Secure Printing of Exam and Assessment Materials

An exam paper is only as secure as the weakest point in its journey. For most of that journey it sits in a locked safe. The riskiest moments tend to come when it meets a photocopier, a printer queue or a shared scanner.

This guide is written for exams officers, SENCOs, heads of centre and the business managers who fund the equipment they rely on. It looks at where printing fits into the security rules set by the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ), how a well configured print system supports those rules and how the same thinking can protect internal assessments and mock exams. The JCQ documents and your awarding bodies always have the final word, so check the current edition each September.

What the JCQ rules expect in general terms

Every centre running GCSE, A level and many vocational exams must follow the JCQ Instructions for Conducting Examinations, usually shortened to ICE. The document is revised each academic year. Much of it covers invigilation and the exam room but a large part deals with the safe keeping of confidential material. In broad terms the current edition expects the following.

• A secure room and a secure storage facility. Question papers are kept at the registered centre address in a secure room with a safe or approved locking cabinet.
• Very limited access. Access is restricted to a small group of named key holders, currently between two and six, one of whom must be the exams officer.
• Sealed packets until the right moment. Packets stay sealed until a second person has checked them and they are normally opened in the exam room no more than 60 minutes before the start.
• Controlled printing of electronic papers. Where a paper is downloaded, it must be printed in a secure environment by authorised staff and the file deleted straight afterwards.
• Records kept. Seating plans, attendance registers and similar records are retained until any reviews or appeals are complete.

Printing appears in that list more often than people expect. Downloaded papers, replacement papers, enlarged or coloured copies for access arrangements and confidential teacher materials all pass through a device at some point. That is where a school print setup either helps the exams officer or quietly adds risk.

Where exam material meets the print fleet

It helps to map every point at which confidential assessment material could touch a printer, copier or scanner. In most secondary schools the list looks something like this.

The first two items carry the highest stakes because they involve live papers close to the start of an exam. Mock papers matter too, particularly restricted recent past papers.

Designing a secure exam print workflow

A robust exam print workflow does not need exotic equipment. It needs the right device in the right place, sensible settings and a routine that the exams officer and their deputy both know. The table below sets out the building blocks.

Most of these settings sit in print management software such as PaperCut together with the device configuration itself. They should be agreed with your provider in writing and tested well before the first live paper of the season, not set up in a hurry on the morning.

Access arrangements and modified papers

Access arrangements are where exam printing becomes most delicate. Some candidates need a paper enlarged from A4 to A3 or printed on a particular colour. Others need a modified paper produced by the awarding body, such as a modified enlarged paper with bold print at a larger point size. Modified papers are ordered in advance through the exam board and arrive as sealed material like any other paper.

Where a school makes its own enlarged or coloured copy on the day, the current ICE strongly recommends printing it from a PDF copy of the standard paper supplied by the awarding body rather than opening and photocopying a packet. JCQ has also revised its access arrangements guidance to encourage schools to consider alternatives such as coloured overlays before relying on coloured paper, citing the security challenges of copying papers on exam days. That makes the reliability and security of the exam office device even more important.

• Check the device can print A3 reliably. Enlarging from A4 to A3 needs a well maintained A3 capable device with the right trays loaded.
• Keep coloured stock in the secure room. The correct colours and sizes should be ready the day before, not fetched from a store cupboard.
• Print at the right scale. Awarding bodies usually ask for papers printed at actual size, so drivers should not shrink pages to fit.
• Count and seal. Every copy is counted, placed in a sealed envelope and logged before it leaves the secure room.

Mocks and internal assessments

Mock exams are not covered by ICE in the same way as live papers but the risks are similar. A mock paper left in a staff room copier can undermine months of preparation, especially where departments use restricted recent past papers. A sensible school approach borrows the principles of the live exam workflow and applies them in a lighter form.

• Print mocks through reprographics or a restricted queue. Avoid classroom printers for anything that pupils should not see early.
• Store printed mocks securely. A locked cupboard is far better than a pile on a desk.
• Separate staff and pupil devices. Pupils should never be able to reach the output tray of the device used for assessment printing.

Timing, peaks and engineer cover

The weeks around mocks and the summer series are when exam office devices work hardest and when a breakdown causes most disruption. A provider should service exam office devices before each busy period, keep toner topped up automatically and know which days carry the heaviest papers.

Data protection and audit trails

Exam material is not usually personal data in itself but much of what surrounds it is. Access arrangement records, seating plans, candidate numbers and scanned scripts all identify pupils. Under UK GDPR the school is the data controller and the print provider acts as a processor where it can reach device data or usage logs. Print logs should be kept only as long as they are useful and access to them should be limited.

An audit trail is also valuable if something goes wrong. If a paper is suspected of being seen early, a school that can show exactly which user released which job on which device is in a far stronger position when reporting to the awarding body.

If you would like an exam office print setup that supports your exams officer rather than adding worry, our Managed Print Services for Schools page explains how CopyBox Document Systems designs secure, well supported print services for primary schools, secondary schools and trusts.

A short checklist for the exams officer

Before each exam series, walk through these points with your print provider and IT lead. Confirm the exam queue and its user list. Test card or PIN release on the main and fallback devices. Print a test A3 enlargement and a coloured copy at actual size. Check that downloaded files are deleted after printing. Confirm when engineers will service the devices and who to call on an exam morning. Keep a note of the outcome with your exam contingency plan.

For more practical guides on security, costs and support, the Managed Print Services for Schools Guidance collection brings all of our school print articles together.

Exam security depends on people and process first, with the print system in a supporting role. To see how a restricted exam queue and planned servicing could work in your school, visit our Managed Print Services for Schools page or call our Bedford team for a free print review.