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CARIBBEAN EXAMINATIONS COUNCIL

COUNCIL

DECEMBER 2017 MEETING

CXC (1.7) 2017
SEC (4) 2017

AN ASSESSMENT OF THE PAYMENT STRUCTURE FOR CXC EXAMINERS

1. The administration of the CAPE and CSEC examinations represent the major operational focus
of the Caribbean Examinations Council. From a total of four (4) subjects in 1979, the council now
offers 34 subjects at this level. In terms of candidate and subject entries, the numbers moved from
30,276 and 58,708 respectively in 1979 to 132,686 and 585,223 in May/June in 2016. CAPE entries
similarly moved from initial candidate and subject entries of 1627 and 2672 respectively in the year
2000 to 30,859 and 121,711 in 2016.

2. It is an important caveat to note that with the increase and diversity in subject offerings has
come a more diversified assessment process with many types of written and practical modes being
employed.

3. The marking of these examination scripts by examiners is a vital and important activity within
the continuum of the council’s operations. Historically, the council’s efforts in this area began in 1979
when Barbados and Jamaica carried out its inaugural marking activity with 300 examiners assigned to
complete the marking process for our first CSEC offerings. With the introduction of more subjects and
examinations like Caribbean Primary Exit Assessment (CPEA), the Caribbean Certificate of Secondary
Level Competence (CCSLC), the Caribbean Vocational Qualification (CVQ) and the Caribbean Advanced
Proficiency Examination (CAPE) has come the broadening of efforts in the marking of scripts by both
human and machine intervention.

4. In the year 2017, the Caribbean Examinations Council largely completed its transition from a
system of residential or face-to-face marking to electronic marking in all but four (4) of its subject
offerings. This occurred after four decades of conducting marking exercises to the region using the
face to face modality. Face to face marking involved the use of a number of designated personnel,
namely chief examiners, assistant chief examiners, examiners and assistant examiners in a hierarchical
framework to conduct and manage the marking of examination scripts at various locations in the
region over a two-week period during the year. In this mode of marking, markers and designated
scripts were transported and accommodated to the countries selected for the marking exercise and
assigned to centres where the exercise was to be conducted.

5. Under the supervision of a senior examiner known as a table leader, questions and whole
scripts, depending on subject specificity, were marked, sampled for quality and the results tallied by
hand to ensure compliance and accuracy. Under this mode of marking, all examiners were general
paid the following;

 A flat rate honorarium for their services (based on their time in residence)
 A flat allowance (for home based participants)
 A daily living allowance (based on daily living arrangements)
Generally, rates differed according to the status of the participants (Chief, Assistant etc.).