Summer 2010 examinations

Briefing for Parliamentarians

27th July 2010

Welcome

Jim Cunningham MP

Welcome and Setting the Scene

Dame Sandra Burslem, Deputy Chair

Maintaining standards of qualifications for Summer 2010

Dennis Opposs, Director of Standards

Some facts and figures

Summer 2009

Nearly 8 million GCE/GCSE student entries

50,000 examiners

16 million exam papers

150,000 queries from schools/colleges/students

Summer 2010

What’s changed

New A levels

New Level 3 Diploma awards

More Diploma awards at Levels 1 and 2

Business as usual

GCSE

AS

Guiding principles

Fairness for all learners– in 2009, 2010 and 2011

Accountability

Openness and transparency– for awarding organisations– for teachers/learners/parents– for other stakeholders

Targeted and proportionate

Ofqual’s role

Setting out principles for setting/ maintaining standards

Setting expectations for awarding bodies

Overview of the system

Taking action where necessary

Talking to all stakeholders

Listening to all stakeholders

Micro-managing awarding bodies

Agreements in secret

Quotas

New A levels

6 to 4 units (for most subjects)

Stretch and challenge

Revised, updated and re-packaged content

Changes to coursework

Standards maintained

New A* grade– Awarded to candidates who have achieved an A grade in their A

level, and 90% overall at A2

A* examples (4 unit specifications)

Points to note: High uniform marks at AS will not necessarily mean a candidate achieves an

A* grade - candidates will still need 90% at A2 to achieve an A* Some students with grade A will have higher total uniform marks than those

who have achieved an A* if they scored high marks on their AS units

Candidate AS Unit 1

AS Unit 2

A2 Unit 3

A2 Unit 4

Total marks

A2 marks

Grade

1 90 90 95 92 367 187 A*

2 90 95 92 85 362 177 A

3 90 85 95 92 362 187 A*

4 100 100 95 83 378 178 A

Maintaining standards of qualifications for Summer 2010

Cath Jadhav, Head of Qualifications Standards

Diplomas

Pass components

Principal Learning

qualification

Project qualification

•Functional Skills in English, maths and ICT

•Additional and specialist learning (ASL)

•Personal learning and thinking skills (PLTS)

•Work experience

+

Level 1 = 5 GCSEs, grades D - G

Level 2 = 7 GCSEs, grades A* - C

Level 3 = 3½ A levels

Graded components

Diplomas – timetable for introduction

2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12

Phase 1Construction and the built environment

Creative and media

Engineering

IT

Society, health and development

First teaching Sept 2008

First L1/L2 awards Aug 2009

First L3 awards Aug 2010

Phase 2Business, administration and finance

Environment and land-based studies

Hair and beauty studies

Hospitality

Manufacturing and product design

First teaching Sept 2009

First L1/L2 awards Aug 2010

First L3 awards Aug 2011

Phase 3Public services

Retail business

Sport and active leisure

Travel and tourism

First teaching Sept 2010

First L1/L2 awards Aug 2011

First L3 awards Aug 2011

GCSEs – timetable for changes

Timetable for changes to GCSEs

2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013 on

New unitised GCSEs

English, maths, ICT

Sciences

Firstcertificationpoints

GCSEs

Final certification of legacy specifications for all except:– English, maths and ICT (last certification summer 2011)– Sciences (last certification summer 2012)

First certification of new (unitised) short course GCSEs

GCSE sciences– Follow up work to 2009 and 2010 reports – Review outcomes of award meetings before results– Ongoing accreditation of new specifications

Ofqual’s role – summer 2010 and beyond

Reviewing data from awards meetings

Consistency across awarding bodies

Review results before cut-off

Monitoring progress of re-marks

Scrutiny monitoring work

Setting/maintaining standards in 2011

Maintaining standards of qualifications for Summer 2010

Isabel Nisbet, Chief Executive

Key dates this summer

19th August

- AS and A level results - Level 3 Diploma results

24th August

- GCSE results- Level 1 and 2 Diploma results

27th August

- Deadline for priority Level 3 Enquiry About Results (EARs) (20 September for other EARs)

More information…

Ofqual - www.ofqual.gov.uk

AQA - www.aqa.org.uk

Edexcel - www.edexcel.com

OCR - www.ocr.org.uk

WJEC - www.wjec.co.uk

CCEA - www.ccea.org.uk

Post results enquiries (JCQ booklet)

http://www.jcq.org.uk/attachments/published/1257/13.%20Post%20Results%20Services%20Booklet%2010-11.pdf

Panel Discussion

Panel Chair: Isabel NisbetDennis Opposs, Director of StandardsCath Jadhav, Head of Qualification StandardsRichard Garratt, Programme Leader, Diploma