Assessment approach for Essential Skills, Vocational and Technical Qualifications
07/05/2020
At OCN NI we recognise that learners working towards Essential Skills, Vocational and Technical qualifications need reassurance about how their qualifications will be assessed and awarded this summer. This comes on the back of the Economy Minister Diane Dodd’s statement on 8th April, which confirmed that “... it will not be possible to proceed with scheduled assessments and exams for vocational qualifications over the coming months.” Furthermore, on 23rd April 2020 it was also announced that learners expected to receive a grade for Vocational and Technical Qualifications during the Summer 2020 period should as far as possible, receive a calculated grade.
Over the past few weeks, the qualifications regulators in Northern Ireland, England and Wales have been working closely with awarding organisations, government departments, and the wider sector to agree a new framework of extraordinary measures. This new framework is based, as far as possible, on the principle of fairness that all learners taking such qualifications will, wherever possible, receive a result that fairly reflects the work that they have put in and their level of attainment, and where relevant, maintain the same broad levels of comparability with achievement rates of previous years.
Having reviewed the new guidance set by the qualification’s regulators, OCN NI has produced guidance documentation to help our centres come to appropriate judgements. These guidance documents have been attached below, and centres are required to follow them in making submissions. To support centres through the process OCN NI will also be hosting a number of webinar sessions. For further information on these events, please see the OCN NI website www.ocnni.org.uk/events.
Our priority is to ensure that learners receive fair and equitable results over the coming months, that reflect their efforts to date and allow for due consideration of progression pathways, whether that be to further study or into employment. With this in mind, we have attached a separate letter which you may want to distribute to all OCN NI learners.
Thank you for your patience and understanding during these extraordinary and unprecedented times and remember that the team at OCN NI are here to support you, and answer any questions or concerns relating to the delivery and assessment of our qualifications.
With best wishes,
Martin Flynn
Chief Executive Officer