Internal Appeals Procedure (Internal assessment decisions) Policy

This procedure is reviewed and updated annually to ensure that appeals against internal assessment decisions (centre assessed marks) at Tanfield School are managed in accordance with current requirements and regulations in the JCQ publications General Regulations for Approved Centres (GR 5.7), Instructions for conducting non-examination assessments (ICNEA 6.1). This procedure is also informed by the JCQ publications Reviews of marking (centre assessed marks) suggested template for centres and Notice to Centres - Informing candidates of their centre assessed marks.

Certain qualifications contain components of non-examination assessment (or units of coursework) which are internally assessed (marked) by Tanfield School and internally reviewed/standardised. The marks awarded (the internal assessment decisions) which contribute to the final grade of the qualification are then submitted by the deadline set by the awarding body for external moderation.

The moderation process carried out by the awarding body may result in a mark change, either upwards or downwards, even after an internal review. The internal review process is in place to ensure consistency of marking within the centre, whereas moderation by the awarding body ensures that centre marking is in line with national standards. The mark submitted to the awarding body is subject to change and should therefore be considered provisional.

The qualifications delivered at Tanfield School containing components of non-examination assessment/units of coursework are: GCSE, OCR Cambridge Nationals, BTEC & WJEC

The head of centre/senior leader(s) at Tanfield School will ensure that the following principles are in place in relation to marking the work of candidates:

• A commitment to ensuring that whenever teaching staff mark candidates’ work, that this is done fairly, consistently and in accordance with the awarding body’s specification and subject-specific associated documents
• All centre staff follow a robust Non-examination Assessment Policy (for the management of non- examination assessments). This policy details all procedures relating to non-examination assessments for relevant qualifications delivered in the centre, including the marking and quality assurance/internal standardisation processes which relevant teaching staff are required to follow
• Candidates’ work will be marked by staff who have appropriate knowledge, understanding and skill, and who have been trained in this activity
• A commitment to ensuring that work produced by candidates is authenticated in line with the requirements of the awarding body. Where more than one subject teacher/tutor is involved in marking candidates’ work, internal moderation and standardisation will ensure consistency of marking
• On being informed of their centre assessed mark(s), if candidates believes that the above procedures were not followed in relation to the marking of their work, or that the assessor has not properly applied the marking standards to their marking, then they may make use of the internal appeals procedure below to consider whether to request a review of the centre’s marking

Additional centre-specific principles:

The head of centre/senior leader(s) at Tanfield School will:

• Ensure that candidates are informed of their centre assessed marks so that they may request a review of the centre’s marking before marks are submitted to the awarding body
• Inform candidates that they will need to explain on what grounds they wish to request a review of an internally assessed mark as a review will only focus on the quality of work submitted
• Inform candidates that they may request copies of materials (generally as a minimum, a copy of the marked assessment material (work) and the mark scheme or assessment criteria plus additional materials which may vary from subject to subject) to assist them in considering whether to request a review of the centre’s marking of the assessment
• Having received a request for copies of materials, promptly make them available to the candidate (for some marked assessment materials, such as artwork and recordings, inform the candidate that the originals will be shared under supervised conditions) within the period of time as specified

(see Deadlines below)

• Provide candidates with sufficient time to allow them to review copies of materials and reach a decision, informing candidates that if their decision is to request a review they will need to explain what they believe the issue to be
• Provide a clear deadline for candidates to submit a request for a review of the centre’s marking and confirm understanding that requests must be made in writing and will not be accepted after this deadline (see Deadlines below)
• Require candidates to make requests for a review of centre marking by completing an internal appeals form
• Allow sufficient time for the review to be carried out, to make any necessary changes to marks and to inform the candidate of the outcome, all before the awarding body’s deadline for the submission of marks (see Deadlines below)
• Ensure that the review of marking is conducted by an assessor who has appropriate competence, has had no previous involvement in the assessment of that candidate for the component in question and has no personal interest in the outcome of the review
• Instruct the reviewer to ensure that the candidate’s mark is consistent with the standard set by the centre
• Inform the candidate in writing of the outcome of the review of the centre’s marking
• Ensure the outcome of the review of the centre’s marking is made known to the head of centre who will have the final decision if there is any disagreement on the mark to be submitted to the awarding body
• Ensure a written record of the review is kept and made available to the awarding body upon request
• Ensure the awarding body is informed if the centre does not accept the outcome of a review

Additional centre-specific procedure:

• Upon request, copies of materials will be made available to the candidate within 7 calendar days
• The deadline to request a review of marking must be made within 3 calendar days of the candidate receiving copies of the requested materials
• The process for completing the review, making any changes to marks, and informing the candidate of the outcome will be completed within 14 calendar days, all before the awarding body's deadline for the submission of marks

(Changed) Under Procedure for appealing internal assessment decisions: ...inform candidates that they will need to explain on what grounds they wish to request a review of an internally assessed mark as a review will only focus on the quality of their work in meeting the published assessment criteria (To) inform candidates that they will need to explain on what grounds they wish to request a review of an internally assessed mark as a review will only focus on the quality of work submitted

no changes