Ofqual publishes report into the introduction of controlled assessment
Friday, 07 October 2011 09:16
Ofqual, together with its regulatory partners in Wales (DfES) and Northern Ireland (CCEA), has today (Friday 7 October 2011) published an independent report into the introduction of controlled assessment within GCSEs.
Controlled assessment was introduced to GCSEs in 2009 as a replacement for traditional coursework. Controlled assessment is designed to ensure that the work students produce is their own. It is carried out under supervised conditions.
The Evaluation of the Introduction of Controlled Assessment report has been produced by Ipsos MORI. The report was commissioned by the three regulators to explore teachers’ experience of controlled assessment.
The report’s key findings are as follows:
- Overall the report concludes that teachers are supportive of the principles underlying controlled assessment.
- Many teachers believe that controlled assessment reduces the risk of malpractice.
- However teachers did state that controlled assessment has been difficult to implement.
- Controlled assessment was considered to be unsuitable for modern foreign languages by some respondents.
- The nine subjects included in the report were business studies, design and technology: resistant materials, English, English Language, English Literature, French, geography, history and ICT.
In response to the findings of the research, Ofqual has already written to awarding organisations to communicate the recommendations relating to guidance and support for centres. Scrutiny research covering controlled assessment is continuing. Ofqual is conducting further work to understand the issues around languages specifically. Findings will be published in due course.
Download Evaluation of the Introduction of Controlled Assessment [PDF, 1.6MB].
