Ofqual has revealed that GCSE and A-level students’ coursework assessments will not be moderated this year.
In the regulator’s document outlining the final decisions of its consultation on grading in 2021, it said that “we will not require the exam boards to moderate teachers’ marking of [coursework] this year, for several reasons.
“First, if not all students are able to complete their [coursework], it will be difficult for moderators to make judgements on incomplete work, and it would not be fair only to moderate completed work.”
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The regulator adds that moderation is important in a normal year where coursework marks are aggregated with exam scores to produce a final grade.
“Since there will be no exams this year, there is no requirement to aggregate marks,” it says, adding that “preparing and despatching work for moderation would mean additional workload” for schools and colleges.
Opinion in the consultation responses was divided on the issue, with 55 per cent of respondents arguing that teachers’ coursework marking should be moderated.
But some respondents said moderation would not be possible or appropriate due to different levels of coursework completion “as a result of the pandemic and school closures, self-isolation periods and restricted access to specialist rooms and equipment”.
“Conversely, others commented that moderation should take place as it is the only way for the use of [coursework] to be fair, to prevent grade inflation and secure public confidence,” the regulator said.
Ofqual said teachers should mark coursework according to the normal mark scheme (in whole or in part, depending on whether students have been able to complete the work), and that this would give teachers “an objective source of evidence on which to base their grade decision”.
Where students have been unable to complete sufficient coursework to produce meaningful evidence for teachers to mark, the exam boards “will provide guidance on how work they have been able to complete could be considered as an alternative source of evidence”.
