Ofqual A level modern foreign language review
Find out how we're responding to Ofqual recommendations for A level modern foreign languages qualifications in French, German and Spanish.
September 2014
Ofqual published a report with their findings on the quality of assessment in A level modern foreign languages (MFL). Recommendations were identified for each awarding organisation, to be implemented by the summer 2015 examination series.
Read a summary and the report on the Ofqual website.
December 2014
We submitted our response to Ofqual, with an action plan on how the technical report's recommendations relating specifically to Pearson A level MFL qualifications will be implemented for the summer 2015 exam series.
Our action plan included the following activities to ensure that recommendations in the technical report are addressed and implemented:
- To schedule separate standardisation meetings for the speaking units at AS (Unit 1) and A2 (Unit 3) to ensure a separation of examining teams which have clarity on the standard at each level
- To revise the contracting process for examiners of the oral units by creating two discrete teams of examiners dedicated to either AS or A2, in order to mitigate against the challenges of standardising and monitoring a large number of examiners
- Comparability meetings scheduled for February 2015, with senior examiners for all A level units at AS and A2 for French, German and Spanish, to reinforce the marking standard. The aim is to ensure a clear and coherent understanding of the expectations of the level-based marking criteria, and to establish a clear marking guidance for standardisation meetings
- A validity report to investigate additional operational data relating to marking standard and item design, which will be shared with senior examiners at the comparability meetings.
February 2015
We've arranged a series of comparability meetings with senior examiners for all A level MFL units at AS and A2, to address the action plan submitted to Ofqual in December 2014.
Senior examiners will review the marking standard for all units and make relevant amendments to the marking guidance, to reinforce a clear and concise interpretation of the level-based marking criteria.
March 2015
By the end of March 2015, updates to the marking guidance will be made available to centres via the qualification pages on our website.
August 2015
Any amendments to the mark schemes which examiners use during the marking window, as a result of the feedback and review, will be published with results and the usual release of mark schemes.
We welcome the Ofqual report and want to reassure centres that we will be implementing the outcomes from the comparability meetings with examiners for the summer 2015 series.
As part of this process, we'll ensure that we maintain the quality, reliability and validity of the assessment process to guarantee a fair and accurate awarding of grades for your candidates.