We are delighted to announce that, since the opening of the booking window for the NAEO Summer Conference in early April, nearly 200 exams officers have booked their place for the conference which takes place on Monday 30 June at the Kia Oval Cricket Ground, Kennington, London.
The focus of the conference is to support delegates in ‘Becoming a more effective exams officer’, with particular attention placed on helping exams officers in achieving the ‘skills’ element of the Exams Officer Professional Standards.
The conference will begin at 9.30am (this may be amended to 9am depending on keynote speeches) and finish at approximately 3.30pm. The agenda for the day is as follows (two or three workshops will be taking place during each workshop session):
8.00 onwards: Registration and refreshments
9.30: Welcome & introductions
9.45: NAEO update & Exams Officer of the Year announcement
10.15: Workshop 1
11.15: Break
11.45: Workshop 2
12.45: Lunch
1.30: Workshop 3
2.30: Break
2.45: Keynote speech
3.15: Prize draw and closing comments
In addition to a keynote session from Ofqual, workshops are being delivered by:
- The Exams Office – Handling difficult conversations with senior leaders, centre staff and candidates/parents: A workshop which provides advice and guidance in managing difficult exams-related conversations with senior members of staff, peers and external stakeholders
- OCR – Hot topics: This workshop will revisit a selection of the 'hot topics' and questions raised at network meetings and other events, with active audience participation and an opportunity to network. The areas covered will include managing conflicts of interest, Access to Scripts and laptops in exams
- AQA - Stakeholder management: Tools for helping you to effectively manage your stakeholders. Building your skills and expertise around stakeholder management to support exams officers in the role and ensure that they are working as efficiently as possible
- Pearson – Results Day Ready: Key steps to keep BTEC learners on track. Join Pearson staff for a practical, interactive session designed to help you navigate the key steps needed to ensure your BTEC learners receive their results on time. They will walk through essential checks, share best-practice case studies, and tackle common challenges so you can feel confident that every learner stays on track for success
- Katherine McDiarmid – Leading and managing your invigilation team: Following the success of the 2023 conference workshop (Leading your exams office) this session considers aspects of the exams officer role which are related to the management of invigilators
- Geraldine Jozefiak – Reducing requests for separate invigilation: As today's students are often called the 'anxious generation' (with this prolonged anxiety leading to an increased number of requests for separate invigilation), this session considers how students can be helped in overcoming some of their anxiety...and in the process, reduce your workload.
As the NAEO is a not-for-profit organisation, we are grateful for the support offered by The Exams Office in helping us to host the Summer Conference. The NAEO would also like to thank Ofqual and the awarding bodies for their support in attending the conference to deliver workshops at their own expense.
The cost to attend the conference is £195+VAT which includes refreshments and lunch. However, this is discounted to £175+VAT for exams officers from centres who have a current membership to The Exams Office.
Please visit the NAEO website to book your place.