British pupils could have their GCSE papers marked in countries including China, Spain and South Africa amid a chronic shortage of examiners.

The controversial plan is being considered by OCR, one of England’s three exam boards, it emerged yesterday.

But critics have attacked the idea, pointing to international examiners’ lack of experience of UK syllabuses.

Far away: Exam papers from British pupils could be sent halfway across the globe under OCR plans

Some questioned, however, whether marking exams abroad would be such a disaster, given the repeated problems with exams marked in the UK.

OCR’s sister board CIE already uses people in New Zealand, South Africa and Spain to mark the IGCSE.

This qualification is seen as a tougher alternative to GCSE and is popular in independent schools. OCR is in talks about adopting a similar approach – including using the same markers – for its GCSE papers, according to the Times Educational Supplement.

In July, OCR warned of a shortfall of 5,000 markers because the shift towards end-of-year exams has led to a surge in scripts submitted each summer.

Michael O’Sullivan, chief executive of CIE, said: ‘I think the internationalisation of examiner supply is a big opportunity to relieve pressure on the system.

‘The amount of scripts to be marked and graded in June and July is already much higher than before.’ Mr O’Sullivan is chairing an ‘examiner task force’ on the recruitment and retention of markers, set up by OCR and CIE’s parent company, Cambridge Assessment.

He stressed that his board only used markers who were qualified teachers and who taught in English.

But Mr O’Sullivan said he would consider using teachers from as far afield as China and ‘would not rule out’ any country from providing examiners for UK scripts. The overseas examiners would have to go through the same rigorous checks as domestic markers.

‘Provided it’s done well, it doesn’t create new risks,’ he added.

But Jill Stokoe, an assessment expert at the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said: ‘It would be difficult for experienced teachers [overseas] to get to grips with the GCSE syllabus and marking criteria having not taught the qualification.

‘There’s something important about examiners having taught the syllabus they’re marking.’

Some exams are already marked in India. Two years ago, critics attacked a decision by City & Guilds to scan in and send tens of thousands of ‘functional skills’ test papers to be marked by a company based in Bangalore.

In Britain, heads have often raised concerns about the standard of marking of GCSE and A-level papers by exam boards.