Connor Toms, Computer Science Subject Advisor

Supporting a private candidate through GCSE Computer Science (J277) is incredibly rewarding, but it also carries specific responsibilities, particularly around the practical programming requirements. 

This blog will guide centres through what is required, what you need to confirm and how to confidently sign the practical programming statement ahead of each exam series.

Understanding the practical programming requirements

Centres entering a private candidate for GCSE Computer Science must confirm that the candidate has met the same requirements as any enrolled learner. This includes signing the practical programming statement, which Cambridge OCR requires for all exam series. 

This signed declaration confirms that the centre has met the requirements outlined in Section 2d of the specification, which states: 

“Centres are required to give candidates the opportunity to develop programming skills during their course of study. This must allow candidates to develop the skills to design, write, test, and refine program(s) using a high-level programming language with a textual program definition, either to a specification or to solve a problem (or problems).” 

For centres, this means that candidates must be given the chance to program through practical experience using the programming constructs outlined in section 2c of the specification. 

These programming constructs include things like loops, arrays/lists, functions and file handling. 

To meet the practical programming requirements, all programming must be done in a high-level text-based programming language (such as C#, Python, Java, etc.). This does not mean that all candidates need to have the same range of evidence, quantity of evidence or quality of evidence.

Responsibilities for centres entering private candidates

When accepting a private candidate, the centre is responsible for verifying that the candidate has been given the opportunity to meet the requirements of the practical programming statement. 

Before signing, you must be satisfied that the private candidate has: 

• been given the opportunity to undertake programming tasks 
• worked on tasks that involve designing, writing, testing and refining 
• worked on tasks that cover the programming constructs outlined in section 2c of the specification. 

The statement must be signed by a member of staff within the centre and submitted by 15 May of the exam year.

Practical steps to validate a private candidate’s programming experience

Here are some practical and manageable approaches you can take to validate the programming experience of a private candidate. 

You may ask the candidate/tutor to provide: 

• examples of completed programming tasks using key constructs (see Section 2c) 
• a logbook or programming journal documenting their development process 
• other coding completed by the private candidate 
• screenshots or videos of code being run and tested evidence of debugging or refinement work 
• the programme of study for the private candidate, showing programming opportunities. 

Centres need to be confident that a private candidate has genuinely been given the opportunity to complete appropriate programming activities. However, there is no requirement that the candidate’s code must work fully, nor is there any requirement for the centre to test or mark the code themselves.

Supporting private candidates in generating evidence to meet the programming requirements

Our 40 Algorithm Challenges booklet (available on our planning and teaching page) provides structured problem‑solving tasks that are ideal to support evidence of programming engagement. 

Centres are encouraged to discuss the practical programming requirements both internally and with the candidate as early as possible. This will help to understand the opportunities that the private candidate has and allows timely intervention to support the candidate in meeting the requirements if necessary.

Stay connected

If you have any questions, you can email us at support@ocr.org.uk or call us on 01223 553998. You can also sign up to subject updates to keep up-to-date with the latest news, information and resources.

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About the author

Before joining Cambridge OCR in September 2021, Connor worked as a head of Computing in Cambridgeshire. Prior to teaching, he studied Computer Games Development at the University of Bedfordshire. Outside of work, Connor is a keen golfer, avid tech head and music enthusiast.