Coursework moderating. How have you dealt with this?

[chickorita]

My son is currently studying for GCSE's. I did consider IGCSE's, but the schools that are willing to accept him as a private candidate do not do them.

English, History and Physics all carry coursework, or a controlled assessment; which the schools won't moderate for external candidates.

So, I'm wondering how others have managed to get coursework moderated.

I'm aware of the likes of Oxford home schooling, but their prices are a bit on the steep side.

My understanding is that as long as they are with the exam board, it does not matter which exams - they should be prepared to allow your DS to do any exam from that board even if they do not offer it themselves.

Have you tried contacting the exam board. I know some used to mark the coursework for you as part of the private candidate arrangement.

However, controlled assessment is a different kettle of fish as it is supposed to be given/prepared and done in school. Could you ask one of the teachers individually whether they would be willing to mark it for a fee? (It doesn't usually take long to mark a piece of work so shouldn't be too much - you never know, they might do it for nothing! I would for an HE family because I know how difficult it is.)

Hi there, I'm just sorting out doing my A levels as private candidate so I'm all fresh on this!

When I did the GCSE Biology, there was a controlled assesment or ISA (in school assessment). As a private candidate this took the form of an experiment done at home with the resulting data then put into coursework form - ie my aim, my relevent knowledge, my method, experiment, results, and conclusion.

This coursework was authenticated/moderated but not marked by my distance tutor. When it came time to sit the ISA test, I was allowed to take only my result table of my experiment into the exam and answer generic questions on it ie what would I do differently, was it a valid test etc.

On the others as far as I've been told, the exam board marks it. It does need to be monitored to prevent cheating, but the monitor/authenticator doesn't mark it.

For finding moderators, I think the best thing to do is find a willing teacher/ex-teacher to do the signing.

Just to clarify - got a bit distracted there! - you need to find someone to oversee the production and moderation of the coursework. As PP says, you could approach subject teachers at the school he's registered to take the exams, have a chat round any HE groups you're involved in, see if there are any friends who would be willing.

The big thing is the moderator/authenticator form is literally just a statement that the authenticator has seen enough drafts to verify it is the work of your DC, and that they do not suspect any plagiarism or undue outside help. Any person excluding relatives can sign that. If you want hints, tips, advice etc you're better off finding an accomodating teacher.

Hi

I think controlled assessments in GCSEs are a huge problem for home educators. Last I heard Oxford and NEC were scaling back GCSEs for private candidates because they couldn't get round the issue of direct supervision of controlled assessments.

www.nec.ac.uk/care/category-browse?usca_p=t&category_id=8280

How much of the GCSE course have you already covered?

Thank you all for your response, which has been helpful.

Hanknits I got in touch with an exam centre who are prepared to moderate the controlled assessment for an additional fee.

Thanks for the link Fiona, and yes,it has has become all too clear how problematic controlled assessments are.

My DS is going to do GCSE's in Maths and Physics now only, and he will take IGCSE's in the rest.