Schools should send exam papers to India to be marked to ease the pressure on British teachers, an academic suggested yesterday.
One exam board is already using a company in Bangalore to mark functional skills tests in reading, maths and ICT.
Rebecca Allen, a reader in economics at University College London’s Institute of Education, said that teachers could also consider using computerised technology that checks children’s work.
Speaking at an Education Media Centre briefing, she said that the excessive amount of marking was one of teachers’ biggest complaints. Parents, however, may be unhappy at the thought of their children’s work being marked thousands of miles away by someone with whom they could not discuss the results.
Headteachers were also wary of the idea, saying that