How will Dental Surgery interviews work?

• Make sure that you have signed our policy form before participating in our interviews.
• Please watch the above video on reducing bias in selection as this is key for your role.
• Ensure you have reviewed the safeguarding notes below as many interviewees will be under 18 years of age.

Interviewer safeguarding standards

- Comply with the University’s guidelines and applicable UK Laws regarding interacting with children.

- Be sensitive to children’s appearance, race, culture, religious belief, sexuality, gender or disability.

- Be fair and treat everyone with respect and dignity in accordance with our Equality and Diversity policy.

- Respect a child’s right to privacy.

- Communicate in an open and respectful way during the interview.

- Ensure any content shared with the interviewee is that which is provided by the University of Birmingham alone.

- Do not make inappropriate contact with children using social media, or by exchanging any contact details.

Raising and reporting concerns

- If you have concerns about a child, please request an incident form from us and note these down; the form will then be passed on to the College of Medical and Dental Sciences Child Protection Officer for consideration of next steps.

- If you believe someone is at immediate risk of harm, please contact us and we will immediately contact the relevant services.

- Key forms of abuse to look for in children are emotional abuse, physical abuse, neglect and sexual abuse. Further information about types of abuse will be included in your briefing email along with the University’s child protection and safeguarding policy and our MMI policy.

• The interviews will take place between Monday 12th February and Friday 16th February 2024 at the Birmingham Dental School.
• There will be 4 stations in total, which will all take around 10 minutes each to complete. You will be situated at one of these stations while the candidates move around the room.
• Each interview session will take just under one hour to complete, and interviewer sessions will run for half a day at a time (see table below):

• There is a lunch break and lunch will be provided for all assessors, so if you are able to sign up for a whole day you will get a lunch break, or if half a day suits you better you will be fed!
• The whole process runs very similarly to an OSCE and is marked on tablets using MaxExam software which many of you have used before. Please don’t worry if you are unfamiliar with this software, as you will be given an instruction pack in your bay on the day. 

• First, you need to log into our Max Exam system via the tablets we provide.
• Then, you need to enter the exam ID and examiner details that we will provide to you. These login details will change each day.
• Once you are in, all the candidates we will be interviewing that day will show up. You might see your first candidate’s name in the list quite easily, but you can also filter by typing the name into the search bar and then clicking on them to start marking.
• We have endeavoured to make the marking process as straightforward for our interviewers as possible. First, the system will ask you to confirm that you have selected the correct person to mark. If there are two people of the same name on Max Exam, ask the candidate to confirm their UCAS ID.  
• You would then make your way through the exam and mark whilst asking questions, clicking the best option to describe the candidate’s responses.
• Once you have filled out all the fields, click ‘Finish Assessment’ at the bottom of the screen, then ‘Confirm’. You will then be led back to the main screen to search for the next candidate to mark.
• Please use the full range of marks. Clear guidance will be in each bay to guide you as to how to mark candidates. Please remember, we are relying on your expert judgment in your role as to if you think the candidates display the potential to be good dentists. Please do not feel you are being “mean” by marking an unsatisfactory candidate as such, and please do award excellent candidates with top marks!

• If you need to cancel your interview session, please email us so that we have as much time as possible to find a replacement.
• If you are running late, it is important to let us know at your earliest possible opportunity via the number or email address listed below so that we can try to find a last-minute replacement. Due to back-to-back interviews taking place, it is not possible to start an interview late.

• Max Exam’s logins are caps sensitive, so ensure when you are trying to log in that everything is in lower case.
• If Max Exam is not working properly, you can use a pre-prepared back-up marksheet per candidate, which will have all the options Max Exam has and an area for you to put the candidate’s name and UCAS number in. Instead of selecting your preferred score, you will highlight it on the marksheet so that we know which option you have chosen per question. Please note however that this option is only if Max Exam is not working at all and should not be seen as an alternative to use if Max Exam is working. 

• Should you require anything additional in the meantime, please do email us via dentadmissions@contacts.bham.ac.uk. During the interviews themselves, our email answering times will be delayed. Therefore, in case of an emergency on the day, please do call us on 0121 466 5472.
• We will endeavour to send you an email with the specific details you will require for your station including the Max Exam login details the day before your interview session.
• During the interview days, our email answering times will be delayed so please call 07970 983 505 in case of an emergency.