NCTJ Student Council for Undergraduates 2021 — report
by Freya Stanger, UoP NCTJ rep
The NCTJ Student Council meeting takes place every year to give students across the country a chance to ask the NCTJ board any questions or suggestions to improve the course.
This year, a variety of issues were discussed such as online exams and how they will be marked, online NCTJ exam-prep sessions and also advice from editors on how to start a journalism career.
Online exams was a big topic that held the floor for the majority of the meeting — as the students had many uncertainties and questions about how they will work.
The NCTJ remote exams will remain an option for the rest of the year but, as soon as restrictions are lifted by the government, centres can begin to hold them on campus.
They also highlighted that they understand why students want to lower standards in the marking due to the current global circumstances; however, these NCTJ exams are taken to prepare students for the industry, therefore it would be unfair and would lower the validity of the exams if they were to be marked leniently.
However, to reassure the students, they stated that last year’s NCTJ results from online exams were on par with previous in-person exams — so there should be no disadvantage to this year’s exam groups.
Editors from Kent Live and Sky News also spoke to the students — giving advice on journalistic careers. The key pieces of guidance were: to keep trying — no matter how many set backs you may face, think outside of the box to bring new ideas to the industry and to be enthusiastic by asking questions.
The meeting closed with a suggestion put forward by a student for the NCTJ to hold online exam-prep sessions in order to put students in the best position possible to pass the exams. The NCTJ board will look into this idea and will shortly send information about this to the course leaders.
To read the NCTJ report of the meeting, click here.
For more information on the NCTJ, how to achieve the diploma, and past exams, go to the NCTJ exam revision 2020 Moodle page
You can also contact Paul Foster, who is our centre NCTJ representative, by email: paul.foster@port.ac.uk
