We are confident we've got enough examiners in place

Joint Council for General Qualifications

At the beginning of May, the JCGQ sent letters to schools urging teachers to step forward as examiners in six subject areas - English, general studies, ICT, media, art and psychology - where exam boards faced shortages.

The move led some to suspect that chaos was looming, with fears of a repetition of last year's fiasco in Scotland, where failures at the Scottish Qualifications Authority led to thousands of pupils being given late, incomplete and incorrect results.

The JCGQ - which represents exam boards in England, Wales and Northern Ireland - estimates that an extra 8,000 examiners are needed this year, in comparison to last year's 40,000.

The examiners will be marking some 7.2m GCSE, AS-level, A-level, GNVQ and vocational A-level entries - a 20% rise on last year's 6m entries.

Foresight

"We were aware of the need for extra examiners this year with the new curriculum," Chris Morritt from the JCGQ said.

"We don't want candidates sitting exams at the moment to be concerned that they're not going to get results back on time," he said.

The letter sent to school was not a panic measure, Mr Morritt stressed, but a means of ensuring the right number of examiners were recruited.

"We are confident we've got enough examiners in place," he said.

It was not too late for new examiners to come forward, he added, and teachers wanting to sign up should contact the relevant exam board immediately.