Regulation

Reviewing GCSE, AS, A level and Level 3 Project outcome data received from awarding organisations as part of the data exchange

Updated 24 August 2023

Applies to England

Our review of outcome data

The process for awarding organisations to submit their GCSE, AS, A level and Level 3 Project outcome data to Ofqual is outlined in the data exchange procedures.

We review all GCSE, AS, A level and Level 3 Project outcome data. Awarding organisations must inform us of instances where awards do not align with expectations. This must be accompanied by an appropriate explanation, supported by evidence. Where we require clarification of an explanation, or additional evidence to support the explanation, we will contact the awarding organisation to request it.

In reviewing the outcomes data, we will consider the rationale provided by the awarding organisation. The rationale may draw on technical and/or judgemental evidence, as outlined in the examples below:

Judgemental evidence

For GCSE, AS and A level, the task for awarders is to consider the extent to which the quality of work on the grade boundaries suggested by the statistical predictions is acceptable, given the context of the series and the protection being afforded to students where performance is lower than prior to the pandemic due to disruption. Where awarders do not consider the quality of work to be acceptable, alternative grade boundaries might be recommended (for example, if the awarders consider that the quality of work would not support public confidence in the qualifications being awarded). In such instances, the awarding organisation would be expected to provide a rationale to Ofqual based on the judgemental evidence. Where awarders consider that the quality of work at the grade boundaries suggested by the statistical predictions exceeds that of prior to the pandemic, awarding organisations will need to consider the context of the subject, whether such an increase might be expected, and/or whether there is any technical evidence to support lower boundaries being set. For the Level 3 Project, awarders will need to take into account the grade boundaries and archive scripts from the winter 2022/2023 and/or June 2019 series (where available) when reviewing the quality of work this summer.

Technical evidence

For GCSE, AS and A level, awarders will review the quality of student work at grade boundaries suggested by the statistical predictions. Where an awarding organisation has concerns about the reliability of the statistical predictions (for example, if the cohort for a particular specification is not considered representative of the national cohort or the match rate is low), an alternative approach might be taken to identifying the relevant work for awarders to review. In such instances, the awarding organisation would be expected to provide a rationale to Ofqual based on the technical evidence.

Reviewing outcomes

When reviewing outcomes data, to support comparability between awarding organisations, we will take into account any other awards within the same subject or suite of subjects made by other awarding organisations.

We review each award on a case-by-case basis, considering the specific circumstances of each award and reviewing the evidence provided in order to reach a judgement about whether the award outcomes are justified. In reaching these judgements we are guided by four key principles:

• alignment with policy intention for summer 2023 grading
• fairness for learners
• consistency in our approach to all awarding organisations
• public confidence in the results being issued