Important update to June 2019 assessment for BTEC Nationals in IT
Find out about the important changes we've made to the June 2019 assessments.
Pearson has been made aware of alleged malpractice issues related to the external assessment of the BTEC Nationals in IT, Unit 2 Creating System to Manage Information, during the recent January assessment.
The instances that have been reported to us include where extracts of the live paper, discussions between candidates, and examples of learners colluding have been posted on online platforms. These cases have been, or are in the process of being fully investigated by our malpractice team, and the affected centres are aware.
What changes have been made?
In order to prevent any recurrence, and to ensure you and your learners are confident about the level of monitoring required, for the summer 2019 assessment we are introducing some improvements that aim to reduce instances of malpractice as follows:
- Introduction of Invigilators to supervise the externally set assessment. The invigilator must not be the class teacher, or a member of the of the IT/Computing department who could provide assistance with completing the assessment.
- Centres need to display and follow the JCQ ‘Warning to Candidates’ notice which can be accessed here and the ‘No Mobile Phones’ notice, which can be accessed here.
All sessions must run in accordance with the guidelines outlined in the Instructions for Conducting External Assessments (ICEA) document (PDF, 0.8MB) and updated Administrative Support Guide. A full list of points can be found in these documents, but we would like to draw your attention to the following:
- During the sessions, candidates are not allowed access to any work they may have created prior to the examination or between sessions.
- Candidates must not have access to email or internet during the examination (which includes mobile devices).
- Teachers must not discuss the details of the examination content with candidates directly.
- Candidates are not allowed to remove anything from the examination room between sessions (which includes copies of the assessment or the exam paper).
- Candidates must be advised that collusion between themselves and other candidates between sessions relating to this examination content is not permitted, throughout the examination window.
- Teachers may deliver topics between the assessment sessions but they should not use the live assessment as the basis for this.
Pearson is committed to ensuring that the integrity of our qualifications is maintained by ensuring that all our external assessments are valid, reliable and fair to all. Throughout every series we monitor customer feedback, social media and our marking data, in order to reflect on all aspects of the assessment. Throughout this process we have reviewed, and will continue to review the issues that have arisen and will respond appropriately.
