Organising for Success Organisational planning for effective Diploma assessment administration –...

Organising for SuccessOrganisational planning for effective Diploma assessment administration – Guidance for consortia

Delivery 08

2

Introduction

The successful award of a Diploma will require Centres within a Consortia to share information and work together to carry out all administrative processes accurately, securely and promptly. This will be key to ensuring that learners get the right Diploma award on time.

For the delivery of any component qualification or qualification unit where there are two or more centres involved decisions need to be made about which centre undertakes the administrative transactions with awarding bodies and how information is then shared between the centres. Understanding and working closely with the Component Awarding Bodies (CABs) will be important. First unit assessments of principal learning will be in January, with the entries deadline in October. Consortia should have organised themselves ready for the autumn term.

Key transactions to be considered include: qualification and unit entries, payments, reasonable adjustments, access arrangements, estimated grades, PLTS and work experience completion, external assessments, internal assessments, results, enquires about results, and special considerations.

CABs can accommodate certain different approaches to consortium organisation and different centres providing information for qualification administration. However, not all forms of consortia – CAB interactions will be possible in September 2008 and there are some risks associated with certain options which although they can be worked-around in practice, could be avoided if a different model is selected at the planning stage. CABs will only work with centres that have been approved by them for that qualification and are also constrained in other ways.

This guidance provides information on each of the key administrative transactions required between CABs and centres within a consortium and, if they have not already been organised within the consortium and with the CAB, a pragmatic solution for 2008.

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Overview

• For many centres involved in the Diploma, being part of a consortium is a departure from normal ways of working

• Ensuring Diploma delivery and examinations can be effectively administered, centres will need to undertake all the required administration with awarding bodies accurately, securely and promptly

• As part of a consortium, administering the Diploma will be different from how qualifications have been traditionally managed by exam officers in individual and independent centres

• To successfully complete all the administration required within a consortium, centres will benefit from good coordination, clear roles and responsibilities and timely communication

• This guidance is designed to support consortium in deciding how best to organise the administration requirements of the Diploma between all centres in light of awarding body requirements and local conditions

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Summary of the pragmatic guidance for September 2008

Home centres should:

1. Maintain oversight of learners and their progress at qualification level, requiring:

• Good communication between home centres and delivery centres on a unit basis confirming actions are complete

• Data sharing capability (technical and legal) between centres in line with data protection legislation.

2. Make qualification entries and have the responsibility to ensure all unit entries are made

3. Apply for reasonable adjustments and access arrangements on a qualification basis and communicated to all centres within the consortium hosting any assessment activity for that learner

4. Conduct the external assessments to avoid learners need to travel during the exam periods (even if the home centre does not deliver the teaching of the unit)

5. Input the completion of work experience and PLTS into the Diploma aggregation service

Delivery centres should:

1. Conduct the internal assessments (even if the external assessment is hosted by the home centres)

2. Confirm unit entries are made to the home centres

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• All centres in a consortium making entries or hosting assessments must be recognised/ approved with the CAB for each qualification

• For all two-tier qualifications, the assessment centre should make the unit entry

• By default, following an entry/ registration, most CABs will communicate and assume responsibility lies with the centre that made the entry/ registration for:

Payment

Results

• For qualifications where there is no entry at qualification level, but only at unit level/ registration (e.g. some ASL qualifications, Project and Extended Project):

• Home centres should make the unit entries (and where ever possible host the assessment for that unit)

• When the assessment is NOT held at the home centre specific arrangements must be made with the CAB to arrange for assessment papers to get to the correct centre

• Functional skills qualifications should be entered by the assessment centre (normally this will also be the learner’s home centre). If the assessment centre is not the learner’s home centre, the results that follow entry will need to be transferred within the consortium.

• Chosen CABs should be kept informed of consortia plans and their guidelines followed. Any need for alternative arrangements must be discussed and arranged with the CAB for the specific component qualification

Assessments Special consideration cases

Estimated grades Enquiries about results

Summary of the pragmatic guidance for September 2008

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Summary of transactionsThis figure shows at a high level the different transactions that need to take place between centres in a consortium and between centres and the CABs. For every transaction a decision needs to be made on how it will be managed and coordinated between centres within the consortium and which centre interfaces with the CAB. The guidance will walk through how this picture can come together.

Information flow

Possible Information flow (If required)

Component Awarding Body

(CAB)

Co

ho

rt li

sts

Qualification and Unit entries

External assessment papers

Results

Internal assessment marks and moderation

Ab

sen

ce &

sic

knes

s re

cord

s Reasonable adjustments/ access arrangements

Consortium

Inte

rnal

ass

essm

ent

mar

ks

Rea

son

able

ad

just

men

ts/ a

cces

s ar

ran

gem

ents

Est

imat

ed g

rad

es

Ext

ern

al a

sses

smen

t m

ater

ials

& p

aper

s

Special consideration cases

Enquiries About Results (EAR)

Learner cohort lists

External assessment support materials

Estimated grades

Sp

ecia

l co

nsi

der

atio

n o

r E

AR

evi

den

ce

Res

ult

s

Inte

rnal

Ass

essm

ent

evid

ence

Payment

Flo

w o

f fu

nd

ing

Delivery Centre*

Home Centre*

En

try

con

firm

atio

n

* Both home or delivery centre may be the assessment centre (see slide 7)

7

Context of the guidance within consortia support activities

• To help position this guidance, we have conceptualised Diploma delivery as comprising three areas of work: the teaching and learning underpinning the Diploma, the qualifications that make up the Diploma and the administration of Diploma learning and awarding.

• The focus of this guide is to support Diploma administration and it complements other NAA and DCSF support activities:

Teachingand

learning

Administration

Qualifications

TheDiploma

Organisation support: To support consortia to organise their centres to effectively coordinate the administration of the Diploma inline with the requirements of awarding bodies. This is the purpose of this guidance.

NAA systems support guidance and events: Provision of training for the Diploma aggregation service, the Unique Learner Number (ULN) and Learner Registration Service (LRS) to support the management of the Diploma

NAA ‘Getting ready for the Diploma’ readiness guide and events: Providing support to the exams office to prepare for administering the diploma within centres

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Use of this guidance• There are many appropriate ways a consortium can organise itself to ensure the Diploma is

effectively administered.

• Some centres are comfortable working as part of a consortium and will have organised themselves in a way that best accommodates the consortia/ centres’ needs.

• Senior leaders in consortia should agree how they are going to coordinate centres and ensure roles and responsibilities are clear to all parties, especially the exams office.

• If the consortium has not yet decided how to organise itself to administer the Diploma, this guidance provides a pragmatic solution for September 2008. For centres that have already made arrangements with their chosen CABs this guidance may act as a useful test for the plans, however it does not mean other approaches to coordination are wrong.

• This guidance should be used in conjunction with detailed and specific guidance provided by awarding bodies on managing the administration of their Diploma qualifications. Communication with awarding bodies on their requirements and flexibilities in administering the Diploma is essential.

• This guidance focuses on the coordination of Diploma administration across a consortium and therefore focuses on administering Diploma component qualifications in conjunction with Component Awarding Bodies (CABs). Interactions with Diploma Awarding Bodies (DABs) occurs on a centre by centre level and thus is not a focus of consortia coordination. Support on Diploma awarding administration is provided by NAA and DABs themselves.

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Terminology

The following definitions describe the terms used throughout this guidance:

HOME centre:• is the centre where a learner is enrolled• have pastoral responsibility for their learners

DELIVERY centres:• are the centres that deliver teaching to learners• have special facilities/ expertise for a particular Line of Learning (LoL)• may also be a learners home centre

ASSESSMENT centres:• are centres where assessment for each unit takes place• are, normally, the home centre for external assessments and the delivery

centre for internal assessments• may be the home or delivery centre

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Diploma administration

1Provide cohort lists/ upfront registration

Delivery centres will need to be aware where Learners will be visiting to receive teaching. In some situations CABs may expect upfront notification/ registration of learners to know who will be taking their qualification

2 Learner entry/ registration Centres will have to enter/ register all learners for the right qualifications and units on time

3 Payment Invoice and payment will be attached to either registration or entry. Most CABs will expect payment by the centre that made the entry

4Reasonable adjustments and access arrangements

Centres will need to agree with CABs any action that helps to reduce the effect of a disability or difficulty that places the learner at a substantial disadvantage in the assessment situation. The Learners will have to have access arrangements available at the location where they receive the teaching as well as where they sit their exams

5Send and receive materials to support external assessment

CABs may require materials to be provided to centres to support external assessments in advance of the assessment itself

6Send and receive external assessment papers

CABs send exam papers to the centre conducting the external assessment, who must ensure secure storage is available and comply with CAB requirements

7Internal assessment marks and moderation

Centres send the internal assessment marks to the CAB for aggregation of the constituent qualification results. CABs will need to moderate internally assessed coursework

8Apply for special consideration

Centres will have to be able to apply for special considerations with CABs. Learners must be clear where to go in these situations

9 PLTS and Work experience Centres will need to record the completion of PLTS and work experience with the Diploma aggregation service

10Sickness and absence records

Centres will need to share information on learner attendance and reasons for absence

11 Estimated grades CABs may require learners’ estimated grades ahead of any external assessment

12 Send and receive results CABs send the unit and qualification results to centres. Centres will have to communicate these to the learner

13 Raise enquiries about resultsCentres will need to be able to raise an enquiry about results with CABs. Learners must be clear where to go in these situations

Cohort ListsLearner entry/

registration

Reasonable adjustments and

access arrangements

Supporting materials for

external assessments

Assessment papers

Internal marks and moderation

Special considerations

Estimated grades

ResultsEnquiries

about results

PLTS and work

experience completion

Sickness and absence records

Payment

This guidance provides information on the following administrative transactions that will need to be completed to ensure the Diploma may be successfully awarded:

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Implications of consortium working

• The home centre is accountable for the learner, including

• Monitoring learner progress towards their Diploma

• Ensuring that learners are entered for all the right qualifications and units

• The home centre should provide the learner with their results at qualification level. This is so that all results can be provided together on ‘Diploma results day’ and the home centre can provide support as needed

• Learners should be able to do their assessments at a centre that is convenient for them. This is likely to mean:

Normally, home centres host the external assessments

Normally, delivery centres host the internal assessments

NB. This may be dependant on the Line of Learning as in some instances teachers may move centres, rather than learners.

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Managing Diploma administration in a consortium

1. Cohort lists

• It is important for all centres to know which learners will be coming to them for teaching – for what qualification at what level.

• Centres should communicate with their chosen CAB for each qualification as to whether they require upfront notification of learners pursuing a qualification.

A pragmatic solution for September 2008*: Home centres compile cohort lists for each qualification Home centres send delivery centres the cohort lists for the qualifications they teach If required, home centres provide CABs with cohort lists (as part of upfront registration)

Component Awarding

Body (CAB)

1. Cohort List

Good communication & data exchange

capability

Home centre

Home centre as the

assessment centre for external

assessments

Delivery centre as the

assessment centre for internal

assessments

Delivery centre

1. Cohort List

* The pragmatic solution is intended to provide guidance to consortia that have not made arrangements for 2008 on the way they will coordinate their centres to administer the Diploma. This is not the only way to manage Diploma administration

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2. Learner entry/ registration• Most qualifications require centres to enter/ register at the qualification level and for each unit• Home centres should be responsible for ensuring all their learners have been entered for every

required assessment/ unit by the correct centre • For many CABs, the entry/ registration process dictates where invoices, assessment papers,

results etc. are sent i.e. to the centre that made the entry

A pragmatic solution for September 2008*: QUALIFICATION entries are made by the home centre either before unit entries are made or afterwards

(allows the home centre to maintain oversight of the qualification for a learner and procedurally allows the overall qualification result to be sent to the home centre, where the learner is enrolled)

UNIT entries are made by the centre that will host the assessment – home or delivery centre (to ensure further assessment related transactions take place with the assessment centre)

If the home centre makes the entry the learner may still undertake their learning in a delivery centre, but still have the external unit assessment in their home centre.

Internally assessed units are entered by a delivery centre

Component Awarding

Body (CAB)


capability

Home centre

Home centre as the assessment

centre for external

assessments



assessments

Delivery centre

2. Component QUALIFICATION entry/ registration

2. Component UNIT entry

2. Component UNIT entry


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3. Payment• CABs will expect payment for entries/ registration in different ways and different times – check

with your CAB for their requirements• Normally CABs will expect payment to come from the centre that made the entry/ registration• Funding exchanges/ agreements between home and delivery centres may therefore be

necessary

A pragmatic solution for September 2008*: Central learner funding is provided to the home centres Home centres pay for qualification entries/ registration directly to the CAB Home centres transfer the funds to the delivery centre who pays the CAB for unit entries

Component Awarding

Body (CAB)


capability

Home centre


centre for external

assessments



assessments

Delivery centre

3. Component QUALIFICATION payment

3. Component UNIT payment

3. Component UNIT payment

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4. Reasonable adjustments and access arrangements• Applications for reasonable adjustments and access arrangements must be agreed with the

CAB for each qualification• Arrangements agreed will need to be applied by the assessment centre• Sharing this personal information between centres may have implications under the Data

Protection Act that must be complied with when sharing data

A pragmatic solution for September 2008*: Home centres make the request to CABs for reasonable adjustments or access arrangements The arrangements agreed with the CAB are then communicated by the home centre and applied

to the learner for that qualification across all centres in the consortium that host an assessment for the learner

Component Awarding

Body (CAB)


capability

Home centre


centre for external

assessments


Assessment centre for internal

assessments

Delivery centre

4. Reasonable adjustment or access arrangement

4. Arrangements applied

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5. External assessment pre-release materials• For some external assessments CABs will need to send materials to delivery centres in

advance of the exam• Most CABs will assume to send these materials to the centre that made the unit entry/

registration

A pragmatic solution for September 2008*: Materials to support the external assessment will be sent by the CAB to the home centre that

made the entry If a home centre receives materials, but is not delivering teaching (only the assessment), these

materials must be securely transferred to the delivery centre

Component Awarding

Body (CAB)


capability

Home centre


centre for external

assessments



assessments

Delivery centre

5. External assessment pre-release materials

5. External assessment pre-release materials

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6. External assessment papers• External assessment papers will be securely delivered to, and collected from, recognised

centres• Many CABs will only deliver assessment papers to the centre that made the entry/ registration

for the unit/ exam• If assessments are not being held in the centre that made the entry, external exam papers

could be sent to the wrong centre unless alternative arrangements are made with the CAB

A pragmatic solution for September 2008*: The CAB sends assessment papers to the home centre (*only if they made the unit/exam entry*) The home centre that made the entry hosts the external exam (avoids learners needing to travel to

other centres during the examination period)

Component Awarding

Body (CAB)


capability

Home centre


centre for external

assessments



assessments

Delivery centre

6. External assessment papers (home centre made entry)

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7. Internal assessment marks and internal moderation• Internal assessment marks will be generated by delivery centres teaching the internal unit• Standardisation of internal assessments will be the responsibility of the delivery centre and

should ideally be ensured across the consortium• CABs will assume sampling or that moderators will visit the centre that made the entry for the

unit unless alternative arrangements can be made• See www.naa.org.uk for the NAA guide “Delivering the Diploma: A guide to managing internal

assessment” for further details on conducting internal assessment for the Diploma

A pragmatic solution for September 2008*: Internal assessments are likely to be held at the delivery centre (they conduct the teaching) Delivery centres send internal assessment marks to the CAB and if required to the home centre

(the marks will be expected to come from the centre that made the entry by most CABs) Moderators request samples from each delivery centre Delivery centres provide the moderator with coursework for taught learners or arrange a visit

Component Awarding

Body (CAB)


capability

Home centre


centre for external

assessments



assessments

Delivery centre 7. Internal assessment

marks & internal moderation

7. Internal assessment

marks (if required)

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8. Special considerations• Applications for special consideration for any particular examination will be expected by most

CABs to come from the centre that made the unit entry• It is likely that in learner-orientated special consideration cases the home centre will be best

informed and in examination derived cases, the assessment centre will be best informed• Communication between home and delivery centres will be essential in order that all

information can be collated when making an special consideration application

A pragmatic solution for September 2008*: Whichever centre made the unit entry applies for special consideration to the CAB Home centres will need to inform the delivery centre of any need for making a special

consideration application and the corresponding learner details

Component Awarding

Body (CAB)


capability

Home centre


centre for external

assessments



assessments

Delivery centre

8. Special consideration

case

8. Special consideration case

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9. PLTS and work experience completion• All Diploma learners will need to have their completion of Personal Learning and Thinking

Skills (PLTS) and the required amount of work experience monitored and recorded• Confirmation of the completion of PLTS and work experience must be inputted into the

Diploma aggregation service before a Diploma can be claimed

A pragmatic solution for September 2008*:

Home centres confirm the completion of PLTS and work experience in the Diploma aggregation service

Home centre


centre for external

assessments



assessments

Delivery centre

9. PLTS and work experience completionDiploma

aggregation service

21


10. Absence and sickness records• To inform special consideration applications and the home centre’s pastoral role, centres

need to share and cross-reference absence records (from delivery centres) with notification of absence (likely that the learner provides to their home centre)

A pragmatic solution for September 2008*: Centres will need to share information on learner attendance and reasons for absence

Home centre


centre for external

assessments



assessments

Delivery centre


capability

22


11. Estimated grades• Some CABs will expect estimated grades to be provided on a unit and/or qualification level

from the centre that made the unit entry• For home centres to aggregate a learner’s estimated grade on a qualification level, they will

need sight of all unit estimated grades provided by delivery centres

A pragmatic solution for September 2008*: Delivery centres teaching units send estimated grades for the unit to the CAB and, if required,

the home centres Home centres send the ‘qualification level’ estimated grade to the CAB (would require estimated

unit grades from other delivery centres)

Component Awarding

Body (CAB)


capability

Home centre


centre for external

assessments



assessments

Delivery centre

11. Estimated Grades (unit level)

11. Estimated grades (unit level)

11. Estimated grades (qualification level)

23


12. Results• For qualifications where results are released on either A-level or GCSE results day, learners

are expected to collect their results from their home centre (to avoid travelling)• Most CABs will only send the results to the centre that made the entry for the qualification or

unit• Results will often be available electronically

A pragmatic solution for September 2008*: Overall qualification results will be sent by the CAB to the home centre (that entered the learner

for the qualification) Unit results will be sent to the centre that made the unit entry (the assessment centre for the

unit) Unit results will be passed on from delivery centre to home centres

Home centreHome centre

Component Awarding

Body (CAB)


capabilityHome centre as the assessment

centre for external

assessments



assessments

Delivery centre

12. Results (unit level)

12. Results (unit level)

12. Results (qualification level)

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13. Enquiries About Results (EAR)• Most CABs will require any enquiries about results to be raised by the centre that made the

unit entry• Home and delivery centres will need to share information about a learner to identify and

make the appropriate enquiry. In some situations the EAR may not be raised by the party who initially believes it is necessary

A pragmatic solution for September 2008*: Enquiries about results will be made by the centre that made the entry for that unit in line with

JCQ guidelines Home centres would need to inform delivery centres of their view on whether an enquiry is

warranted for any of their learners Delivery centres would need to inform the home centre if they believed an enquiry about results

was warranted based on their understanding of performance during teaching

Component Awarding

Body (CAB)


capability

Home centre


centre for external

assessments



assessments

Delivery centre

13. Enquiry about results

13. Enquiry about results

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Glossary

• Component awarding body (CAB): A component awarding body meets the requirements for, and is recognised by, the regulators to award constituent units and qualifications of Diplomas.

• Diploma aggregation service:Previously called Minerva, the Diploma aggregation service will support the awarding of Diplomas to learners. It will be used by exam centres and awarding bodies engaged in the delivery of Diplomas to share data and record learners’ progress towards a Diploma award. Typically, users at exam centres will access the service through a web browser, although they may also access it via an existing management information system (where a link has been established to the service). Larger awarding bodies will link their own systems directly to the service. As well as recording Diploma constituent qualification results against each learner, the service will aggregate these results and apply rules of combination to determine whether sufficient units and results have been gained for a Diploma to be claimed through the service.

• Personal, learning and thinking skills (PLTS):The framework of skills that will equip all young people for successful employment and lifelong learning. PLTS require learners to be:

• independent enquirers • creative thinkers • reflective learners • team workers • self-managers • effective participators.

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Organising for Success Organisational planning for effective Diploma assessment administration –...

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