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Moderation and Standardisation

Internal Standardisation

The Purpose of Standardisation is to establish a common understanding and interpretation of the assessment and marking criteria and set the standard for marking.

Each unit has to be standardised before marking commences. All key delivery staff across the line involved in the delivery of that unit are to take part.

The standardisation event will be organised by the Domain Assessor and will usually take place at the DDG meetings. This may however vary depending on the nature of the line and the number of teachers involved.

The standardisation activity will involve marking unseen work. Once each teacher/tutor has marked the example assignments the marks will be discussed and the agreed. The Domain Assessor will set the standard, using Awarding Body pre published grades were possible.

Where possible exemplar assignments will be provided by the Awarding Body. Where there are no awarding body examples the staff involved will all mark a minimum of three learner assignments before any other learner work is marked. Once the marks are agreed by the Domain Assessor the remaining assignments will be marked.

The selected learner work for standardisation where possible should cross a range of assumed marks.

If the Domain Assessor is the teacher undertaking all the teaching/marking of the Principal Learning of the Diploma they will be expected to undertake standardisation along with other colleagues teaching the same Diploma line in another delivery partnership.

If the Domain Assessor is not involved in the delivery of a unit they will mark shared work with the teacher/ tutor assessors and be involved in standardisation.

If the teach/tutor then teaches the same units the following year they will only have to review this standardisation every two years. This is however dependant on the outcome of the previous year's moderation and will be at the Lead Assessors discretion.

All staff must attend a relevant standardisation meeting for each new unit they deliver.

The Domain Assessor and whoever complied the assignment will work provided guidance on what the outcomes and evidence for each task and mark band should look like. For example how many examples would you expect to see, what depth of explanation would you expect.

At standardisation the Domain Assessor and the assessor/s will agree how many marks they will allocated to each outcome within a mark band. This will help provide consistency in assessment across the line.

After the activity and the standard is agreed the Standardisation Evaluation (PL7) will be completed by Domain Assessor and sent to the Lead Assessor.

Internal Moderation

Internal moderation will be understood as the internal verification process through which the marking of completed assignments will be verified and assurances made that marking across the line of learning is standardised. The responsibility for qualifying that the marking is standardised is with the Domain Assessor and it is they who will make the relevant marking adjustments and decisions.

All Principal Learning units need to be internally moderated before they are externally moderated. A sample of all assessors marking will be second marked.

The Domain Assessor will organise the internal moderation activities. Internal moderation will happen using one of two models:

  1. Domain Assessor Sampling
    The DA samples and second marks the assessment outcomes of an assessor.
  2. Cross Moderation
    All key delivery staff across the line involved in assessment of any unit within the Principal Learning will be involved. These activities usually will occur at the Diploma Development Group.

The format of the moderation is the Domain Assessors choice however should be that which is most suitable to the unit assessing or the staffing structure. All moderation plans should be discussed with the Lead Assessor and should be correctly recorded and evaluated.

Within these moderation activities all staff involved will mark a sample of another assessors work. The grades will then be discussed and agreed with the Domain Assessor.

The sample size moderated will be all if there are 6 or less learners or 15% (which ever is larger) including the lowest and the highest marks. All final decision regarding the adjustment of marks awarded or the final marks awarded to a learner lies with the Domain and Lead Assessor.

Each learners work will be moderated at least once over the two years. The Domain Assessor will compile a sampling plan to identify this.

After moderation the Domain Assessor completes the Mark and Moderation Sheet (PL8.2) and signs off the assessment as accurate.

The Domain Assessor will work within a tolerance of 2. Where the sample of work falls out of tolerance a larger sample of work will be asked for. The Lead Assessor will be advised at this point. The Domain Assessor and Lead Assessor will work together to identify a pattern and agree any adjustments or further action.

If the Domain Assessor is the teacher undertaking all the teaching/marking of the Principal Learning of the Diploma then their work will be moderated by a suitable other. In the first instance another member of staff delivering the Diploma line in another delivery partnership with the Consortium would be suitable. However where this is not possible a suitable other such as a head of relevant department, Domain Assessor for the same Line of Learning with a different examination board, lead delivery teacher from another delivery partnership should be sourced.

If the Domain Assessor is part of a delivery team of two or more people who are responsible for assessing different units, the two will work together to cross moderate each others work even if they are not delivering/ assessing this unit.

The Domain Assessor will complete the Moderation Evaluation (PL7) and return this to the Lead Assessor. The moderation evaluation will also involve judgements been made on the quality of marking and the evidence provided.

After the work has been moderated the relevant forms will be completed and feedback given to the assessor within ten working days. The action identified by the Domain Assessor (if any) must be undertaken and a evidence returned in ten working days.

Preparing work for Internal Moderation

When work is sent to the Internal Moderator or used in a moderation activity all evidence must be present and presented as if for external moderation.

Evidence should be collated with title pages and Awarding Body Candidate Record Sheets presented at the front otherwise it will not be accepted.

A electronic copy of the Mark and Moderation Sheet will have been sent to the Domain Assessor prior to the sample being selected. A paper copy and a copy of the assignment should accompany the sample when presented for moderation.

External Moderation

The way External moderation is conducted differs depending on what Awarding Body used.

AQA

AQA offer 2 face to face meetings, one in the Autumn term and one in the Spring term.

The Stage 1 visit

This is an advisory visit from a moderator which takes place early in the first year of Principal Learning delivery.

The moderator will contact the Domain Assessor to make arrangements for the visit. The Domain Assessor should liaise with the Lead Delivery Person and the Lead Assessor before finalising the date. The moderator will normally visit only one centre in the consortium.

Any work already completed should be available for the moderator to inspect so that he/she can give guidance on the suitability of this work to meet the requirements of the unit.

The areas which will be looked at and discussed are:

  • Understanding, preparations and procedures for controlled assessment
  • Schemes of work
  • If they are in place and are following the breadth of the specification and not just the assignment outcomes
  • Assignments
    • Assignment briefs are relevant to the specification and offered learners a range of ways to evidence their understanding and access the higher mark bands
  • Task setting against assessment criteria -
    • If task setting is relevant to the brief and specification
    • If the assessment criteria and learning outcomes are explicit to the learner and evidenced in the assignment brief
  • Understanding of Controlled Assessment
  • Preparations and procedures for standardisation
  • Understanding of how to mark internal assessments
  • Arrangements for internal moderation
  • The coverage of applied learning and Employer Engagement
    • That Employer Engagement is mapped into units and that employers are involved in delivery
    • That the delivery covers 50% applied learning
  • The coverage of PLTS
    • How PLTS are being delivered in PL teaching and identified within schemes of work and assignments
    • How both learners and staff are tracking PLTS

The moderator will give advice, feedback and guidance on each of the above.

Following the Stage 1 visit, the moderator will be available to give advice to the Domain Assessor by telephone and/or e-mail.

The Stage 2 visit

The Stage 2 visit is the meeting where the external moderator will moderate any units to be entered. They will either ask for work to be posted to them prior to their visits or will ask to be left with the work which they will then moderate and feedback to you the same day.

Again the Domain Assessor, Lead Delivery Person and the Lead Assessor will need to be available.

Edexcel

Moderation for Edexcel is postal. The sample will be published online after the entries are made will ask for a range of learner work to be sent to the named moderator.

Edexcel can enter work for moderation either in the January or June series.

Moderation Evidence

All evidence should be:

  • collated with treasury tags with title pages and Candidate Record Sheets presented at the front;
  • sent with a copy of the assignment;
  • sent with a copy of the Centre Declaration Form;
  • Work should NOT be sent to the moderator in folders or with work inside plastic wallets.

Preparing work for Internal and External Moderation

Internal moderation

All evidence should be:

  • presented as if for external moderation;
  • collated with title pages and Candidate Record Sheets presented at the front otherwise it will not be accepted;
  • accompanied by a copy of the assignment with the sample;
  • sent to DA with an electronic copy of the Mark and Moderation Sheet;
  • presented as paper copy in with sample.

External Moderation

Evidence should:

  • NOT be sent to the moderator in folders or with work inside plastic wallets;
  • be collated with treasury tags with title pages and Candidate Record Sheets presented at the front of the collated evidence otherwise it will not be accepted;
  • be sent with a copy of the assignment.

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Contacts

Kate Mills, Lead Assessor
Tel: 0845 120 0037 (East Riding College)
Email: kate.mills@eastridingcollege.ac.uk