Vinay Thawait – Subject Advisor, Computer Science, IT and Creative iMedia

Here at OCR we’ve had lots of queries from centres in recent weeks about marking coursework, or non-exam assessment (NEA). For Cambridge Nationals in Information Technologies (J808), this means the NEA set assignment tasks.

There have been questions about how to apply the mark scheme. This isn’t surprising as it hasn’t been assessed for two years, so a larger number of teachers than normal will be submitting marks for moderation for the first time. We’ve also had questions about administrative requirements, and most particularly about whether any allowances should be made when marking for the abnormal and difficult circumstances many students have had to contend with while completing their assignments. 

As the JCQ guidance on NEA marking says: 

“When you come to assess your students’ NEA, you should mark all NEA using the published mark schemes, as you did before the pandemic disruption. If you have more than one person marking your NEA, you must carry out standardisation activities as usual in an exam year, to ensure all your markers are marking to the same standard and using the relevant mark scheme. 

You must not try to account for disruption your learners have experienced by marking more leniently than you would normally. Teachers should not be making holistic and speculative judgements about overall performance or potential. Your marking should be based solely on the completed work in accordance with the published mark scheme. Exam boards will moderate all NEA in the usual way this year.”

In the light of that recent JCQ announcement, and the queries we’ve had from you, we thought it would be helpful to provide a quick summary of the support available to ensure that you are marking to the correct standard.

Guides to applying the mark scheme

There are several resources that will help you have confidence in your application of the marking criteria for Cambridge Nationals in Information Technologies J808:

• A free on-line marking course is available on OCR Train. This can be completed in your own time and includes a series of tests designed to ensure that you are correctly allocating levels to the AEP and practical performances. 
• Our CPD ‘making the grade’ webinar could be a one-stop shop for all your needs in improving your delivery and assessment of J808 (NEA). You will look at the mark scheme in detail and review how to apply it fairly and accurately to candidate work.
• The candidate exemplars with the moderator’s commentary for unit R013 could be useful to you to understand and improve internal assessment of the NEA marking. 
• The best practice in delivery and assessment materials could be a valuable source for building your confidence with NEA marking. 
• We offer an ‘ask the moderator’ CPD event for moderated units as an online Q&A event. This will give you a unique opportunity to engage with the moderator on the issues that matter most to you. 
• Display a poster in your classroom for students to understand how to reference work and avoid plagiarism. You can download this from the assessment section of the qualification webpage. 
• A video presentation on how to complete the Unit Recording Sheet (URS) for the Cambridge Nationals Information Technologies internally assessed unit is available. 
• A resource on effective assessment practices provides further help and support on generating and submitting students’ work for moderation.
• Finally, do refer back to the reports on J808 which are published after each series, and which often include pointers on internal assessment marking. You can access these on the Assessment section of our website.

Administrative points to remember

General information on NEA administration is available on our website. 

For Cambridge Nationals in Information Technologies, please note:

• There is a URS for unit R013 on the Administration section of our Cambridge Nationals in Information Technologies web pages. You must complete this for each student you entered for certification. 
• You must complete a centre authentication form for this qualification.

Looking forward to next year’s cohort

We hope that your students enjoy the project life cycle to plan and develop a fully working integrated IT system for a given client. Each year we’re really impressed to see the range and diversity of a fully working integrated IT system submitted.

Remember, there is support available for students when they come to think about solving the set assignment tasks:

• You and your students can browse the sample assessment materials and the assessment guides for R013 from the assessment section of the qualification webpage
• We will, as always, be offering CPD on J808 in the next school academic year. Keep an eye on the Professional Development section of our website and be sure to have signed up for subject updates (details below) to get details of when these become available.

Stay connected

If you have any questions you can email vocational.qualifications@ocr.org.uk, call us on 01223 553998 or tweet us @OCR_ICT. You can also sign up to receive email updates about resources and support.

About the author

Vinay joined OCR in July 2014 to support the GQ reform and development of the AS and A-Level Computer Science qualifications. Since then, he has been involved in the development of the reformed GCSE (9-1) Computer Science and Entry Level Computer Science and recently with the redevelopment of Cambridge National in IT qualification. Before joining OCR, Vinay spent more than 20 years in IT and Computer Science teaching and leadership roles, working for several schools as well as local authorities educational support team. He was the National Bid Lead for the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) initiative within Capita IT, and also the Head of Operations for an audio-visual educational software development company. Vinay has a degree, three post-graduate masters and NPQH from Warwick, Coventry, and Nottingham Universities.