Assessment and submission guidance

On this page you will find the key information needed to will help you with the teaching, assessment and submission for either the Foundation Project (P101) or the Higher Project (P201). 

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Both qualifications are designed as a flexible and accessible framework to create a formal assessment experience for unique programmes of study or bespoke courses that schools want to deliver, or as a complement and expansion to the schools curriculum offer, and is currently being used by UK and International schools with students aged 13-14 (UK Year 9 typically sat within KS3) and 14-16 (UK Year 10 and 11 known as KS4). Schools that implement earlier commencement of KS4 qualifications have introduced a project qualification (PQ) in order to introduce a formal assessment experience to the first year of their KS4 programme, whilst students who are unable to access the full suite of qualifications at KS4, or particular qualifications within KS4, have used a PQ to ensure their students complete a formal qualification built around a bespoke curriculum for those students. 

Key information that you need to know:

  • Both levels of qualification act as an exciting and motivating method of study to help students to build their transferable skill profile to progress across all their studies.
  • Both levels of qualifications attract a recommended 60 guided learning hours (GLHs).
  • Both qualifications allow students to explore a topic of their choice that does not have to be linked to studies in school and can, therefore, be very engaging and valued for a wide range of students.
  • Both levels of qualification support students in achieving a variety of outcomes such as carrying out a performance, making an artefact or investigating a research question.
  • The qualifications can be; taught/mentored in after school clubs; used as targeted enrichment for gifted and talented students to achieve extra qualifications; or for students who find some mainstream curriculum topics challenging but benefit from studying topics of individual interest to them.
  • Our Foundation project qualification (FPQ) is graded as follows:

            Grade A* equivalent to a grade 3 at GCSE

            Grade A equivalent to a grade 2 at  GCSE

            Grade B equivalent to a grade 1-2 at GCSE

            Grade U equivalent to grade U at GCSE.

  • Our Higher project qualification (HPQ) is graded as follows:

            Grade A* equivalent to a grade 9 at GCSE

            Grade A equivalent to a grade 7 at GCSE

            Grade B equivalent to a grade 5 or 6 at GCSE

            Grade C equivalent to a grade 4 at GCSE

            Grade U equivalent to a grade U at GCSE

The ethos of PQs’ is that students choose a topic to explore that is of interest to them, and that some of the project will be carried out independently. Teachers equally might want to develop their own course and content, and all students complete the course but submit their own piece of work through a PQ assessment. 

Some of the required skills for this qualification will need to be taught. A suggestion is to set aside 20 GLHs to do this. This teaching time is a great opportunity to formally teach students skills that support their wider academic study, such as research, time management, organisation or even resiliance. As an example, for students approaching a dissertation style PQ, teaching might cover:

  • how to construct a bibliography (formal academic referencing)
  • how to judge if a research source is reliable (spotting fake news and information sources)
  • how to complete a project proposal form and activity log (project and time management).

Students completing the FPQ would expect to receive on-going support throughout their project or throughout the course, whilst a HPQ would suit more independent study and activity by the students. Assigning a nominated mentor from the staff body to each student  or small groups of students can provide a simulation of the mentoring support students receive at level 3 (EPQ) and beyond onto degree level study.

Centres can choose to timetable the qualification within normal school hours, and we know many of our centres do this across a 1 or 2 year programme, or provide access to the qualification as extra-curricular activity, the key message is that the qualification can be used to fit into and around any schools’ curriculum offer.

The timetabling of a PQ is very flexible, with the only requirement that sufficient GLHs are available to the students. 

Many centres enter whole cohorts of students as they would a traditional core GCSE course, but for both of our PQs, centres are only required to submit a sample number of student assessed work for moderation by the examination board.

The annual submission date for all centres to submit the student’s evidence are in mid May, which is the same as many of our project based assessment for subjects like D&T or Art, Craft and Design. Certificates are then awarded as part of the summer series, which for GCSE age students is in August of the same year. Exact dates are published on the Pearson project website. 

There are two clear approaches to PQs.

  1. Students choose to approach the PQ through their own topic of choice, and choose from the choice of 4 which outcome they would like to create.
  2. The teacher develops a programme of study through which a class of students complete their guided learning hours, before students complete either the chosen outcome from the choice of 4, or the student chooses which outcome they wish to create. With this teacher led approach, students need to work from their own working title, but they can all work within a chosen topic or unit approach, which has been decided by the teacher. 

Top tips for a successful PQ

Choose a subject of interest to the students that both excites and motivates them, and look at ways to connect the chosen outcome (dissertation, investigation, research or artefact) to the subject. For example, a social enterprise topic could lead to each student creating their own charitable activity which generates positive impact for a charitable cause of their own choice. 

Teach students how to carry out relevant research, and give them the opportunity to build up evidence of the sources they find in a bibliography. This can include opportunities to discuss the validity of certain types of sources of research, and gives students a chance to comment on their usefulness/reliability, which is an important skill for their future.

Provide time and support to complete their chosen outcome. This could range from students creating artefacts in a workshop or art studio, writing and practicing a performance in a hall or dance studio, conducting and analysing research with real people in the local community, or writing a detailed dissertation which chances to discussion and debate their position with peers. 

Review both the process of doing the project and the outcome in an evaluation. Throughout and at the end of any PQ, it is important to be reflective and critical of what the student finds, reads, creates and concludes. This will require ongoing reference back to the working title, commission or brief that they started with, but enhances the opportunity for students to personally learn valuable skills for their future. 

The reflective work is just as important as the actual project work for both PQs. The project qualifications encourages candidates to explain the process of their project in as much detail as the actual completed outcome, and marks are awarded within the assessment grid for both of these forms of evidence. Submission of just the actual outcome of the project, however good they may be, will not be enough to secure high marks. Stating and reflecting on the process undertaken to arrive at the outcome is equally important in this qualification, and we encourage teachers or PQ leads to ensure there is equal time committed to this assessment requirement.

  • A Project Proposal form and activity log ( all forms are available to download from the Pearson project website.) This is evidence for assessment objective 1.
  • A record of sources used and, for level 2, a discussion of the reliability / validity of the information found and used. This is evidence for assessment objective 2.
  • The completed outcome. This is evidence for assessment objective.
  • An evaluation of both the process and final outcome. This is evidence for assessment objective 4.

 

For teachers with experience of marking project-based work, and for those more comfortable with marking written examination papers, we are confident that you will find the process of marking at your centre both accessible irrespective of your subject background, but also scalable to any size of cohort, whether you have 10 or 100. 

When assessing and awarding marks for P101 and P201 centres are advised to follow the guidance provided for the awarding of marks in mark band 1 or mark band 2 for the assessment objectives as provided in the assessment grids when awarding marks. Here are some tips to help you identify the most appropriate mark:

  • Apply a holistic approach and select the appropriate mark band for each assessment objective. For each of the four assessment objectives marks can be awarded in either mark band 1 or mark band 2.  Awarding marks in mark band 1 for 1 objective does not exclude the awarding of marks in mark band 2 for others. Full marks at the top of mark band 2 should only be awarded if all requirements are met as prescribed in the assessment grids.
  • Add together marks for the four separate assessment objectives to get a total mark. 

There is no requirement for candidates to undertake an oral presentation covering relevant aspects of the process and outcome of the candidate’s project, as there is for the level 3 EPQ. If centres wish to carry this stage out, it can be very rewarding for the students and a great way to showcase the diverse learning outcomes that students have achieved throughout the PQ. 

It is recommended that centres carry out internal standardisation when marking projects for final submission, and therefore working in a small team to work together and build a confident approach to marking your students.

All projects need to be submitted with a candidate record sheet providing information about the candidate, and an assessor record sheet that shows the marks awarded for each assessment objective, assessor feedback and total marks. These documents are available to download from the Pearson’s project website under ‘course materials.’

All required documents are available from the Pearson’s project website including examples of course work materials and their assessment and teaching support and training materials.