Part-Time
Test Center Administrator
Pearson
1-10 employees
Global education publisher providing digital courseware
Compensation Overview
£13.60/hr
Bournemouth, UK
In Person
Some local travel to other test centres or temporary locations may be required.
 Administrative & Executive Assistance (1) |
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- Experience in a customer-focused environment.
- Good face-to-face communication skills.
- Competence in using Windows-based applications, including web mail, Excel, Word, and Internet Explorer.
- Ability to work independently and use initiative within organizational guidelines to meet objectives.
- Ability to deal with conflict and work under pressure.
- A flexible approach to working is essential because opening hours and days vary according to the volume of tests booked.
- Availability to work a minimum of 8.25 hours per week, including full-day and part-day shifts and a variety of days.
- Provide a high level of customer service and ensure candidates’ needs are met with understanding and respect.
- Understand each Pearson VUE client’s testing needs and procedures and adjust the approach accordingly.
- Adhere to test-centre compliance standards and security protocols.
- Maintain professional relationships with colleagues and candidates.
- Maintain the integrity and security of tests and supervise them to the required standard.
- Follow incident reporting and escalation procedures.
- Maintain competencies in all systems and procedures and request training as necessary.
- Understand and deliver testing in line with updates and changes to client requirements.
- Assist and support business initiatives to maximize test-centre profitability.
- Perform administrative tasks and daily test-centre opening and closing procedures.
- Support a safe and healthy working environment and comply with applicable health and safety, security, quality, and business-continuity policies and procedures.
- Ensure equipment is operational and test stations are ready for testing.
- Review transmission and error logs in locally operating software, including schedule-download and results-upload processes.
- Download and review examinations and test-centre schedules periodically.
- Review test schedules and prepare for candidates, including candidates with special needs.
- Process candidate sign-in and verify candidate identity according to Pearson VUE and client procedures.
- Explain the test process to candidates and handle queries.
- Print and provide post-test score reports as required.
- Schedule appointments for call-in and walk-in candidates as required.
- Liaise with Pearson VUE technical support staff to investigate and resolve technical issues.
- Record and obtain authorization for working hours and leave within company guidelines.
- Maintain a clean, professional, and quiet testing environment.
- Communicate concerns to the Test Centre Manager in a timely manner.
- Complete accreditations and skills checks required by the business.
- Support and deliver events and alternative test-delivery processes in permanent and temporary locations.
- Undertake reasonable additional duties to ensure the smooth running of the test centre.
- Experience in a testing environment.
Pearson is a global education company that provides a wide range of learning materials and services. It offers textbooks, digital courseware, online learning platforms, and a rich set of teaching and learning resources for primary and secondary schools, higher education, vocational training, and English language learning. Its products work through multiple channels: physical textbooks and digital courseware, subscription-based online platforms, and customized learning solutions for institutions, along with training and certification programs. Pearson differentiates itself with a large, multi-market footprint, multiple revenue streams, and a focus on combining print and digital resources with analytics and educator support to serve learners from early education through adulthood. Its goal is to make learning more accessible and effective, helping students, teachers, and institutions achieve their academic and professional goals.
Company Size
1-10
Company Stage
IPO
Headquarters
London, United Kingdom
Founded
1844
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Simplify's Take
What believers are saying
- Pearson kept 2026 guidance after first-half revenue rose 4% and profit 14%.
- AI study tools now span MyLab, Mastering, Revel, and Pearson+, driving engagement.
- Enterprise alliances with Adobe, Salesforce, Deloitte, and TCS widen recurring revenue channels.
What critics are saying
- English Language Learning revenue fell 3% in H1 2026 as PTE weakened.
- The August 2026 EEOC settlement exposes Pearson's HR accessibility failures and vendor liability.
- If AI study tools stall, Pearson loses courseware differentiation and investor re-rating.
What makes Pearson unique
- Pearson's July 31, 2026 results showed 19% virtual learning growth.
- Salesforce made Pearson its sole global certification exam provider in 2026.
- Deloitte and TCS partnerships embed Pearson AI learning across enterprises and governments.
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Benefits
Flexible Work Hours
Remote Work Options
Professional Development Budget
Company News
Pearson ADA settlement raises questions over vendor liability. Pearson outsourced its benefits and training platforms to TP vendors. The EEOC said that did not outsource its ADA obligations. Every employer using TP HR technology has the same exposure. Pearson Education's $150,000 disability discrimination settlement has put a less obvious employment liability exposure under scrutiny: what happens when the technology behind a workplace discrimination claim belongs to an outside vendor. The educational publishing company agreed to settle a US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission lawsuit alleging that employees with visual impairments could not properly access online systems used for benefits, leave and workplace training. Those platforms were provided by third parties, according to the EEOC. But outsourcing the technology did not remove Pearson's responsibility to provide employees with reasonable accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the agency alleged. That distinction extends the potential source of an employment practices liability claim beyond hiring, firing and other decisions made directly by managers. Increasingly digitized HR operations mean accessibility problems in benefits portals, training systems and other employee technology can also develop into discrimination allegations. The EEOC said in announcing the settlement that Pearson's online platforms contained technical issues that prevented employees using screen-reading software from receiving access comparable to employees without visual impairments. Under a three-year consent decree, Pearson must hire a web accessibility consultant to audit its benefits platforms and training modules and make improvements where needed. It must also provide annual accessibility and reasonable accommodation training to human resources personnel, notify third-party vendors about accessibility requirements and report its compliance to the EEOC. "When an employer uses online systems for benefits, leave or training, accessibility cannot be an afterthought," Kimberly Cruz, regional attorney for the EEOC's New York District, said. "Technology that shuts out employees with disabilities deprives them of equal opportunity both to succeed in the workplace and to access the benefits they have earned." Employer responsibility follows the technology. The issue reaches beyond Pearson because of how much of the modern workplace technology stack now sits outside the employer itself. Benefits administration, employee training, recruiting and other HR functions are routinely handled through external software providers. The EEOC's position is that contracting out those functions does not necessarily contract out the employer's accommodation obligations. Its guidance for employees with visual disabilities specifically states that an employer is not excused from providing an accommodation because another entity has been contracted to provide training. The parties can allocate responsibility for accommodations through their contract, but the employer remains responsible for ensuring the employee receives the required accommodation. That creates another dimension to vendor due diligence. A failure that begins with incompatible software or an inaccessible interface may ultimately surface as an employment discrimination claim against the organization using it. The development comes as employment practices liability insurers are already grappling with claims emerging from employers' growing reliance on technology. Insurance Business recently reported that AI exclusions are beginning to appear in parts of the EPL market as litigation examines who bears responsibility when third-party employment technology contributes to allegedly discriminatory outcomes. While the Pearson dispute did not involve artificial intelligence, both issues raise a similar question around where responsibility sits when an employer relies on technology supplied by someone else. Disability accommodation is also emerging against a backdrop of persistently high employment discrimination activity. The EEOC received 88,201 new discrimination charges in fiscal year 2025, following 88,531 the previous year. Previous Insurance Business reporting on workplace discrimination claims has also identified failures around employee accommodations as a recurring source of EPL exposure. The Pearson case adds technology procurement and accessibility to that discussion. As more employment functions move onto third-party platforms, the controls surrounding those vendors - including accessibility testing, contractual responsibilities and processes for responding when employees report problems - may increasingly sit alongside traditional HR practices when employment risks are assessed.
Pearson Education to pay $150,000 in EEOC disability discrimination suit. NEWARK, N.J. - Educational publishing company Pearson Education, Inc. will pay $150,000 and provide other injunctive relief to settle a disability discrimination lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced today.
British Academy of Jewellery to close its higher education courses. Students at British Academy of Jewellery (BAJ) in London and its campuses in Birmingham, Leicester and Sheffield have been told their higher education courses will be closed from today. BAJ is registered with the Office for Students. It delivers courses in partnership with Kingston University and Pearson. Up to 220 current higher education students are affected. They are primarily registered on undergraduate and postgraduate face-to-face and online courses in jewellery and business and management. Deonne Rowland, Deputy Director of Financial Sustainability at the Office for Students, said: 'This will be really difficult news for students at the British Academy of Jewellery. Its priority is to make sure their interests are safeguarded and that they understand their options. 'The British Academy of Jewellery has partnership arrangements with Kingston University and Pearson, which validate and award the academy's courses and have committed to supporting their students through this challenging time. 'We have been working closely with the academy and its partners to ensure students have the information, advice, and guidance they need to continue their studies with an alternative higher education provider.'
How to scale AI beyond the pilot phase and drive real business value. 2026-08-04 by AICC Scaling AI value from isolated pilots to enterprise-wide adoption remains a primary hurdle for many organisations. While experimentation with generative models has become ubiquitous, industrialising these tools - wrapping them in necessary governance, security, and integration layers - often stalls. Addressing the gap between investment and operational return, IBM has introduced a new service model designed to help businesses assemble, rather than purely build, their internal AI infrastructure. Adopting asset-based consulting. Traditional consultancy models typically rely on human labour to solve integration problems - a process that is often slow and capital-intensive. IBM is among the companies aiming to alter this dynamic by offering an asset-based consulting service. This approach combines standard advisory expertise with a catalogue of pre-built software assets, aiming to help clients construct and govern their own AI platforms. Instead of commissioning bespoke development for every workflow, organisations can leverage existing architectures to redesign processes and connect AI agents to legacy systems. This method helps companies achieve value by scaling new agentic applications without necessitating alterations to their existing core infrastructure, AI models, or preferred cloud providers. Managing a multi-cloud environment. A frequent concern for enterprise leaders is vendor lock-in, particularly when adopting proprietary platforms. IBM's strategy acknowledges the reality of the heterogeneous enterprise IT landscape. The service supports a multi-vendor foundation, compatible with Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure, alongside IBM watsonx. This approach extends to the models themselves, supporting both open- and closed-source variants. By allowing companies to build upon their current investments rather than demanding a replacement strategy, the service addresses a barrier to adoption: the fear of technical debt accumulation when switching ecosystems. The technical backbone of this offering is IBM Consulting Advantage, the company's internal delivery platform. Having utilised this system to support over 150 client engagements, IBM reports that the platform has boosted its own consultants' productivity by up to 50 percent. The premise is that if these tools can accelerate delivery for IBM's own teams, they should offer similar velocity for clients. The service provides access to a marketplace of industry-specific AI agents and applications. For business leaders, this suggests a "platform-first" focus, where attention turns from managing individual models to managing a cohesive ecosystem of digital and human workers. Active deployment of a platform-centric approach to Scaling AI value. The efficacy of such a platform-centric approach is best viewed through active deployment. Pearson, the global learning company, is currently utilising this service to construct a custom platform. Their implementation combines human expertise with agentic assistants to manage everyday work and decision-making processes, illustrating how the technology functions in a live operational environment. Similarly, a manufacturing firm has employed IBM's solution to formalise its generative AI strategy. For this client, the focus was on identifying high-value use cases, testing targeted prototypes, and aligning leaders around a scalable strategy. The result was the deployment of AI assistants using multiple technologies within a secured, governed environment, laying a foundation for wider expansion across the enterprise. Despite the attention surrounding generative AI, the realisation of balance-sheet impact is not guaranteed. "Many organisations are investing in AI, but achieving real value at scale remains a major challenge," notes Mohamad Ali, SVP and Head of IBM Consulting. "We have solved many of these challenges inside IBM by using AI to transform our own operations and deliver measurable results, giving us a proven playbook to help clients succeed." The conversation is gradually moving away from the capabilities of specific LLMs and towards the architecture required to run them safely. Success in scaling AI and achieving value will likely depend on an organisation's ability to integrate these solutions without creating new silos. Leaders must ensure that as they adopt pre-built agentic workflows, they maintain rigorous data lineage and governance standards.
Pearson reported strong first-half results, with underlying revenue up 4%, adjusted operating profit rising 14% to £276 million, and adjusted earnings per share increasing 19% to £0.289. The education company maintained its full-year guidance for mid-single-digit revenue growth and adjusted operating profit of £640 million to £685 million. Virtual Learning drove growth with revenue jumping 19%, whilst Enterprise Learning & Skills rose 7%, supported by enrolment momentum and AI-upskilling programmes. However, English Language Learning revenue fell 3% as demand for the Pearson Test of English weakened amid softer study-abroad demand and tighter migration policies. Free cash flow increased £103 million year-on-year to £259 million, benefiting from improved working-capital management.