General Terms of Contract for IB Diploma Programme Assistant Examiners
This contract is between the International Baccalaureate Organization (henceforth “IB”), Route des Morillons 15, Grand-Saconnex, Geneva, Ch-1218, and an assistant examiner appointed by the IB.
The IB places emphasis on the professional integrity, independence and academic expertise of all individuals in examining positions. The IB expects assistant examiners to observe the highest professional and ethical standards in the performance of their services and duties.
Conditions of appointment
1. The IB engages an assistant examiner as an independent service-provider.
2. The IB proceeds with the engagement by providing the assessment director with the authority to appoint an assistant examiner on its behalf upon the recommendation of the subject or curriculum area manager.
3. The appointment becomes effective on the date the assistant examiner accepts the IB Declaration of Acceptance and Statement of Independence (henceforth “declaration”). The declaration must either be signed by the examiner and returned to the IB with his or her registration or be accepted by ticking/checking the appropriate box in the electronic version of the Declaration posted on the IBIS web site if registration is being completed via IBIS. With respect to the effective performance of his or her duties once appointed, the assistant examiner reports to the assessment director.
4. Assistant examiners are appointed to mark examination material, or moderate internal assessment, for specified examination sessions, as notified by the IB in the invitation to register for examination sessions. Other assessment tasks may be required according to the needs of the subject.
5. Registration for an examination session by an examiner does not guarantee that marking or moderation will be allocated to him or her for that session. If marking is allocated to an examiner, the amount of marking (for example, the number of scripts) will be determined by the IB’s curriculum and assessment centre in Cardiff, UK (henceforth “IB Cardiff”). The examiner will normally be informed soon after the final candidate registration deadline for a session whether he or she is invited to mark for that session.
6. An assistant examiner is not a member of the IB’s examining board.
7. The performance of each assistant examiner is reviewed after each session for which he or she has marked examination material. If the standard of marking and compliance with administrative procedures are both satisfactory, the assistant examiner may be reappointed and invited to register for the next examination session. The assessment director has full discretion to determine whether or not to reappoint an assistant examiner based on his or her performance.
8. In order to protect the integrity of the examination process and the interests of IB Diploma candidates, the IB may terminate the appointment of an assistant examiner at any time if he or she is in breach of any of his or her duties as defined in this contract, or if, in the judgement of the assessment director, the performance of his or her duties does not attain the required standard.
9. An assistant examiner wishing to withdraw from the contract must notify the assessment director in writing with sufficient advance notice to enable the IB to appoint another assistant examiner for the next examination session. For this reason, an assistant examiner shall refrain from withdrawing from the contract in relation to an examination session for which he or she has already accepted appointment and indicated that he or she is available.
10. An assistant examiner must not assign, transfer, sub-contract or in any other manner make over to any third party his or her appointment or any duty deriving from this appointment. An assistant examiner is required to carry out personally all duties specified in this contract.
Services and Duties of an assistant examiner
11. An assistant examiner is expected to perform, for each examination session, the following services and duties in his or her subject, as requested by the assessment director or his or her nominee according to IB schedules and procedures.
11.1. All marking, moderation and administrative duties assigned to him or her.
11.2. Undertake the production of a general report on the work of candidates whose examinations material he or she has marked. Where the examiner has moderated internal assessment he or she should complete a feedback form for each school from which he or she has received a sample of internal assessment work for moderation. Such reports are submitted to IB Cardiff.
11.3. All the examination material, reports and other documents to be delivered by the examiner must be submitted within the schedule of dates specified in the IB’s examiner instructions. Strict compliance with the deadlines by the examiner is essential.
General obligations of an assistant examiner
12. An assistant examiner is required to carry out personally all marking, moderation and administrative duties assigned to him or her. Therefore, an assistant examiner is personally responsible for the accuracy of his or her marking and for the correct entry of marks on IBIS.
13. All marking must be undertaken in accordance with the instructions and markschemes issued by IB Cardiff on Examnet or received in paper format.
14. All the examination material, reports and other documents to be delivered by an assistant examiner must be submitted within the schedule of dates specified in the IB’s instructions. Strict compliance with the deadlines by an assistant examiner is essential.
15. An assistant examiner undertakes to fulfil his or her mandate with due care and diligence. In this relation, an assistant examiner understands the importance of being fully independent of IB Diploma candidates as well as authorized schools from which he or she is receiving examination material to mark or moderate. Thus an assistant examiner must immediately disclose to the IB any facts or circumstances which might be of a nature as to compromise his or her independence or which might be perceived as such. Among others, an assistant examiner has the duty to inform IB Cardiff immediately if he or she has mistakenly been allocated marking or moderating from a school with which he or she has or has had any personal, professional or close geographical connection. As a preventative measure, during the course of his or her activities as an assistant examiner, an assistant examiner must inform and update IB Cardiff of any connections with IB authorized schools that offer the Diploma Programme.
16. An assistant examiner must not communicate directly with candidates or teachers of an IB authorized school offering the Diploma Programme unless requested to do so by the assessment director, or his or her nominee (excepting an IB school at which the assistant examiner may be a teacher or other member of the faculty). Visiting examiners for visual arts must contact schools only in order to arrange and carry out the examinations. However, limited communication between examiners involved in professional development activities for examiners who are also teachers is permissible and is required to ensure the rigour of the assessment process. Where direct contact has been established in such context between an assistant examiner and a teacher, communication must be confined to topics discussed at the professional development event and must not become prolonged. If an assistant examiner is asked by a school’s administration to visit that school for the purpose of teacher training other than for an IB approved workshop, written permission must first be obtained from the director general of the IB.
17. An assistant examiner agrees to undertake marking and/or moderation in an environment that guarantees that the confidentiality of all marks and information will be maintained. An assistant examiner is required to maintain the confidentiality of all information connected with the assessment or moderation of candidates’ work. This includes the content of examination papers, markschemes, candidates' answers or performance in internal assessment, interview, oral or any other aspect of assessment, as appropriate to the subject. Such information must not be publicly disclosed in any way and must not be disclosed to any person other than appropriate IB examiners and personnel. When communicating with such authorized persons, an assistant examiner shall use all reasonable endeavours to protect the confidentiality of the information exchanged. In particular, an assistant examiner undertakes not to disclose to anyone his or her user identification and password for the Examnet web site unless required to do so by order of a competent court of law or administration. The above restrictions are indefinite, that is, they apply during the term of this contract and at any time after its termination however the termination comes about. If agreed in writing with the IB, following an examination session certain restrictions on the disclosure of information may be lifted.
18. An assistant examiner must at all times maintain the confidentiality of candidates’ personal data, such as, but not limited to, name, gender, address and curriculum. An assistant examiner undertakes to obtain, use, communicate and store such data exclusively for the purpose of performance of his or her duties under this contract and to permanently delete such data as soon as it is no longer needed for such performance.
19. An assistant examiner must not use candidates’ examination material for any professional development activities without written permission from the IB.
20. An assistant examiner recognizes and accepts that the content of the curriculum and the methods of assessment for Diploma Programme courses of study and examinations, as well as all materials in any form relating to these, remain the sole property of the IB and are covered by copyright. All work and any texts (including examination papers and reports) produced by an assistant examiner during the period of his or her appointment, notably while performing the duties and services defined under clause 11-11.3 of this contract, belong exclusively to the IB and any copyright therein is hereby assigned to the IB.
21. An assistant examiner shall not use his or her name in association with that of the IB, or allow it to be used so, whether expressly or by implication, unless written authorization has been received from the assessment director. However, assistant examiners may refer to their role in marking or moderating examination material for the IB when writing their own curriculum vitae/résumé.
22. All non-public information relating to the business strategies, the know-how, the methodologies and the organization of the IB is deemed confidential. Consequently, an assistant examiner undertakes not to disclose any such information to any third parties during or after the end of his or her appointment under this contract.
The IB’s obligations and duties
23. The IB is committed to equal opportunities and as such will treat all examiners equally regardless of their gender, class, race, nationality, ethnic origin, age, marital status, sexual orientation, mental or physical ability and political or religious belief.
24. An assistant examiner is paid in accordance with the IB’s standard rates for his or her marking and/or moderation of examination material. The applicable rates, which are subject to an annual review, will be those available on Examnet at the time of receiving his or her marking instructions.
25. An assistant examiner will be paid for the actual amount of marking and/or moderation that is completed and not for the amount of examination material stated in their provisional or final allocation of work. This is on the basis that an allocation may not be completely accurate because some candidates may not submit work for assessment. An assistant examiner will also be paid for the marking or moderation of any examination material that is additional to their standard allocation, unless that material is marked or moderated while attending an IB meeting.
26. An assistant examiner will receive his or her pay for marking and/or moderating examination material and be reimbursed his or her related expenses after all work has been completed and submitted to IB Cardiff, including marks, reports, feedback forms and examination material, where appropriate. An assistant examiner’s claim for expenses must be submitted to IB Cardiff with the claim for marking and/or moderation.
27. The payment for marking and/or moderating examination material and the reimbursement of claimed expenses will be made within 30 days of receipt of an assistant examiner’s claim form.
28. All payments will only be made electronically by the IB to the assistant examiner’s nominated bank account. No other form of payment will be arranged. In the case of UK resident examiners, payment can only be made to an account held in the UK.
29. Any additional payments for assistant examiner participation in professional development activities for examiner training and workshop leader training shall be negotiated as a separate agreement between the assistant examiner and the IB prior to the activity.
Working with Children
30. If assistant examiner activities involve direct contact with children or young people under the age of 18 at IB World Schools or in any other circumstances, the assistant examiner must ensure that he/she is never the only adult present with a child or children. The assistant examiner must also observe in full any child protection policy of the host institution.
Absence of employment relationship and tax liabilities
31. The parties declare that it is their intention that the contract shall not create the relationship of employer and employee between the IB and the assistant examiner. The assistant examiner should note that for all activities undertaken within the UK, for which payment is received, the IB shall, on behalf of the assistant examiner and pursuant to specific UK Inland Revenue policy, make any such deduction of income tax as is legally required and shall account to the Inland Revenue accordingly. The assistant examiner shall further be responsible for all income tax and statutory declaration, or similar, in his or her own country. The assistant examiner hereby agrees to indemnify the IB in respect of any claims that may be made by the relevant authorities against the IB in respect of income tax, National Insurance or other items relating to the contract.
Governing law
32. Swiss law shall govern the contract.
33. Any disputes arising out of or in relation to this contract shall be finally settled by one arbitrator in accordance with the Swiss Rules of International Arbitration of the Swiss Chambers of Commerce. The seat of the arbitration shall be Geneva, Switzerland. The proceedings shall be confidential and the language of the arbitration shall be English.
