A level Geography Online Coursework Submission Summer 2022

Read guidance document on submitting marks via Edexcel Online:

You may need to amend your Edexcel Online access to allow you to submit NEA marks online. To do this your Exams Officer will need to go into your Edexcel Online account and under ‘profiles’ tick the box next to ‘Coursework and Portfolio’. If they also tick the ‘Results’ box you will be able to view your E9 moderator report on results day.

After submitting marks online you should print out a copy of the marks for your own records.

If you have already submitted a mark but it needs to be amended (eg because of an administrative error), please email courseworkmarks@pearson.com with details of the student and amended point score.

Edexcel Online Account

To submit coursework marks on Edexcel Online and coursework samples using the Learning Work Transfer portal you need a valid Edexcel Online account linked to your centre. If you need to be set up with an Edexcel Online account you must speak to your Exams Officer – they are the only person who can set up your account.

You can log in to Edexcel Online to check your account details via this link:

If you've forgotten your Edexcel Online password you can generate a new one. Your username is usually your email address.

How to submit non-examination assessment: Independent Investigation samples online to Pearson

In order to help with teacher and moderator workload, and to ensure our commitment to working more digitally, we have developed a new digital way for teachers to send us their NEA/coursework samples.

Learner Work Transfer (LWT)

The new system is called the Learner Work Transfer portal (LWT). We are going to start using this for the first time in A level Geography in the Summer 2022 assessment series. This means that all A level Geography NEA samples will need to be submitted to us via this portal and there is no hard copy submission of NEA samples in Summer 2022.

We have created a guidance document for teachers to provide more information and guidance on the process. The document outlines the different ways in which you can submit samples online.

Digital submission options

It is very important that you decide who in your school will be responsible for submitting the coursework samples to us online. You also need to decide which format you will use to submit NEA samples to us online. There are two main options for the format of samples – more detailed guidance for each option is provided in the guidance document above.

How to use the Learner Work Transfer portal

This video shows you how to log in and navigate the Learner Work Transfer portal:

When you log in to the LWT portal you will see a choice of Standards Verification (BTEC) and Examination/Moderation (GCSE and A levels). A level Geography non-examination assessment: Independent Investigation is internally assessed so you need to select 'Examination/Moderation' then ‘Moderation’.

If you are unable to use the LWT portal once logged in to Edexcel Online please make sure that a) your Edexcel Online account is linked to your centre and b) you have ‘basic access’ selected in your Edexcel Online profile – your exams officer can help you with this.

This video explains how to use the Learner Work Transfer portal to submit samples of work to us for moderation:

Supported file types

There are many file formats that are accepted by the LWT system. However, for A Level Geography, since the report will need to be typed up, we highly recommend that students use a text editor (like Word or something similar) or Power Point. These programs will enable students to add images and tables/data on to their coursework as necessary. They will also be able to convert their work to pdf easily. For a list of acceptable file formats, please see here. Highly recommended file formats for A Level Geography: .doc .docx .oft .pfd .pdf .ppt .pptx .pub .odt .txt 

File naming requirements

When you create a file for each sampled student then each file should use the following naming convention:

[centre #]_[candidate number #]_[surname]_[first letter of first name]

For example, Jane Smith with candidate number 7890 at centre 12345 would have work in a folder titled: 12345_7890_Smith_J

If you are uploading more than one document for a student, please adopt the following naming approach:

• 12345_7890_Smith_S_Coursework (for the coursework itself)
• 12345_7890_Smith_S_Marking Sheet (for the Independent Investigation Marking Sheet)  
• 12345_7890_Smith_S_Independent Investigation (for the Independent Investigation Form)

You can choose to either zip the folder and upload or upload the three files/documents individually under the student's name in LWT

How to identify the sample of work that needs to be submitted online for moderation

The list of students required for sampling will not be available until mid-April.

When you log in to Edexcel Online and go to the coursework mark submission screen there will be a tick next to the candidates' names that need to be submitted for moderation. You also need to submit the work of the highest- and lowest-scoring candidates if they are not part of the requested sample.

You will also be able to see the names of the students required for sampling when you log in to the Learner Work Transfer Portal.
If, for some reason, you're unable to submit the work for a particular student, you should submit the work of an equivalent student with a similar mark.

The number of students required in the sample will depend on the number of entries you have for A level Geography. For centres with small entry sizes (usually 10 or less) you will be asked to submit samples for all students. For centres with larger entries a randomly generated sub-sample of students will be requested. You must also submit the work of the highest and lowest scoring students if they are not part of the requested sample.

How to deal with missing work or withdrawn candidates

If you are required to submit a NEA sample for a student whose work is missing then please submit the work of a different student of similar ability via LWT.

If you have withdrawn the entry of a student and they are still showing on the Learner Work Transfer portal then please use the ‘status’ drop down to mark the learner as absent on LWT. If they are part of the requested sample please submit another student’s work of a similar ability.

Forms to be completed for A level Geography NEA

All students must:

• sign the Independent investigation mark sheet
• complete the Geography independent investigation form before starting the independent investigation

Both forms should be signed by the student and teacher. You should only submit to us the forms for the requested student sample. These forms are available on our website and were updated for use with the Learner Work Transfer portal:

If you have used our A level Geography coursework advisory service you should send the moderator a copy of the feedback proforma(s) you received. Please note this is not a compulsory service so only send this if you used the service.

JCQ notice to centres – informing candidates of their centre assessed marks

Centres have, for many years, been required to have a written internal appeals procedure relating to internal assessment decisions. As part of this procedure, candidates must be told the mark given by their centre for a centre-assessed component/unit. This applies to A level Geogarphy non-examination assessment (NEA).

Advice on marking NEA/coursework before submission

The following FAQs provide advice on marking and standards for A level Geography teachers.

Where can I find exemplar work?

• We've made available examples of marked work to help exemplify the mark scheme level descriptors. You'll find it helpful to look at this range of exemplars to gain a better understanding of the marking criteria.
• There are currently exemplars on the A level qualification page under exemplar materials, past training content and in the examiner reports from previous exam series where coursework has been submitted.

Do I need to carry out internal standardisation of marking?

• In large centres with multiple teachers, it's essential that you carry out internal moderation before you finalise the NEA/coursework marks. You should sample double-mark, selecting mark points within the same level from different teaching sets. The double marking should continue until you are satisfied that you have achieved comparability.
• Small schools with only one teacher need not carry out internal standardisation.

How should I annotate the work?

• It's important that you annotate the coursework and/or the Independent investigation mark sheet to show the moderator how you have interpreted the mark scheme and applied it to the students' work.
• If you are marking your students work by hand before scanning in (LWT option 1) you should mark and annotate the work in ink. Initial marking may be done in pencil until you are satisfied that you are applying the marking criteria accurately and consistently; please then go over your marks and comments in ink. The colour of the ink is not important provided it is visibly different to the student’s work.
• If you are annotating the work directly then indications in the margins as to where specific mark scheme strands/levels are perceived would be helpful.
• If you are marking your students work electronically (option 2) then please annotate the work digitally using appropriate software such as Adobe Professional. Please check that the annotations are visible on the sample before submitting online via the Learner Work Transfer portal.

Should we be marking NEA/oursework more leniently because of disruption due to covid?

• Earlier this year the DfE and Ofqual announced that in Summer 2022 exam boards will set the grade boundaries based on a profile that reflects a midpoint between 2021 and pre-pandemic grading (Summer 2018/2019).
• This process will be handled by exam boards during the awarding process and teachers should not attempt to mark NEA/coursework more leniently than in previous years.
• Teachers should not attempt to grade NEA/coursework and should focus on applying the marking criteria in the published mark scheme in a consistent manner.

What are the grade boundaries?

• You should not attempt to grade the work; you should be marking the work by applying the marking criteria in a consistent manner.
• The NEA/coursework grades will be awarded at the end of each examination series using the standard code of practice awarding process.
• Grade boundaries are always published on the grade boundaries page of our website. They will be available to download from results day.

Where can I get further guidance on A level Geography NEA/coursework?

I hope you've found this update useful. If you have any further questions about the submission of non-examination assessment/coursework, please do not hesitate to contact me.