I've been exam marking this weekend. Yuk some might think, more marking than you have to do: why do it?! Well, like most things: don't knock it til you've tried it, and (staying in cliche central) it might not be everyone's bag. But for me I really, really enjoy it.  There is something heartening about seeing a student's final product, after two years of work (we hope - unless they're in a strange place of three year GCSEs or, worse, one!). I of course appreciate that for many of our children exams are horrible, and not a fair reflection of their potential. But, in this country, it's the currency so, like it or not, we must make do.

And that is why examining is so rewarding. You work in a room with other teachers fighting to understand the scripts in front of you, fighting to understand what Student X wanted us, "The Examiner" (interchangeable with demon in some circles) to know. But we are not demons (certainly not the ones I work with). We talk, and talk, and talk, and disagree, and disagree some more about what Student X meant, and we do this because we care. We want to get it right. That Student had done their best at that moment in time to show us their understanding. So we should darn well do our best to understand him or her and give them the mark they deserve. And so, right there, once you've talked and disagreed and finally agreed, you've had a positive impact because you have, in a teeny incy way, made sure justice has been done. I've examined for three years and, whilst I can only talk of my own experience, I've never seen a shred of evidence that examiners try to catch the kids out. I've never seen harsh marking. In fact I've only ever seen the exact opposite: real teachers making their eyes almost bleed reading the same response over and over to make sure that the student gets full credit for anything they've done.

So that's why it's a heartening job: I have the privilege of reading a students work, and I have the honour of seeing how hard teachers work to get it right. The exam system may be a 'system' many of us conspire to 'beat' but actually this job gives me huge faith that the particular system I am in works.