Development of the extended project

In response to the DfES 14-19 Education White Paper, QCA has developed a draft framework and criteria for the extended project at level 3.

Teachers, students, awarding bodies, sector skills councils, employers and higher education providers will all have an interest in the development of the types of extended projects relevant to their subject/sector.

Structure of the extended project

The aim is for students to have the opportunity to carry out a task relevant to their own lines of study and interests.

The extended project will be a single piece of work requiring a high degree of planning, preparation, research and autonomous working.

These will differ according to outcome, but will all require students to persist and explore a subject independently and in depth. Criteria will ensure that assessment will be rigorous and standards will be comparable across the full range of project types.

It is intended that the same framework and criteria will apply to extended projects taken by both students on A level programmes and those taking diplomas. The criteria have therefore been designed to be sufficiently flexible for a variety of project types and outcomes.

Extended project consultation

QCA hosted an online consultation on the draft criteria from 25 May 2006 until 18 August 2006 and received over 280 responses.

The findings of the consultation can be found in Consultation on draft extended project criteria: summary report, which can be accessed from this page.

If you have any queries about the consultation report, or the criteria, please contact us at alevels@qca.org.uk.

Extended project pilot

The extended project will be piloted from November 2006 to summer 2008.

AQA (in collaboration with City & Guilds) and Edexcel are running the pilots.

More information

Purpose of criteria

In order to regulate the quality and standard of qualifications, the regulatory authorities establish criteria for the development of specifications by awarding bodies. Specifications have to meet these criteria to be accredited.

The criteria for extended project (level 3) give broad rules on the structure of the extended project and its assessment and grading.

Disability Discrimination Act

All qualifications are subject to the Disability Discrimination Act from 2007.

As part of our consultation on the criteria, we are asking stakeholders whether they think that we have only included essential competences and have therefore not put unnecessary barriers in the way of students with disabilities.

Under the Disability Discrimination Act, regulators have a duty to review and evaluate competence standards contained within qualifications criteria. The competence standards that students will be asked to demonstrate include knowledge, understanding and skills.

As part of this review we have:

• identified the specific purpose of each competence standard that is applied and examined the manner in which the standard achieves that purpose
• considered the impact that each competence standard may have on disabled people and, in the case of a standard that may have an adverse impact, asked whether the application of the standard is absolutely necessary
• reviewed the purpose and effect of each competence standard in the light of changing circumstances such as developments in technology
• examined whether the purpose for which any competence standard is applied could be achieved in a way that does not have an adverse impact on disabled people
• documented the manner in which these issues have been addressed, the conclusions that have been arrived at and the reasons for these conclusions.