Hello Frank,
I can certainly understand your intuitive unease. I have always been slightly concerned about the situation at OATS. It is no coincidence that during the initial months of JAR exams, OATS had by far the best feedback. This was quite simply because with an exam centre in their school they were able to debrief students immediately after the exams. But with the passage of time this advantage has been eroded by the fact that feedback inevitably leaks between schools. I suspect that all schools now have pretty much the same feedback.
It should also be noted that OATS is not the only school in which exams are taken. I believe that the centre in Jerez is also within the school and exams have recently been taken in LGU. I also believe that the Glasgow exam centre is closely linked with the
school. In addition to this, the exam centre in Florida is provided jointly by three schools out there. And is West Michigan ever start another JAR course they will probably also have their own exam centre. It is almost the case that schools without an exam centre are becoming the minority.
We must also rember that if the EPTA classroom is used, the exam papers will not be available to EPTA. The CAA require that these be held in a secure place and handled only by the invigilators. I have never suggested that EPTA should provide the invigilators. There is a CAA flying test centre at bournemouth, so they will have no problems ensuring the security of the papers.
Because the three Bournemouth schools are located within little more than 100 yards of each other, none of these schools would gain any advantage over the others. All of the local students could quite easily visit their schools for debreif during the lunchtime, or indeed the schools could send instructors into EPTA to talk to their students between exams. EPTA has no objections to any of these options.
In assessing my intentions here it is also worth noting that I am quite happy for classrooms in any of the Bournemouth schools to be used. It is the very large size of the EPTA classrooms that makes them the prime candidate, rather than any preference on my part.
I personally would also be quite happy if an exam centre were also to be set up in other schools including BGS. But I have no interest in agitating for this, quite simply because it does not affect the welfare of my students.
The schools have a great many things over which to compete. The interests of students everywhere will be best served if we ensure that examination centres does not become one of them.