Welcome to a special Christmas episode of The Exam Man, in collaboration with JCQ,

In this festive episode, John and Sophie are joined by none other than Margaret Farragher, Chief Executive Officer of JCQ. Margaret is an experienced and respected leader across the public, private and voluntary sectors, with an impressive career dedicated to helping to ensure that students and schools have the very best experience of exams.

We dive into:

Margaret's journey through the exam world, leading to her heading up JCQ

The power of embracing feedback and being conscious about timing- with students and exams teams always front of mind

The key role and aims of JCQ, and the work that goes into it

.... all with a sprinkling of Christmas cheer!

Whether you’re an exams officer, SLT, parent of exam-doers, this special episode is guaranteed to teach you something you didn't know about one of the most important exams organisations in the UK.

You can listen to all previous episodes of The Exam Man here: https://theexamman.com/episodes. Thank you for listening in 2025, all the fantastic feedback, and for our brilliant guests- Merry Christmas to you all. Cin cin!

#exams #examsofficers #examregulation #assessment #jcq #schools

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To usher in GCSE results week, John and Sophie spent a delightful half hour chatting to Jennifer Halpin, Exams Team Leader at David Ross Education Trust, for a special summer episode of The Exam Man. In her role, Jen supports exams officers across the 11 secondaries at DRET, a team which includes one exams officer with 20 years' experience and also exams officers who are brand new to the role.

Hear about how Jen's innovative role came about, what it involves on a day-to-day basis and what she loves about her unique role in exams. In this episode we also learn about the phenomenon of sleepwalking exams officers, how being an adrenaline junkie is critical, and why John loves working at midnight at this time of year. The very wise Jen had some great phrases that we are totally going to steal. Listen to her excellent advice on having a 'contingency mindset', and we loved her description of GCSE results day as 'the Christmas of exams'! Wishing all our listeners a great results week ahead. For anyone concerned, Jen did indeed make the wedding!

To learn more about My Big Year do have a look around and sign up for free here: Home - My Big Year

More information about David Ross Education Trust can be found here: https://www.dret.co.uk/

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SPECIAL EPISODE of The Exam Man is here! Such a pleasure to speak to Amanda Swann, Executive Director at Ofqual, about the imminent summer exam series and the role of Ofqual- with information aplenty, helpful tips, timely reminders, and uplifting messages of appreciation for those in charge of running exams in schools. Wishing everyone the very best for the next couple of months see you on the other side!

#exams #summerseason #gcses #alevels #ofqual #examregulation

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Celebrating One Whole Entire Year of The Exam Man! How to create a podcast... and what we've learned.

The Exam Man podcast- despite originally being planned as a scrappy six- week event for the summer exam season- somehow reaches its first anniversary this week! Over the past year, thousands of colleagues around the world have tuned in every week to listen, learn, and connect. From episodes on every exam technicality and helping students prepare, to how exams run in the US and what on earth is 'special consideration', we've also heard from parents, students, teachers, policy makers, Headteachers, and very many exams officers, sharing their stories and wise words. The Exam Man has become a platform for deepening our shared knowledge of exams and assessment and appreciation for the people who run them, whilst having a whole lot of fun in the process. We've explored a large range of topics and now have a huge bank of free audio content to support anyone involved or interested in the business of exams- you can listen to all episodes and read our blogs at theexamman.com.

In this special anniversary episode- which also brings Season 3 to a close- John and Sophie Gaston focus on what they've learned about creating a podcast over the past 12 months, with lessons for others embarking on a similar endeavor.

A huge thank you to all our awesome guests and supporters, it has been a joy. Here's to the second year!

For more information on Examscreen go to: examscreen.co.uk.

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This week on The Exam Man podcast we swing from talking about South Korea's all-in attitude to exams to transforming the exam system- should we? Could we, even if we wanted to? Lisa Greenslade joins us to talk about her experience of transforming at scale in higher education exams.

To subscribe to Examscreen go to: Examscreen

To read more about the work of TEAMCo- teamcouk.com

Find out more about the Suneung (CSAT) in South Korea here

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Exams and employability- do exams prepare young people for the many decades following school?This week we are joined by Oli de Botton, the CEO of The Careers & Enterprise Company – the national body for careers education- to talk everything exams and employability. We had a great chat all about the purpose of exams, and what employers want and need from an assessment system. Oli draws on his vast experience in education in our thought- provoking conversation, including his time as the founding Headteacher of Welcome to School 21 and as a government education adviser. (As an aside, find out why Oli and Sophie Gaston admit to being irritating in their younger days- and why John Gaston agrees!)

To learn more about The Careers and Enterprise Company: The Careers & Enterprise Company | The Careers and Enterprise Company

Would you like to find out more about Examscreen? Examscreen

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How do you keep your exams officer?

One of the most enlightening and entertaining things about running The Exam Man over the last year has been hearing all about how people have fallen into running exams, and what they were doing before. We've heard from a former Met police officer on the podcast, a tax officer... and someone who once crossed the Alps on a space hopper! Once exams officers are in post, though, there is large amount of churn and the retention crisis is real.

This week we enjoy chatting to Paula Wood, who wanted to join us to tell us all about the great work she does supporting exams officers in their roles. Together with Paula, John and Sophie reflect on the attributes of those who take to running exams like a duck to water, the challenges of the role, and how schools and trusts can support and retain their exams teams. Enjoy!

Tune in:

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To find out about Examscreen and to sign up for a free trial: Examscreen

To learn more about Paula's work and to get in touch with her, please go to: Exam Officer Training | Online Training Courses | EODS

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This week, we are- rather predictably for The Exam Man- digging into exams- but this week, with a particular focus on assessment for students with SEND. John and Sophie dig into why access arrangements and extra time have recently made the headlines.

With insights from Vicki Clayson, a former SENCO and Deputy Headteacher and an Education Consultant for iTrack Education about the importance of tracking incremental progress in pupils’ learning and recognising every small step in pupil development.

Want to stay in the loop? Subscribe to The Exam Man to find out more and to be the first to know when new episodes drop! www.theexamman.com

For more info on Examscreen go to: examscreen.co.uk

To learn more about the work of ITrack Education go to: iTRACK Education | Pupil Tracking Software & Teaching Resources

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