Thousands of GCSE and A-level papers could be at risk of “going missing”, as scripts are having to be left at local post offices after courier collection no-shows, exams officers have warned.
Many schools across the country are being left with “thousands” of completed exam papers due to booked collections not taking place, Tes has learned.
Currently, Parcelforce Worldwide is contracted by the Department for Education to collect exam papers in a two-hour slot from schools on the same day they have been sat by students.
However, the National Association of Examinations Officers (NAEO) has warned that there could be cases of malpractice this year due to these collections not being fulfilled.
The NAEO told Tes that over 30 exam officers from individual schools called the organisation on one day alone this week over the confusion.
That amounts to potentially thousands of scripts not being collected on time and, subsequently, being held up at schools, forcing officers to transport them to local post offices themselves.
Amy Tipping, an exams officer at a school in York, told Tes her driver, who was meant to collect on both Monday and Tuesday, didn’t arrive until Wednesday this week.
Because of this, the exam officer was left with thousands of papers in the safe in her office.
Exam papers are meant to be dispatched on the same day of the assessment, or the day after.
However, Ms Tipping was told by the Parcelforce Worldwide helpline to take the papers to the local post office. She told Tes she would be happy to do so if she’d had a small number of papers.
But, by Wednesday, she had around 1,500 completed exam scripts.
She added that transporting the papers to the post office would be OK for a smaller cohort, but not for a load as large as this.
She explained, “I couldn’t and why would I?”, pointing out that if she’d had an accident or some had gone missing from the car then it would have been her fault and a case of “malpractice”.
The driver eventually turned up for the slot on Wednesday.
But she told Tes: “It’s just not acceptable, it’s a paid-for service and it’s making a job that’s quite stressful, more stressful.”
Situation a ‘real concern’
NAEO chief executive Jugjit Chim said the collection service took place pre-Covid and was a process that previously worked “very well”.
But if scripts are not collected, it “slows down the process for those papers being marked”.
He added: “The instruction to go to your local post office is a real concern”, as the local postmaster “won’t know what’s in the packages” and there is a “real danger” of scripts going missing due to there being no “secure storage”.
He said if packages go missing, then so do the exam scripts “and that really is probably as bad as it gets”.
Mr Chima said the delay also puts pressure on schools in terms of the secure storage of exam materials.
In addition, he said that exam officers should not be expected to visit the post office in their own time.
One officer told Tes that the time of the collection slot meant that, if Parcelforce Worldwide did not turn up, it would be too late for her to get to the Post Office anyway.
Mr Chima also highlighted the potential impact on pupils: “You’ve got students who have tried very hard and been through a difficult two or three years”.
In a worst-case scenario, Mr Chima said a student could be absent from one exam due to Covid and then have their second paper go missing.
‘Bad experience’
Fiona Perera, another exams officer from London, told Tes she had had a “bad experience” with taking exam scripts to the Post Office in the past and so wasn’t keen to do so again.
Ms Perera said the post office “don’t necessarily do the paperwork correctly for the yellow label service”.
She also said that Parcelforce Worldwide drivers weren’t being allowed “sufficient time” to collect all the scripts expected of them in a single afternoon slot.
She also felt there had been a “huge lack of communication” between the help desk and the drivers at the other end.
Another exam officer from Suffolk told Tes she was concerned about the disconnect and lack of understanding from drivers on the sensitivity of the parcels they are handling.
She said that one driver had also tried to drop some papers in reception without an official handover to the receptionist, potentially leaving the papers unattended.
A Parcelforce Worldwide spokesperson said they appreciated “how important it is that exam papers are safely collected and delivered”.
They said that although the “majority of collections” had taken place successfully and “as scheduled”, they were “aware of a technical issue that has affected a small number of centres, resulting in a collection not taking place”.
“We are very sorry for any inconvenience caused, and are working with our colleagues in the local areas affected to address this problem.”
They said that anyone who has concerns in relation to their centre collection should contact the Exams Helpdesk on 0344 5617998.
The DfE said it believed it is crucial that exam scripts are safely collected and delivered for processing and marking in a timely manner and is aware of collection delays at a very small number of centres with exam sittings on Tuesday, which is being resolved by Parcelforce Worldwide.
It added that, where delayed collections are reported, Parcelforce Worldwide will always reschedule where required.
The DfE also said that exam centres with any concerns should call Parcelforce Worldwide for assistance.
The first summer exams in two years started this week amid concerns over lack of space and staffing.
There were also concerns over the predicted invigilator shortage this summer, where schools were facing funding for supply staff, while some were training all their teachers.
