Spoken language endorsement

Ofqual have made an announcement about spoken language assessments for the new GCSE in English language. See the announcement from Ofqual

The following arrangements have been confirmed:

• Spoken language assessments will be assessed by teachers (with provision for students to be directly assessed by the exam boards where desirable or necessary) using a set of criteria that will be common across all exam boards.
• There will be three levels of achievement, “Pass”, “Merit” and “Distinction”, and one outcome indicating the required standard was not met. This will be called “Not Classified”.
• A student must meet all of the criteria in relation to a level to be awarded that level.
• Spoken language assessments may be externally assessed by exam boards and/or internally assessed by teachers, using criteria set by Ofqual.
• Exam boards will monitor the assessment of spoken language where this is undertaken by teachers by requiring schools to submit audio-visual recordings of a sample of their students.

Pearson has been part of a working group consulting with centres on proposals for the endorsement. We have welcomed this opportunity to hear teachers’ feedback and to work together to develop these proposed arrangements. Below is a video showing how this has been done, including feedback from teachers and students.

A further consultation closed on 2 July.

We will be updating our specification to reflect the new arrangements as soon as the working group has finalised all the arrangements for the spoken language endorsement. In the meantime if you have any queries, please contact us.

The GCSE 2010 English Language speaking and listening endorsement is unaffected by these announcements.