Remote Invigilation
Driven by global student needs
Pearson has a mission to support lifelong learning and help students make progress in their lives. To achieve this, learners need to have the opportunity to perform to the best of their ability in their exams and go beyond paper-based exams in a hall.
So, in addition to a choice of paper-based or onscreen assessment, Pearson are proud to have a remote exam invigilation service*. We made history in 2023 and 2024 by piloting and running remotely invigilated exams for International GCSE students in partnership with online schools. This innovation has won the eAA Award for Best Transformational Project in 2024. This year, 560 students sat over 5,000 exams with us across multiple timezones.
Student centred assessment
The exam experience is personal and complex to every single one of us – as a student, teacher, and parent. Many learners choosing to take exams remotely will have specific reasons to take exams remotely such as geographical challenges, SEND, anxiety, health issues and/or additional needs. In many cases, they would have been unable to otherwise complete exams and achieve qualifications.
Our aim is ensure each student can complete their formal examinations away from exam halls and test centres while retaining secure examination conditions.
In the video, hear Teagan’s story. Teagan was the first student to sit her International GCSE exams remotely – she tells us how Remote Invigilation helped her and what she did next.
Play
How remote invigilation works
Remote invigilators at Pearson monitor students using three different camera views from three different recording devices. These included views of the student’s screen or printed exam paper, their location, and also their webcam and microphone settings.
There’s a chat function between students and remote invigilators. Through this, learners could ask for assistance, for example when checking their set-up was okay or confirming times for rest breaks.
As well as every exam being watched live by a remote invigilator, the sessions were recorded and reviewed to ensure adherence to exam guidelines. Meanwhile, students completing onscreen exams were required to access the exam platform via an installed Safe Exam Browser or kiosk mode – meaning that everything other than the exam was locked down. This prevented the use of other programmes or the internet during the exam session.
Remote invigilation availability by qualifications and subjects
Please note, our remote invigilation service is currently only available to independent schools and virtual/online schools. The following subjects are available via the Pearson Remote Invigilation Service for the May-June 2026 examinations.
International GCSE
Paper-based assessment
Mathematics A (4MA1)
Further Pure Mathematics (4PM1)
Biology (4BI1)
Chemistry (4CH1)
Physics (4PH1)
Science (Double Award) (4SD0)
French (4FR1), German (4GN1, Spanish (4SP1) *
Religious Studies (4RS1)
Onscreen assessment
English Language A (4EA1) *
English Literature (4ET1)
Economics (4EC1)
History (4HI1)
Business (4BS1)
Geography (4GE1)
Global Citizenship (4GL1)
Islamic Studies (4IS1)
Pakistan Studies (4PA1)
* Only written examination components are available via the service. Coursework and spoken components are not available via remote invigilation. Please consult your centre if you plan to make entries for speaking examinations or coursework.
International AS and A level
Paper-based assessment
Biology (units WBI11, WBI12, WBI13, WBI14, WBI15, WBI16)
Chemistry (units WCH11, WCH12, WCH13, WCH14, WCH15, WCH16)
Physics (units WPH11, WPH12, WPH13, WPH14, WPH15, WPH16)
Business (units WBS11, WBS12, WBS13, WBS14)
Economics (units WEC11, WEC12, WEC13, WEC14)
History (units WHI01, WHI02, WHI03, WHI04)
Psychology (units WPS01, WPS02, WPS03, WPS04)
Mathematics (units WFM01, WFM02, WFM03, WME01, WME02, WME03, WST01, WST02, WST03, WDM11, WMA11, WMA12, WMA13, WMA14)
Geography (units WGE01, WGE02, WGE03, WGE04)
Law (YLA1)
French, German, Spanish (Units 2 and 4 only) *
Onscreen assessment
English Language (units WEN01, WEN02, WEN03, WEN04)
English Literature (units WET01, WET02, WET03, WET04)
* Only written examination components are available via the service. Coursework and spoken components are not available via remote invigilation. Please consult your centre if you plan to make entries for speaking examinations or coursework.
See what educators and learners say
An absolute gamechanger
"The partnership between Kings' InterHigh and Pearson has been incredibly productive and has led to incredible outcomes for the young people who have benefitted from the online proctoring and online invigilation that we've done.
The Remote Invigilation Service has been an absolute gamechanger for King's InterHigh and our families. It's not an overestimation to say that without it, we would have had students that wouldn't have been able to sit qualifications."
Ashley Harrold, CEO King's InterHigh online school
Supporting SEM students with RIS
"The biggest benefit of remote invigilation is for our students with SEN. They, through whatever reason, cannot do their best in a physical setting and it is unfair to expect them to sit some of the most important exams of their lives in person, when they're not able to learn in person.
We want to provide a full experience for our learners. We deliver education online. We provide extra support online. And we want to faciliate examinations online. And we can do that through Pearson's remote invigilation."
April Bridge, King's InterHigh online school
"It made a massive difference"
Cole, Year 11 student, King's InterHigh
"It allowed me to focus on the content"
Evan, Year 11 student, King's InterHigh
"It's an incredibly flexible alternative"
Patricia, Year 12, King's InterHigh
Remote invigilation service: information for parents
This introduction to the Pearson Remote Invigilation Service gives you a quick overview of the qualifications available through remote invigilation. It also answers key questions to help you decide whether this route is right for your child.
An introduction to the Pearson Remote Invigilation Service
In 2022 the MacLeod family from Alberta, Canada contacted Pearson’s CEO, Andy Bird after seeing him on a news programme talking about our qualifications being 'location agnostic' and that anyone could sit a Pearson exam, wherever they were in the world...
What could Remote Invigilation mean for education?
Ashley Harrold, CEO of Inspired Online Schools, explains how remote invigilation unlocked access to International GCSE exams with Pearson in 2023 and what it means to students now and in future.
Take the next steps
Speak to us
If you are interested in finding out more about remote invigilation or any associated services such as onscreen assessment, get in touch and your regional consultant will be in touch.
Already using the service?
If you’re already using the service, learn more about offering and delivering the service to your students including security, system requirements, availability, accessibility and FAQs.