Well, that’s a wrap for The Exam Man- for Season 2 and for 2024! Our year as weekly podcasters deep diving into everything exams was a fun one for sure. Plenty more to come in 2025, when we will launch Season 3 with a bang in February, but for now it’s definitely time for some R&R.

Today we sign off with reflections on what we’ve learned over the last year- about exams, of course, but also about producing a podcast!

With some specific shout outs and a huge thank you to all of our guests and listeners over the last year, we appreciate you all.

Follow and subscribe to The Exam Man on all the main podcast platforms and via our website theexamman.com, to be updated about Season 3 and any previews.

Wishing all our listeners and supporters a great festive season, and a brilliant start to 2025!

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Metacognition is, essentially, thinking about one's thinking. This is certainly a pretty important skill for students as they approach exams, as well as for the people preparing them for them. In this week's episode, we speak to someone who fortunately has a more comprehensive explanation than us, and who tells us all about metacognition and its role in exams, assessment and revision.

Nathan Burns is a renowned teacher educator, working with schools, education organisations and educators across the world to develop high-quality teaching practice. Working in a number of UK based schools, Nathan worked as a pastoral leader, More Able coordinator, metacognition lead, and lately, as a Head of Maths. During his time in the classroom, Nathan wrote two well received books on metacognition - Inspiring Deep Learning and Teaching Hacks - exploring how the theory can be effectively applied in the classroom. Since leaving the classroom, Nathan now leads high-quality professional development. He works with schools across the UK to deliver training on metacognition, alongside efforts with Teach First and Ambition Institute to train up the next generation of teachers. Nathan also leads Maths specific training for organisations including the Maths Hub, and you will often find Nathan presenting research at the latest teaching conference.

To get in touch with Nathan, he posts on social media as Mr Metacognition and his email address is mrmetacognition@gmail.com

To listen to all previous episodes of The Exam Man and to read our blogs, go to theexamman.com

To find out more about Examscreen, go to examscreen.co.uk

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It's been a big week for big chats about the move from pen-and-paper to digital exams, with several news articles describing the acceleration of online assessments and the plan for rollout by 2030. In response, there has been lots of discussion about the need for a cautious approach and plenty of questions about the infrastructure and cost implications. This week we delve into the debate, the pros and cons, and the likely path ahead. We are joined by Graham Hudson, a stalwart of the educational assessment community, who has worked in the sector for 35 years, to fill in our (many) blanks, and to give us some historical and current context to such issues.

Graham has been involved in many of the significant developments in general qualifications, including the introduction of GCSEs, Curriculum 2000 and National Curriculum at Key Stage 4. At QCA he led a multi-million-pound development change programme involving all the regulatory bodies in the UK, looking at the uses of new technologies in assessment. Currently, Graham supports business development for organisations enabling the transition from paper-based assessment to digital delivery for many national and professional organisations. Graham is Chair of the e-Assessment Association, and in April 2021 he was appointed as a Board Member of Qualifications Wales, the regulator for all qualifications to university level in the nation.

To get in touch with Graham, you can find him on LinkedIn: Graham Hudson | LinkedIn

More information on the e-assessment association can be found here: Welcome to The e-Assessment Association - The e-Assessment Association

To listen to previous episodes of The Exam Man and to read our blogs, check out theexamman.com

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On the request of The Exam Man listeners, this week's episode involves John running through the practical steps he takes to plan for a public exam season. Certainly niche, definitely technical, and helpful for exams teams both new and experienced. Over to a particularly animated John, to convince the audience that planning exams is an art, not a science, and actually very exciting...

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Lovely little collaboration on The Exam Man this week as we join forces with the mighty Sam Denno, Educational Assessment Leader at Twinkl. Sam runs the brilliant Obsessed with Assessment podcast, which covers all aspects of classroom assessment in bite- size, 15- minutes- long CPD sessions.

Despite our shared fascination with all things exams and assessment, Obsessed with Assessment is everything The Exam Man isn't- it is concise, well-researched, detailed and punchy. Do check out Sam's episode this week where you will see what we mean. However, if you would like to listen to the longer, scrappier version of our joint episode where Sam interrogates John about the UK exam system, then do feel free to listen to this one too!

In all seriousness, Sam is passionate about delving into the big questions about assessment, but particularly for the benefit of teachers in the classroom. Enjoy!

To listen to Obsessed with Assessment, check out: Obsessed with Assessment | Podcast on Spotify

To listen to episodes of The Exam Man and read our blogs, check out: The Exam Man - the #1 podcast about exams and assessment

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To celebrate the 30th episode of The Exam Man, we have brought you a technical episode for true assessment aficionados. Channeling his Data Man alter ego, John takes us on a deep dive into school performance measures and the role of exams. Super useful for exams teams, teachers, school leaders and anyone who doesn't quite understand how to work out how their local school is actually doing. This one is surprisingly interesting and easily digestible for anyone, even for natural data- phobes!

If you want to find out about a particular school, MAT or local authority's performance in academic performance measures visit https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/

This is also a good explainer on Attainment 8 and Progress 8 https://www.goodschoolsguide.co.uk/curricula-and-exams/progress-8-attainment-8

Please subscribe, like and follow The Exam Man- and check out all previous episodes and blog posts here: The Exam Man - the #1 podcast about exams and assessment

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On The Exam Man podcast this week we are joined by Lord Jim Knight, a leader and advisor across a variety of areas such as education, technology, international schools, assessment, and teacher engagement. His many current hats include being a member of the UK House of Lords, Chair of @COBIS, Chair of E-Act, on the Nord Anglia Education Advisory Board, and on the qualifications committee for Pearson. Jim is also one of the founders of xRapidGroup, a company using iOS devices to power microscopes with AI. Earlier on in his varied and illustrious career, Jim was the longest- serving Schools Minister in the UK government led by Tony Blair and Gordon Brown and Chief Education and External Officer at Tes.

Jim navigated our wide-ranging questions predictably seamlessly, from AI and assessment, why he became interested in technology, to what it's like to be both a real-life Lord and a Knight.

Enjoy!

To listen to and read more interviews like this, subscribe to The Exam Man - the #1 podcast about exams and assessment. Please follow and subscribe the show, wherever you get your podcasts.

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To take part in the call for evidence for the Curriculum and Assessment review, go to: Curriculum and Assessment Review - Foreword from the Review Chair - Department for Education - Citizen Space

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One for the exams team as the second half of the Autumn team dawns...

It feels like a safe distance from May to discuss the most critical time of an exams officers' year- the summer exam period. As most of the UK population enjoys Easter holidays and long, sunny Spring days, students and exams teams are knuckling down preparing for public exams across the country.

John explains what he does to both prepare for and execute a successful summer exam season each year, with some words of wisdom about how to get ahead during the rest of the year, how to approach getting support when and where you need it, and how to mentally and physically manage your life as well as your role during the peak weeks. We discuss how running public exams in schools is a marathon not a sprint, and why we wouldn't necessarily recommend launching a weekly podcast just as an exam season dawns....

Includes a call to arms for eating pizza without judgement, too!

To listen to the full back catalogue of The Exam Man episodes and to read our blogs please go to: The Exam Man - the #1 podcast about exams and assessment

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