In July the Centre held a consultation with a group of external examiners in English to find out how they see their current role and its development under the new Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) policy framework (see ‘Information on quality and standards in higher education, final report of the task group, HEFCE 02/15 March 2002) and other factors influencing the higher education sector.1 Those interested in the role of the external examiner within the new quality framework may find it useful to read our edited version of ‘New developments in external examining: a guide for busy academics’ by Norman Jackson of the LTSN Generic Centre (incorporated in the Subject Centre's External Examining Report - Ed 3/06/03)
The consultation group comprised ten experienced external examiners from eight different institutions. Between them they had examined 45 undergraduate programmes and 24 masters programmes. What follows is a brief summary indicating the scope of the discussion, areas of consensus and key points to emerge.
‘Professionalization’ of external examining
In the face of a perceived trend toward the ‘professionalization’ of external examining, (proposals under consideration by the Higher Education Funding Council for England include induction and training through the Institute for Learning and Teaching and accreditation by an external examiners’ ‘college’) the importance of subject expertise was thought crucial to a number of curriculum-wide issues. Whilst the need for external examiners to pay more attention to the wider quality framework was considered inevitable, there was resistance on the grounds that it would lead to over-professionalization of the role and a dilution of the importance of the examiner’s subject expertise. It was emphasised that whilst it may be desirable for external examiners to assess all learning outcomes and the whole learning experience, they are not always well placed to do so.
Various models for the role of the external examiner within a department were proposed. These included:
• The Facilitator, helping departments to set up their own procedures, and monitoring their execution
• The Initiator, recommending new policy and procedures to the department
• The Agent, relaying information about external requirements
• The Signatory, signing off results for the institution
Marking and assessment
As expected, marking schemes and their relation to standards were much discussed. The focus was on the validity and usefulness of banding of degree classes, and on the importance or otherwise of inter-institutional comparability. The need for external examiners to be familiar with oral assessment, assessment of groupwork and new media work was highlighted, and a diversity in departmental practice in giving feedback to students was noted.
Future developments
It was felt that the forthcoming requirement for external examiners’ reports to be published would compromise the examiner’s role and expose the tensions within it. Examiners will be pushed towards superficiality if not dishonesty and their contribution as critical friends restricted.
Looking to the future, remuneration, recruitment and training issues were identified as crucial in ensuring an adequate supply of competent external examiners in years to come. The pros and cons of establishing a voluntary register were discussed.
On the ‘soft’ side, many present attached a high mutual benefit to meeting members of the department informally, especially younger staff. Members of the group also had many suggestions about how departments might organise the processes more efficiently, based on good practice they had experienced.
The proceedings of the day are currently being written up into a full report to be made available to the subject community soon. The report will also include recommendations for further developments, including a regular forum in which External Examiners in English will be able to meet.
