Examinations Manager

This role is responsible for the overall management of the Statutory Membership Examination (SME) for the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons.

1. To develop, review, quality assure and implement the content of the written exam papers and practical examination (a holistic Objective Structured Clinical Exam - OSCE) in a timely manner.

• Develop and maintain the written and practical task question banks, ensuring that these reflect the ongoing requirements of the SME, and have sufficient, up to date, content to support the exam blueprint and to ensure consistent application of required standards.
• Develop new examination questions/stations in collaboration with examiners, and co-ordinate the review of older material.
• Co-ordinate item-writing workshops to develop new exam content.
• Co-ordinate effective standard setting and quality assurance of exam content.
• Provide clean datasets following each exam diet for analysis by a psychometrician.
• Prepare and set schedules for the examinations (written and practical components), liaising with exam team members, board members, examiners, candidates and host centres as required to ensure that these are achieved.
• Produce draft examination papers and practical exam content for consideration by the exam board, ensuring appropriate validity and coverage of the blueprint.
• Recruit and select examiners, invigilators, animal handlers and actors as required to effectively implement the exams.
• Obtain and evaluate feedback and reports from examiners and invigilators and implement actions to address issues where necessary.
• Undertake the evaluation of examination results and produce exam reports for the examinations board.

2. To secure, manage and monitor all resources for the examination.

• Co-ordinate effectively with and ensure the quality of examination host centres.
• Coordinate the production of examination resources with host centres and others as required.

3. To ensure the effective preparation and operational delivery of the written papers, whether online or in-person, and the practical examinations at external sites.

• Supervise the team members to upload questions from the question bank to the online platform ready for exam delivery.
• Quality assure and test the online papers prior to implementation.
• Ensure guidance and support for candidates is available when accessing the exams online and dealing with any access issues if they arise.
• Liaise with host centres as needed to plan, test and implement the exams

4. To develop and deliver effective examiner training, and training for subject matter experts involved in standard setting papers and / or quality assurance.

• Ensure the provision of suitable initial and ongoing training for examiners. Address apparent examiner developmental needs.
• Maintain a sufficient pool of qualified, trained examiners

5. To coordinate the assessment standard setting process for the exam and any other relevant assessments if required.

• Oversee standard setting processes to ensure they are in line with best practice
• Identify risks to the integrity of exams and propose how these can be mitigated.

6. To prepare accurate and high-quality reports for the Examinations Board, Education Committee and other relevant committees as required.

• Provide accurate reports on the outcome of examination/assessment arrangements, developments and reviews to the above committees.
• Provide quality monitoring reports in relation to the conduct of assessments.

7. To contribute to the quality assurance of examinations, to ensure they are robust and fit for purpose, and maintain appropriate documentation and data.

• Liaise effectively with internal and external QA as required.
• Oversee accurate processing of mark sheets.
• Monitor the results from the examinations and highlight any discrepancies.
• In liaison with the exam team and Exam Board, process special consideration applications, carry out examination investigations and prepare files for Examination appeals committee.

8. To disseminate accurate and timely information and provide advice as required to potential candidates and / or other stakeholders regarding RCVS examinations and assessment.

• Maintain up to date policy and guidance for the SME, ensuring candidates have access to the latest information as required.

Other (e.g. the requirement to travel either in the UK or overseas or deliver ad hoc projects)

At certain times of the year, travel will be required within the UK for the practical exams.

• A degree in Education or a…