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	Using qualifications and awards

	Using the new GCEs, successors to VCEs
	Introduction to the new GCEs
	Recruitment of students
	Delivering the new GCEs
	Assessment
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In 2006, only the AS units will be awarded. Any students wishing to take an A level in one year from September 2005 must take the current VCE specifications.

Assessment


		11-16 schools

		6th form schools

		Colleges

The assessment process
Grading
External assessments
Quality assuring delivery and assessment
External quality assurance and moderation

The assessment process

All the new GCEs have a similar structure. However, there are some differences in how the awarding bodies have set out the units and assessment requirements.

Each unit sets out the underpinning knowledge, skills and understanding to be taught for the unit, and the assessment evidence requirements required to achieve the unit.

The assessment evidence requirements are developed from the subject criteria assessment objectives, which describe the skills on which the students are to be assessed. For example in health and social care, students are assessed on their ability to demonstrate:

their health and social care knowledge, skills and understanding
their ability to apply their health and social care knowledge, skills and understanding to vocational contexts
their ability to research and analyse information
their ability to evaluate information.

Marks are allocated to each assessment objective through assessment criteria, generally presented as a grid. For each assessment evidence requirement there are a number of mark bands, which describe quality of work expected and marks available.

Teachers should decide which mark band best describes the quality of the work and then allocate a mark within the band. Guidance on assessment and the allocation of marks is located in the awarding bodies' specifications and in the teacher guidance and support materials.

The assessment criteria are compensatory. This means, for example, that a student can achieve one assessment evidence requirement or assessment objective at mark band two and another assessment evidence requirement or assessment objective at mark band three.

The total unit mark is determined by adding together all the marks for the assessment evidence requirements for the unit.

Grading

Unlike the current VCE, students are awarded unit marks, not unit grades. Each awarding body will appoint an awarding committee, in line with the regulatory code of practice set by QCA, which will determine the number of marks required to achieve a particular unit grade. The awarding committee will use archived evidence from similar qualifications, live student work and statistical information to decide where grade boundaries will be set. The grade boundaries can vary each year. The raw marks for the unit are then converted to the appropriate point score on the uniform mark scale (UMS).

The GCEs are graded in the following way:

Advanced subsidiary and advanced are graded A–E
Advanced subsidiary double award and advanced double award are graded AA, AB, BB, BC–EE.

In the first year of the new qualification no grade boundaries are set, so there is less data for the qualification to support assessors predicting grades and making assessment decisions. Although the performance descriptions, included in all awarding body specifications, have been written primarily for examiners, teachers may find it useful to refer to them. The performance descriptions describe learning outcomes and levels of attainment likely to be shown by a representative candidate performing at the A/B and E/U boundaries for the AS and A2. The performance descriptions illustrate the expectations at these boundaries for the AS and A2 as a whole; they have not been written at specification or unit level.

External assessments

Typically, a third of the units in the new GCEs are externally assessed.

The format and style of the externally assessed units differ between awarding bodies and between subjects. It is therefore essential that all teachers are familiar with their awarding body's approach to external assessment.

Teachers must refer to individual specifications to confirm the availability of external assessments in the January and June assessment sessions.

Students should be entered for external assessments when they are likely to perform at their best. They should have covered the relevant unit content together with revision and study skills.

There is evidence in VCE that students are sometimes entered for external assessment without being sufficiently prepared for that specific unit. This is demotivating for students and staff alike, as it inevitably leads to lower than expected results.

Resits should be used largely to improve performance if there was a reason, such as illness, for underperformance in the first sitting. Entering all candidates from a centre for resits as a matter of course does not always ensure better results. Where students do resit they should again receive timely effective preparation beforehand.

Sample external assessments have been produced by the awarding bodies to guide those teaching the externally assessed units. Over time there will also be a bank of past papers to refer to.

Quality assuring delivery and assessment

Within a centre there should be clear procedures for monitoring the delivery and assessment of the new GCEs. This is essential for all courses but it is particularly important at the start of a new qualification.

Internal quality checks should monitor:

delivery of the subject matter to ensure the content matches the specification
the validity of the assessment materials used to ensure they meet the assessment requirements of the units
the accuracy of assessment decisions to ensure the marks awarded follow the assessment requirements and guidance in the specification, teacher guidance and support materials
that the evidence produced by students is their own.

This type of quality assurance should take place at regular intervals throughout the teaching of the new GCE course. The frequency of this checking is an internal management decision made by the centre, but a structured and thorough approach to internal quality assurance should avoid difficulties at the end of the course.

Where staff are working alone to teach the new GCEs and are not part of wider subject team, it is still necessary for centres to monitor the quality of delivery and assessment.

External quality assurance and moderation

All qualifications are subject to external quality assurance. Student work for the new GCEs will be moderated by the awarding body in compliance with the regulatory practices set by QCA.

It is essential that students understand that the marks they are awarded by their teacher are not final until the marking has been accepted by the awarding body.

The awarding body will notify centres of details of their approach to moderation, and centres should seek clarification from their awarding body if they do not fully understand what is required before the end of the course.

Some of the awarding bodies offer early moderation opportunities or a coursework advisory service. Teachers are strongly advised to take advantage of these services to develop their understanding of the standards of work required for the new specifications.

If centres do not follow the procedures or meet the deadlines required by the awarding bodies for moderation, students may not receive their certificates in August when other GCE results are published.

QCA web links

> How do marks become grades?