In part 1 of a two part connected series, Dr Brian McGrail, Lecturer (Social Sciences), Centre for Open Learning↗️ introduces the external examiner role in higher education and reflects on its benefits to teaching staff. He outlines what is involved in becoming an external examiner, alongside the personal and organisational advantages for early and mid-career academic staff (specifically on teaching-only contracts).
Vocationally speaking, have you thought of external examination as something worthwhile doing? And when would or should you consider the role? Within research-inclusive lectureships publishing journal articles is a recognised form of knowledge exchange, scholarship, and academic citizenship. But what about increasingly common teaching-only lectureships in UK higher education? The external examiner role is one way to promote your work to sector colleagues and evidence leadership by influencing teaching practitioners. It is also a significant means of learning about your practice via comparison, evaluation, and reflection. And the experience can be used in applications for promotion and fellowship (FHEA / SFHEA) whilst Advance HE, at the time of writing, run a Professional Development Course in External Examination (PDC-EE).
What’s involved and why become an External Examiner?
What does ‘becoming’ an external examiner involve? Positions are often advertised via JISC mailing lists and Advance HE’s External’s Register (of those completing the PDC in External Examination – a digitally-badged course). Most adverts mention applicants’ seniority but, from experience, your current ‘job title’ is secondary to teaching / marking experience and any specialism you can offer. External examination is a paid position (PAYE employment with pension payments excluded) and remunerates between £500-£1000+ p.a. (depending on workload). Contracts are 3-5 years with rules on not examining any programme where someone from that programme examines your own department.
It is typical to examine a suite of modules over 2 or 3 exam boards. Evaluation materials, these days, are delivered on cloud-computing sites and consist of grade spreadsheets, moderation reports, and sample papers, plus access to ‘all’ papers and course documentation on VLEs. Graded work can be released between 3-to-1 weeks prior to a Board – and your requirement to report. Thus, work is ‘concentrated’ calendar wise but long advance (6-9 months) notice of Board meetings aids workload management. Like any new role, there is a certain amount of learning ‘pain’ involved – the first year demands more time. Also, you might be offered additional actions as an ‘External Consultant’ on new course proposals (which can be added to your CV separately).
Advance HE run a Profession Development Course (PDC)↗️ in both Online and Remote formats (Advance HE, 2018 & 2021). This course takes 6 weeks (about 2-4 hours per week), is ‘certificated’ by means of digital badging, and costs about £150. It is assessed by presentation of a 300-word learner self-reflection, assessed by the PDC teaching staff, on course conclusion. For anyone new to external examination (I had 1 years’ experience – so relatively ‘new’) this course is immensely worthwhile if only to develop conceptual language (academic standards versus national standards) and gain an overview of how to prioritise tasks. It also helped me consider external examination in other subject areas providing another vantage point for reflection on my own (social sciences).
So, why consider external examination?
There are numerous reasons, both personal and institutional, to consider external examination, including but not restricted to:
- It improves knowledge of grading and marking (and thus assessment), similar to teaching for multiple HE institutions. The main difference is seeing many other teachers’ and moderators’ work. This is enlightening and provides ideas for enhancing your own practice.
- You build your profile as a teaching professional in subject or specialist areas.
- It is an activity academics do at some point in their career. Profiles defining promotion grades cite external examination as a desirable attribute for Grade 9 – Senior / Principal Lecturer. Such processes also ask about the value you bring to your institution – ‘knowledge exchange’ and ‘keeping abreast’ of sector developments can be mentioned.
- You can feature your experience of external examination on both FHEA / SFHEA fellowship applications.
Part 1 is developed from a Social Sciences CPD seminar at the Centre for Open Learning, The University of Edinburgh (held on Monday 20th Feb 2023).
References
Advance HE (2018) Professional Development Course for External Examiners (Remote Delivery): Participants Handbook. London: Advance HE / Office for Students.
Advance HE (2021) Online Professional Development Course for External Examiners: Participant Handbook. York: Advance HE.
Brian McGrail
Dr Brian McGrail is a Lecturer (Social Sciences) and Course Organiser in the Centre for Open Learning, University of Edinburgh, where he teaches and designs courses on Access, International Foundation, and Short Courses (Open Studies) Programmes. He is also an Associate Lecturer with the Open University and has specialised in adult returner education for 25 years. Brian is currently External Examiner for Lifelong Learning (Access and Study Abroad Experience) at University of Glasgow and for Foundation Pathways at University of Derby. http://linkedin.com/in/brian-mcgrail-5a579034↗️
Brian McGrail’s OpenLearn Profile – OpenLearn – Open University↗️
Brian McGrail (academia.edu)↗️
www.socialisingsense.net ↗️
