Chilliwack teachers marked Grade 10 and 11 provincial exams in English and Social Studies last week despite the ongoing provincial job action.

Earlier this month, the B.C. Teachers' Federation argued to the Labour Relations Board that teachers shouldn't have to mark the exams during phase one of their strike because administrators could do it.

Even without experience teaching the exam subjects, administrators would be qualified to mark the tests because of their years of post-secondary education, according to the BCTF .

Furthermore, the union argued, exams come with marking keys with a list of possible answers, and administrators could take a one-day training course for exam markers offered by the province.

Chilliwack Teachers' Association president Katharin Midzain stood by the union's position in an interview with the Times last week.

"People could give a mark on an exam by following a guide," she said. "You could, I could, my 18-year-old son could follow a guide and say these components need to have been in this essay."

The LRB, however, ruled against the union last week, stating only administrators with experience teaching the subjects in the last eight years should mark the exams.

That's a relief to local parents. "I would hope that the person who's marking the exam is comfortable that they have expertise in that field," said Kirsten Brandreth, whose son is in Grade 11.

For Brandreth, expertise is especially important for the marking in question, which comprised the "essay" sections for exams in English 10, Civics 11, Social Studies 11, First Nations 12 and their French immersion equivalents.

"It's difficult when you've got an exam that is subjective," she said. "I would be concerned if someone who's not qualified was marking an exam that is subjective."

District parent advisory council president Gord Byers agrees.

"An administrator that has no experience in English when he's a Science major shouldn't be marking them," he said.

Only three or four Chilliwack administrators were qualified to mark the exams under the LRB ruling, according to Michael Audet, but the district had actually worked out an agreement for the exams with the local union before that decision came down.

"We did not feel comfortable asking people to mark who've never taught the subject, and right away the response from the union was, 'You're absolutely right,'" said Audet.

To demonstrate administrators were being used "to the best extent possible" during the job action, however, administrators, including toplevel district executives, supervised exams throughout the week.

While she maintains administrators could have marked the exams, Midzain feels the agreement between the CTA and the school district worked for kids.

"In Chilliwack we worked to provide the best solution for students, and that's what I'm worried about here," she said.

The locally-marked, writtenresponse results were due by today, Jan. 31.

cnaylor@chilliwacktimes.com