Introduction

How you can contact us

Data protection

How you can help us give you a better service

Our services

What kind of service you can expect from us

How you can complain and make suggestions

How are we going to monitor our performance

Arrangements for persons with special needs

Our commitment

Through this Charter we would like you to get to know the Examinations Department – who we are and what we do. Our aim is to deal with students, teachers and the general public in an equitable and fair manner we are here to offer quality service.

You may visit our office or write to us at the following address:

Examinations Department

Great Siege Road

Floriana CMR 02

We are open from Monday to Friday from 8.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m. between 1st October and 15th June and from 8.00 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. between 16th June and 30th September.

You may contact our Customer Service Unit by :

• phoning us on: 21232821,25982227,25982229

• sending a fax: 21222256

• sending an e-mail: exams.department@gov.mt

• accessing our website: http://www.exams.gov.mt

In Gozo you may contact the Gozo Examinations Centre at the following address:

Gozo Examinations Centre

Fortunato Mizzi Street

Victoria

Gozo VCT 102

You can:

• phone on: 21558341,21556287

• send a fax: 21558326

• send an email: examsgozo@gov.mt

At the Gozo Examinations Centre we are open from Monday to Friday from 7.15 a.m. to 4.45 p.m. between 1st October and 15th June and from 7.00 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. between 16th June and 30th September.

Personal information provided is protected and used in accordance with the Data Protection Act, 2001.

You can help us by:

• treating our staff courteously

• bringing your identity card with you

• completing all application forms clearly, using block letters

• bringing all the necessary documentation as specified on the application forms

• applying for examinations on time

• reading the examination instructions and the time-table we send you

• reading the information posted on the notice board at the Department.

At the Examinations Department we:

• process applications for examinations

• conduct professional examinations

• assign examination centres and conduct all examinations administered by us

• handle results and certificates

• provide you with information

• deal with special requests.

You can apply for the following examinations:

• Local and foreign General Certificate of Education exams (Matsec; Edexcel (London); AQA etc)

• Vocational exams (City and Guilds; London Chamber of Commerce and Industry etc)

• Local public examinations (recruitment within the Public Service, Intra-Service exams; Engine Drivers (Land); Wireman's Licence A & B and other exams published in the Government Gazette).

We will let you know when to apply for local and foreign General Certificate of Education examinations and Vocational examinations by:

• placing a notice in the Government Gazette, on the national radio station and on Channel 22 three weeks prior to registration date

• informing the local councils

• placing the year planner, which we will finalise by mid-October and which will include the registration date for all examination sessions, on the notice board at the Department, on our website at http://www.exams.gov.mt and at the Gozo Examinations Centre and distributing it to all schools and local councils

• displaying time tables on the notice boards at the Department, on our website and the Gozo Examinations Centre at least three weeks prior to registration.

We will let you know when to apply for local public examinations by:

• placing a notice three weeks prior to registration date in the Government Gazette, on the national radio station, on Channel 22 and on our website

• informing the local councils through the Local Councils Department.

Collect your application forms from our Customer Service Unit at the Department or from the Gozo Examinations Centre. You may also choose to download an application from our website on http://www.exams.gov.mt, or apply and pay online using the e-exams services. Application forms for local and foreign General Certificate of Education examinations can also be collected from your school.

If you opt to use the e-exams services, you can send an online application, entering your personal details, the school attending and the subjects selected. Moreover apart from submitting an online application, you have also the facility to pay online. If an online application is submitted you can instantly print a proforma invoice, marked ‘Pay Later’. Otherwise if online payment is effected, you can print a proforma invoice ‘Marked as Paid’.

The access of the e-exams will be available from the first day of the registrations and can be used 24 hours daily until 4:00 pm of Monday following the closing week of the registrations.

If you choose to use the traditional option, or the downloadable application form, you are to complete your personal details on the form and indicate the subjects you want to sit for. You may either hand in your application form at the Department or at the Gozo Examinations Centre, mail it or hand it in at your school.

You may send anyone to the Department on your behalf. Make sure you have filled in the application form correctly and signed it.

We will give/send you a temporary receipt upon receiving your application form.

There is no minimum age requirement for applying for London Chamber of Commerce and Industry examinations.

The approval of your Head of School is required to register for approved subjects. For non-approved subjects, you may apply privately.

You can collect from the Customer Section Unit an application form for local public examinations five working days prior to registration. You may also download the application from the Department’s website on http://www.exams.gov.mt. You may then hand it in, duly completed at the Department or at our Centre in Gozo. We will ask you to bring other documents such as a certificate of conduct issued by the Police, the identity card and copy thereof, examination result slips and other relevant information as requested in the call for applications.

Payment has to be made when handing in your application form. You will need your official identity card during all examinations.

Within one week of handing in your application, we will send you an invoice by post identifying the amount due and the subjects applied for. Kindly make sure that the invoice details are correct before affecting payment. If you do not receive the invoice within this time, kindly contact immediately the Department.

You can pay the payment invoice at any Bank of Valletta or HSBC Malta plc Branch by the date printed on the invoice. Please ensure that you are given a copy of the invoice marked as ‘Paid’.

You can also send the payment invoice by post together with a cheque payable to The Director of Examinations with the exact amount shown on the invoice. You will then receive an invoice marked as ‘Paid’ from the Department.

If you choose to send an on-line application you can instantly print a proforma invoice that confirms that your transaction has been successfully accepted and you will further receive an invoice marked as ‘Paid’ within five days from the submission of the on-line payment.

We will send you your personal time table/s (including index number, date and time of the examination), the location and the instructions of the examination/s 10 days prior to the examination date. Please check the time table for any errors or misprints. Should you have any problem kindly contact the Department within three days of receipt.

If you have any clash of subjects of different examining boards, but not in the same subject we can change the starting time of one of the subjects on condition that you are kept under strict supervision during intervals. We regret that we cannot consider clashes of subjects between Matsec and overseas examining bodies.

Please inform the Department of any clash of subjects within three days of receiving your time table by filling in the appropriate form and handing it in at the Customer Service Unit at the Department or Gozo Examinations Centre. We will then send you another time table with the new arrangements.

We will send you your personal time table (showing the date and time of examination) the location and relative instructions for the examination 10 days prior to the examination date.

On the day of the examination, we will invite someone from the general public to our offices to draw by lot one paper out of the three supplied by the examining board on that very same day. The drawn paper will be printed and will be the question paper set.

On the day of any examination, you will need your official identity card. You must show this to the Head of Centre at the examination hall. You will then be given an index number to use throughout the examination sessions.

We also conduct professional examinations (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants ACCA; University of London degrees; Institute of Management Information Systems). If you are interested in continuing your studies and sitting for professional examinations, we offer you the possibility of having your examinations administered by us. We will conduct the examinations by providing the examination hall and invigilators. Contact us for more information.

You will need your official identity card when sitting for any examinations conducted by the Examinations Department. In case you do not have one, please let us know. We will need two passport size photos (properly certified as to identification) to enable us to issue the Department’s identity and that can be used during examinations.

We are committed to constantly improving our services. In our drive for service improvement we are currently upgrading the facilities of our examination centres. We are also delivering lectures to invigilators on the procedures and best practices to be followed during the conduct of examinations.

We conduct examinations at the Department’s three Centres in Malta, at our Gozo Centre and at various school premises around the Islands.

On the day of the examination we will open the examination centres at least 20 minutes before the starting time of the examination. We will also ensure that:

• you find your desk in the Centre in the least possible time by preparing directions and candidate numbers beforehand

• invigilators direct you to your place without unnecessary delay

• the Head of Centre announces the general guidelines on the conduct of the examination and direct you on how to fill in the details on your answer booklet before the start of each examination

• the Head of Centre announces the whole time allocated for the examination before the beginning and announces the final ten minutes left before the end of the examination.

You can help in the smooth running of the examination by placing your identity card and personal time table in front of you on your desk for verification by the Head of Centre.

Please remember that you are not allowed to bring any books, examination material or mobile phones into the examination centre.

Should you have any complaints on the conduct of any examination, ask for the Head of Centre immediately so that action can be taken in the least possible time. If your complaint has not been addressed you may write to the Department to report your complaint.

We receive all results from the various examining bodies. On receipt of the results, we will ensure that they are mailed to you on the same day. For confidentiality reasons, we do not give results over the phone.

Notification by SMS of the Matsec results will be sent by the Matsec Office through m-government before the official individual results are posted.

If you do not receive your result in the mail, please call personally at our offices in Malta or Gozo, or ask a parent or guardian to do so.

Kindly make sure that you bring your identity card and your index number. We will give you feedback on your result immediately.

We will display the results on the notice board at the Department and at the Gozo Examinations Centre for Gozitan candidates.

We will let you know about the publication of results by placing a notice in the Government Gazette and on our notice board.

We will publish the final result of all local public examinations immediately after both the written and interview phases of the examination have been completed. The result will show the marks of all candidates in index number order. Only the names of successful candidates will also be published. You will be notified personally about the publication of the final result.

If you are not happy with the result obtained, you can ask for a revision of your paper. Contact the Department either by telephone, mail, fax or e-mail or call personally at the Department and we will guide you through the procedure. This will vary depending on the examining board concerned.

We will send your request to the examining board together with a covering letter within three working days from the date of receipt of your request.

We will let you know of the outcome of the revision of paper within five working days of the receipt from the examining board.

If you have failed any part of the examination, you may submit a request for a revision of your paper within eight days from the publication of the result. Contact the Department for information as regards the procedure and the fee to be paid.

We will then send your script to be re-checked by the same three examiners and ask them to draw up a detailed report on your work. You will be asked to call at our offices accompanied by a qualified person of your trust to verify your script with the report. You will then have three days to submit your reactions to the report. This will be sent to the examiners who will reconsider their decision and whose reply will be considered final and conclusive.

As soon as we receive the certificates from the examining bodies, we will check them against our records. You can then collect them from the Department. Bring your identity card and result slip with you. Your parents/guardian can collect your certificates on your behalf as long as they bring both your identity card and theirs.

We will inform you when to collect your certificates by issuing a press release in the Government Gazette, announcing it on the national radio station and on Channel 22. We will also place the information on our notice board at the Department and at the Gozo Examinations Centre. If you do not collect your certificates within six months from the date of publication in the media, we will send them to you by mail.

If you lose your External and Vocational Certification, we can issue a confirmation of result within six working days from your request without paying anything. You must give us the details of the examining body, the examination session and if possible your index number to enable us to trace your results from our records as quickly as possible.

If you want to replace the lost or stolen certificate by a duplicate, you will have to write to the examining board concerned. We will send the request on your behalf within three working days of your request. A fee will be charged and this will vary according to the board concerned.

We will send you the duplicate certificate within three days of its receipt from the examining board.

When providing you with information regarding examinations, we will make sure that we give you the most accurate, up to date information available to us. If you ask for information by e-mail, we will send you a reply within one day. Furthermore if you ask for information by mail, we will reply within five working days of receiving your request.

You may also ask for information on the syllabii of the examinations conducted by us. An updated syllabus booklet for local and foreign General Certificate of Education, Vocational and Local public examinations will be available for reference at the Department.

We also have a library of past examination papers for easy reference at our centre in Gozo. Kindly contact us for more information.

You may only register as a late applicant with those examination boards that offer the services of a late entry. You will have to pay a late entry fee apart from the normal entry fees as stipulated in the regulations of the board concerned. If you call at our offices, we will guide you accordingly.

You can request a refund of fees in special cases as stipulated in the rules and regulations of each examining body. You may contact our offices for more information.

We will be able to issue a refund of your fees if the examining body accepts your request and transfers the relevant funds to us. We will then effect payment immediately after funds are received.

When you contact or visit us we will:

• treat you with courtesy and respect

• answer your questions or queries in the shortest possible time

• be clear and helpful

• deal with your complaints quickly and honestly

• answer your phone calls promptly and identify ourselves

• we will also ensure that our notice board is kept up to date

We welcome feedback on our performance. All of our staff will be happy to deal with any comments you may have as this helps us improve our standards of service.

If you have any suggestions for improvement, please fill in a Feedback Form attached with this booklet and post it in the suggestion box at the Department or send it by post or send us a letter, fax or e-mail. We will consider all suggestions in our plans for service improvement.

If you are not satisfied with our service, please come and speak to the person who dealt with you. We will try to resolve your problems immediately. If we fail to give you a satisfactory explanation, please contact the Assistant Director. You will receive a full reply within five working days from when we have received your compliant. If you are still dissatisfied with our reply, you may contact the Director.

We want to meet the standards set out in this Charter in order to provide a quality service. Assessing how well we perform against these standards is an important element for customer satisfaction. We will assess our standards from:

• the queries and complaints we receive from you

• periodical surveys.

We will monitor our services and standards and find new ways of improving them.

If you have special needs we will make sure that every attention is given to making the necessary arrangements for you. Please let us know about your requirements when applying for your examinations. We will require a medical certificate from your specialist.

The staff at the Examinations Department is committed to providing an efficient and effective quality service. We are always ready to provide you with the assistance and guidance you may require.

The Department also binds itself to manage all personal information in conformity with its obligations in terms of the Data Protection Act.

All information is correct at time of going to print. More information is available on the Charter Support Unit website and on the Ministry of Education website.

First printed October 1999

August 2004