After the CSE hotline closed down I met the consultants who had been working on it. I want to stress again that all the experts who worked on the line were very high-calibre professionals.
I’m really pleased they’ve supported my project and have now done a second year on the hotline. None of them were fazed by the difficulties we had launching the hotline or - later on - by its growing popularity and the increased number of calls and questions. The number of questions increased several times over compared to last year. Sometimes the hotline consultants spent hours on end answering questions without a break, which is very stressful, of course. And besides having to answer any question in their own fields, each of the experts also had to be a psychologist, because the school-leavers, their parents and grandparents were all nervous about the approaching exams and sometimes couldn’t even formulate their questions clearly…But despite all these difficulties, the consultants still managed to get the gist of the questions, provide prompt and helpful answers, and put the callers at their ease.
I’m really pleased that after the CSE hotline closed down we all found the time to meet. It was a constructive conversation. For example, the experts proposed including advice from a psychologist on the line from next year, because the pupils often get worked up and concerned, and these feelings can prevent them from displaying their knowledge at the exam. A psychologist could provide advice on how to cope with these emotions, all the worry and the lack of confidence. I think this is something we’ll definitely take on board next year. Given how busy the line was - several times more calls and questions coming in by email – the experts suggested opening the hotline earlier next year, rather than just one month before the CSE in “emergency response” mode.
During that meeting, of course, we also talked about shortcomings in the CSE itself – mistakes in the exam papers, poorly worded questions and that sort of thing. All these comments and recommendations are now being pulled together in a separate document, which I will make a point of handing over very soon to the head of the Russian Education Inspectorate, Lyubov Nikolayevna Glebova.
So we had a very constructive meeting, with lots of discussion and planning. The important thing for me is that the experts really care about what they do and take a responsible approach to their work. I’m really pleased and proud that we have such a good team on our hotline!
