The third and final phase of contractual changes arising from the national agreement states that "teachers will no longer routinely be required to invigilate external examinations. (eg. national curriculum tests, GCSE and AS/A2 examinations)" (Section 4 – School teachers' pay and conditions document, 2004). The contractual change applies to all teachers at maintained schools.
Teachers may still be required to supervise internal examinations and tests where these take place during normal timetabled teaching time. However, if a school reorganises the timetable for 'mock' examinations to replicate the public examination process then teachers should not be required to invigilate.
Teachers have the central role in the academic preparation of pupils for examinations and national curriculum tests but the role of invigilator does not require or allow for any active teaching and learning intervention. The principle underlying the contractual change is that invigilation does not require a teacher's professional expertise. Section 4 of the School teachers' pay and conditions document, which is included in the WAMG invigilation resource pack, identifies those activities within the examination/testing process which do require the expertise of a teacher. None of the identified activities constitutes invigilation.
The phasing of contractual changes arising from the national agreement allowed a longer lead-in time for changes that presented greater challenges in implementation.
