Moderation Policy

Moderation Policy

Moderation/ Verification Procedure for Accredited and Non-Accredited Courses - including RARPAP

 

This is a generic policy and may be supplemented by specific guidelines as relevant to each curriculum area.

 

Stage 1: Exam Registration – Externally Accredited (BLUE) Courses ONLY    

              

The process for tutors is as follows.

 

  1. Each learner is required to complete an individual exam pro-forma.  You need to collect these form the relevant centre.

 

  1. Check that all learners attending the class (and completing a pro-forma) are on the register. If there are missing learners, they must go to the relevant reception at the centre to check their enrolment status against the course/parent code.                  

 

  1. Update E-progressions on EBS to reflect all non-starters and withdrawn learners (ensuring the progress date reflects the last date of attendance). 

 

  1. Check that the learning aim is correctly recorded for each learner on the pro-forma. If you require confirmation of the learning aim, please refer to the appropriate manager.

 

  1. Ensure learners have given all personal details and signed and dated the pro-forma.  Note that the name as it appears on the pro-forma will be the same as that on their certificate.

 

  1. Submit the forms to the Exams Team/Gateway Officers and notify the appropriate Adult Learning and Skills Manager. This needs to be done by the agreed timescale for your curriculum area.

 

Please note:

There are two different types of exam pro-forma: one is specific to Functional English and Maths exams and the other is for ALL other accredited provision.

 

If you are unsure whether a learner needs to be entered for an exam, please contact the appropriate Adult Learning and Skills Manager to discuss.

 

If the exam entry form is not submitted by the given deadlines (week 4 for short courses of 11 weeks or less), the service will incur an additional late fee penalty.

 

Stage 2a: Post-registration and Assessment of Accredited Candidates

 

The Exams Officer/ designated curriculum contact sends the Record of Achievement (RAC)/Form C/Learner Record of Results (ROR) or other form as used by Awarding Bodies, to all tutors for completion.

 

Please note that these documents can only be sent electronically to your Newcastle City Council e-mail address.

 

Where applicable, your internal moderator will contact you after week 4, so if you have any queries/points of clarification about how you complete your forms, which assessments to conduct and how to conduct them, you should ask them at this point.

 

Tutors need to collect the evidence for all learners, completing all forms as instructed by the Adult Learning and Skills Manager.  This will vary slightly between curriculum areas.

 

Stage 2b: Assessment of Candidates on Non-Accredited Courses

Recognising and Recording Progress, Achievement and Progression (RARPAP) is the process to measure the progress and achievement of learners on non-accredited learning programmes (YELLOW COURSES).  

 

The application of RARPAP promotes good practice in teaching and learning, puts learners at the centre of the learning process and enables effective quality assurance and improvement.

 

The RARPAP process will apply to all learners on all funded programmes of non-accredited provision, excluding taster programmes and very short courses of 3 weeks or less.

 

There must be clear and robust evidence of the following:

  • A clearly documented course specification which has been negotiated between the Adult Learning and Skills Manager and the course tutor
  • Clear and negotiated course aims, which have been shared with the learner(s)
  • Initial assessment to establish the learner’s starting point and needs
  • Challenging learning objectives/outcomes for groups and individual learners – with opportunities to review, renegotiate and where appropriate revise their learning objectives
  • Formative assessment – recognition and recording of progress and achievement during the programme
  • Summative assessment – learner self-assessment as appropriate and tutor review of overall progress and achievement   
  • Use of an Assessment and Tracking document – copies to be retained by internal verifier and Adult Learning and Skills Manager            

RARPAP Success Criteria 

 

In order for a learner to successfully achieve a non-accredited learning aim, they need to have:

 

  • Clear and robust evidence that they have met the 6 stages of RARPAP  (as above) uploaded to Google Classroom
  • Achieved all of the core learning objectives/outcomes stated
  • In this case or in the event that some of the learning programme has been completed as distance learning, there is a requirement for automatic moderation, which will be conducted using Google Classroom. 

 

Stage 3a: Internal Moderation/ Verification for Accredited Candidates and Certificate Claims

 

  1. For internal moderation you must provide your internal moderator with the required learner work and any requested documents. Your internal moderator will contact you at the appropriate point to clarify how they want to proceed with the internal moderation.

 

  1. For external moderation at the end of a course, you must provide your internal moderator with all evidence and required documents.  This will vary between curriculum areas and your internal moderator will make the procedure clear to you.

 

  1. The sample size should be 2 completed files from each course or 10% of the cohort – whichever is the greater number.  In some circumstances the sample size may be specified by the awarding body.  Tutors and moderators will be informed if a different sample size is needed to comply with awarding body requirements.

 

  1. At the end of the course, tutors must change the progress status of all learners. If work needs to be externally moderated, this will be ‘Exam Taken Result Not Yet Known’.  If direct claims status (DCS) applies to the course, then the status of the learner should be ‘Achieved’.  The progress date must match the last date of attendance.

 

  1. Following external moderation, certificates will be claimed by the Exams Officers, who will update EBS with the learner’s achievement once the certificate has arrived. 

 

Stage 3b: Internal Moderation/ Verification for Non-Accredited Candidates (RARPAP)

 

  • Non-accredited programmes will be internally moderated through Google Classroom. This will be carried out on a risk basis as determined by the Adult Learning and Skills Manager.
  • Adult Learning and Skills Managers will allocate moderators at the start of each term.  They will manage the moderation process and the moderation team within their subject sector areas.
  • The moderation process will check for evidence against all stages of RARPAP in conjunction with the success criteria mentioned in Stage 2, please see above.  The moderator will also look for evidence of embedding maths and using SPAG and will comment on this.
  • Internal moderation/verification feedback forms will be completed for all non-accredited courses – a copy will be sent to the tutor and the appropriate Adult Learning and Skills Manager
  • The sample size should be 2 completed files from each course or 10% of the cohort – whichever is the greater number. 

 

Risk assessment for RARPAP moderation

 

All courses delivered by new members of staff will be sampled in the first term of their employment.  After that, a course from each tutor will be sampled each term, unless there is any cause for concern.  If that proves to be the case, work will be sampled as deemed appropriate by the Adult Learning and Skills Manager.

 

Time allocation for all Internal Moderation/ Verification of Portfolios

 

The following table should be used to calculate the time allocated for moderation/ verification of a course, based on the number of GLH and/ or the number of portfolios as appropriate.  The table is also available electronically.

 

Table to show time allocated for moderation.
Table to show time allocated for moderation

 

•    If moderation is carried out by a substantive member of staff, the time allocated will be counted as part of their annualised teaching hours.
•    If moderation is carried out by a sessional member of staff, an hourly payment will be made at meeting rate.
•    The Adult Learning and Skills Manager may exercise discretionary time allocation according to course level and subject area or awarding body requirements.