Ofqual

Ofqual publishes two reports on ICT qualifications at Level 2

Monday, 06 December 2010 11:17

Ofqual has today published two reports, one on OCR Level 2 Nationals in ICT and the other a comparability study looking at a number of qualifications in this subject.

The report on the OCR Nationals qualifications combines the findings of scrutiny work carried out on the qualifications in 2008 and the outcomes of the agreed action plan now completed by OCR.

Actions taken in response to the findings of the scrutiny work included:

Reduction in the number of guided learning hours on all units in the suite
Improved content for some of the units
Improved centre handbook with more information on assessment and grading
More information about administering the qualifications on the OCR website to help centres
Training and standardisation materials for moderators reviewed and revised

The second report published today is a study to investigate the comparability of demand in a selection of units from various level 2 ICT qualifications offered by AQA, Edexcel and OCR in 2008 and 2009.

This was an experimental piece of research to trial methodology that differed from approaches taken previously. Subsequent studies have confirmed this is appropriate methodology and it has since been further refined.

The research, carried out in parallel to the OCR Nationals scrutiny detailed in the other report published today, was based on selected units and included a relatively small amount of candidate work.

While this means that the findings should not be viewed as definitive conclusions about the qualifications, differences in the level of demand were identified within the materials that were looked at.

Candidate work from OCR National and AQA and Edexcel Applied GCSEs did not demonstrate the same level of knowledge and skills as that from AQA and Edexcel GCSEs and Diploma in Digital Applications (DiDA).

Several of the specifications considered in the comparability study have been replaced with revised versions since this work was undertaken. New GCSE ICT specifications were introduced for first teaching in September 2010, and the DiDA was up-dated with the addition of an extra unit at that time.

Ends