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For Cambridge OCR’s verified qualifications, which are centre-assessed and then externally verified, a Cambridge OCR external quality assurer (EQA) will visit your centre twice a year.
At the visit, the EQA will verify that your centre is delivering the qualifications to the appropriate standards and meets the Cambridge OCR criteria.
Once you’ve made your entries, we will allocate an EQA to your centre.
Your allocated EQA will contact you to arrange a quality assurance visit to sample the work of all candidates entered for those Cambridge OCR qualifications to which they are allocated. This will include candidates at all stages, from those who have just started the qualification through to those who have completed the qualification and been certificated via direct claims status (DCS).
For centres which do not have direct claims status, once claims have been submitted, your EQA will contact you to arrange a quality assurance visit to authorise the claims.
If a planned visit needs to be changed at short notice, the verifier must be satisfied there is a legitimate reason; otherwise, there may be a charge (see the fees list).
Visits cannot take place between 18 and 31 August.
Visits are charged as shown below. See the fees list for details of the charges.
Due to internal safeguarding policies we appreciate centres may need to see identification from EQAs before they are allowed access to the site. We do not issue EQAs with any form of identification, and we have advised EQAs they should bring the following with them to any visit:
We also suggest EQAs arrange to meet their named contact on arrival at the centre, as they will have the EQA’s details and can verify these with their identification.
If your safeguarding policy requires some form of supervision for visitors whilst on site, this requirement should be discussed with the EQA before the visit so there is no impact on the quality assurance process.
We have advised EQAs of what identification they should take with them on visits. However, if you have any concerns then please contact our Customer Support Centre.
When you’ve enrolled your candidates on a Cambridge OCR qualification, you should make entries for them and inform them of their Cambridge OCR candidate number.
When you have made your entries, you must also establish and follow an assessment plan for each candidate.
Information about the assessment process for each qualification can be found in the centre handbooks, available from the qualification pages.
Assessment is a cumulative process which, as long as the qualification is valid, has no time limit. However, centres may wish to set guidelines on the length of time available to candidates.
Candidates must provide sufficient and valid evidence to prove their competence meets the requirements of the qualification. More information about these requirements is found on the evidence page.
Once your candidates have completed units of the qualification and they have been assessed and internally quality assured, you can claim for their unit or full awards.
To do this, you need to make a claim via Interchange. Step-by-step instructions for making a claim are provided in the following guide:
In the letter arranging or confirming a quality assurance visit, your EQA will request a list of all active candidates entered for the Cambridge OCR qualifications to which they are allocated.
The list you provide should include each candidate’s Internal Assurer (IA) and Internal Quality Assurer (IQA) together with the candidate’s status, ie: completed, work in progress or claimed by DCS.
You should provide this information to your EQA at least 3 weeks before the arranged visit.
Your EQA will:
You will need to ensure the sample of work requested, assessment staff and candidates are available at the quality assurance visit.
At a quality assurance visit to your centre the EQA will review your centre’s delivery of Cambridge OCR qualifications. They will:
Either during or within five working days of the visit, your EQA will review and confirm or edit the claim as appropriate. They will then send it to Cambridge OCR to process and you will get an email to say the claim has been sent to Cambridge OCR.
To view the actual claims sent:
For externally verified qualifications, after each visit, the EQA will prepare a quality assurance report, which will be emailed to you as soon as it is available.
You can also access all of your reports via Interchange by hovering over ‘Centre information’ and then clicking on ‘External verifier reports’ in the left-hand menu.
This report will provide details of any actions and/or recommendations made by the external verifier at the visit. If relevant, the report will also include any recommended sanctions imposed on your centre in line with the Cambridge OCR criteria for verified qualifications.
If the centre meets the appropriate criteria, the EQA may recommend they are awarded direct claims status.
When a sanction level 2, 3 or 4 is recommended or lifted by the EQA, the report will be reviewed by Cambridge OCR and a letter confirming the imposing or lifting of the sanction sent to the head of centre. (See the appeals page for details of how to appeal a sanction.)