Marking and moderation (Conditions TQ9 to TQ10)

Rules and guidance about marking and moderation of Technical Qualifications

Condition TQ9 - Marking arrangements

  1. TQ9.1 In respect of each Technical Qualification which it makes available, an awarding organisation must ensure that the arrangements which are in place in accordance with General Condition H1.1 provide that, in respect of an assessment other than an assessment marked by a Centre –
    1. (a) all marking will be carried out by Assessors who have appropriate competence and who have no personal interest in the outcome of the marking,
    2. (b) prior to carrying out any marking, each Assessor shall be provided with training,
    3. (c) the awarding organisation shall monitor whether or not the criteria against which the Learners’ performance is differentiated are being understood and applied accurately and consistently by Assessors,
    4. (d) where the awarding organisation learns, through its monitoring or otherwise, that an Assessor is failing to accurately or consistently apply those criteria, it shall take all reasonable steps to –
      1. (i) correct or, where it cannot be corrected, mitigate as far as possible the effect of the failure, and
      2. (ii) ensure that the failure does not recur.
  2. TQ9.2 Where an assessment is marked by a Centre, an awarding organisation must ensure that those arrangements provide for training to be made available to that Centre prior to that marking.
  3. TQ9.3 In respect of each Technical Qualification which it makes available, an awarding organisation must ensure that the monitoring which is carried out in accordance with General Condition C1.1(b) includes monitoring of whether or not Assessors are marking in a manner which is compliant with the awarding organisation’s Conditions of Recognition.

Condition TQ10 - Moderation arrangements

  1. TQ10.1 In respect of each Technical Qualification involving Moderation which it makes available, an awarding organisation must ensure that the arrangements which are in place in accordance with General Condition H2.1 provide that –
    1. (a) all Moderation will be carried out by persons who have appropriate competence and who have no personal interest in the outcome of the Moderation,
    2. (b) a person who was previously involved in a Centre’s marking of an assessment must not be involved in Moderation in respect of that marking,
    3. (c) prior to carrying out any Moderation, each person tasked with carrying out such Moderation shall be provided with training,
    4. (d) prior to carrying out any Moderation, a person tasked with carrying out such Moderation shall be provided with a copy of –
      1. (i) any evidence generated by Learners which is to be considered for the purpose of Moderation or, where such evidence is not held or cannot readily be copied, a representation of the evidence in another form,
      2. (ii) the record of the awarding of marks made by Assessors when that evidence was marked,
      3. (iii) any comments which Assessors recorded during the marking of that evidence, and
      4. (iv) the criteria against which Learners’ performance is differentiated,
    5. (e) the awarding organisation shall monitor whether or not the persons who are carrying out Moderation are –
      1. (i) doing so in a manner which is compliant with General Condition H2, and
      2. (ii) making determinations which are consistent over time and consistent with determinations made by each other,
    6. (f) where the awarding organisation learns, through its monitoring or otherwise, that Moderation has not been carried out in a manner which is compliant with General Condition H2, or has being carried out inconsistently, it shall take all reasonable steps to –
      1. (i) correct or, where it cannot be corrected, mitigate as far as possible the effect of the failure, and
      2. (ii) ensure that the failure does not recur,
  2. TQ10.2 In respect of each Technical Qualification involving Moderation which it makes available, an awarding organisation must ensure that the monitoring which is carried out in accordance with General Condition C1.1(b) includes monitoring of whether or not persons carrying out Moderation are doing so in a manner which is compliant with the awarding organisation’s Conditions of Recognition.

Guidance on Condition H2 Centre Assessment Standards Scrutiny where an assessment is marked by a Centre and Condition TQ10 Moderation arrangements

We have provided guidance in relation to factors an awarding organisation should consider in relation to the use of Centre-marking for the Core Project and assessments for the Occupational Specialisms. Where Centre-marking is used for an assessment, under Condition H2, an awarding organisation must have in place clear and effective arrangements for the Moderation of that assessment.

Moderation will only be relevant where an awarding organisation allows the Core Project and/or Occupational Specialism assessments to be marked by a Centre.

Condition TQ10 sets out some specific requirements in relation to Moderation of assessments in Technical Qualifications.

The purpose of Moderation is to allow the awarding organisation to ensure that Centres are applying the relevant mark scheme correctly and consistently. It is therefore an important part of ensuring that standards are maintained across the qualification.

Under Condition C2.3(j), an awarding organisation must set out in its specification for the qualification the Moderation processes which it has in place. In line with the requirements set under Condition TQ3.1(b), an awarding organisation must also set out its approach to Moderation in its assessment strategy.

  1. In the guidance below we set out our expectations in relation to how an awarding organisation should determine its approach to Moderation.
    1. (a) Where marking by Centres is permitted, Assessors at a Centre will mark assessments using the awarding organisation’s mark scheme. Where more than one Assessor marks an assessment or part of an assessment, within a single Centre, an awarding organisation should ensure that the Centre ensures that marking is consistent across all Assessors within that Centre.
    2. (b) An awarding organisation should consider what information should be retained by a Centre in order to allow the awarding organisation to undertake Moderation effectively, and should ensure the retention of that information through its arrangements with the Centre under Condition C2.
    3. (c) Condition H2.5 requires that an awarding organisation is able to, and does, make changes to a Centre’s marking where necessary. Condition H6.1(d) requires the results issued by an awarding organisation to reflect the outcome of any Moderation undertaken. Moderation must therefore take place before results are issued by the awarding organisation so that any necessary changes can be made before those results are issued. However, Learners must be notified of their preliminary result for any Centre-marked assessment under Condition TQ11, so as to be able to request a review of the Centre’s marking prior to Moderation.
    4. (d) Moderation should be carried out by persons trained by awarding organisations in the standard expected, reviewing actual work produced by Learners in the Centre. We will expect an awarding organisation to have processes in place, including training and guidance, to ensure that the Moderation which it undertakes is effective, as required by Condition H2.1.
    5. (e) Moderation should be based on a sample of Learners from the Centre. An awarding organisation should ensure that the sample of work it uses for Moderation reflects the number of Learners at the Centre: the smaller the number of Learners the greater proportion of them would typically be included in the sample, and vice versa. An awarding organisation should also ensure that the sample includes work that is representative of the range of attainment demonstrated by Learners at that Centre.
    6. (f) An awarding organisation should consider the marks awarded by the Centre in terms of how far they correspond with those that the awarding organisation would give to the Learner in line with the mark scheme.
    7. (g) An awarding organisation may choose to set a level of tolerance by which the marks given to a Learner by a Centre may reasonably vary from those that would have been given by the awarding organisation. (This is on the basis that it may not be reasonable to expect exact agreement, and so a degree of variation may be allowed, within a certain tolerance.)
    8. (h) If the differences between the marks awarded by the Centre and by the awarding organisation are all within tolerance, then no adjustment is made to the Centre’s marks. If the difference is judged to be outside of the tolerance, an adjustment may be made to that Centre’s marks for that assessment.
    9. (i) If the awarding organisation is not able to determine the appropriate adjustments to make based on the sample, it should request additional samples of work from the Centre.
    10. (j) By exception, the awarding organisation may determine that the Centre’s marks are not capable of correction by means of an adjustment, and that all of the Learners’ work from the Centre must be re-marked.
    11. (k) In line with Condition TQ12, an awarding organisation must provide each Centre with feedback, explaining what the outcome of moderation was, and why decisions were made.