbers of examiners needed.
In particular, cuts to the amount of coursework in England will see the hours of exam assessment in most GCSEs increase from two-and-a-half to three-and-a-half, say the authors Additionally, the reformed exams require less knowledge recall from candidates and more analysis and so more of them will "need to be marked by a highly skilled subject expert", they add.
