Cambridge Nationals: NEA FAQs - Supervision and 'normal curriculum time'

What do you mean by teacher supervision/teacher supervised conditions?

Refer to Section 6.3.2 of the Specification.

Work for the NEA assignments must be completed under teacher supervised conditions. This means that assessment takes place in a classroom or alternative venue where appropriate for the assignment task (e.g. Sport, where it may be at an activity site), with the teacher present at all times.

Supervision is not invigilation. A supervised classroom does not require exam conditions in that classroom or venue.

Any exceptions to teacher supervision being required will be given in the assessment guidance in the Specification and the assignments.  

If a student has a special requirement that will make it impossible for them to be in school to complete the assessment, they must seek guidance on access arrangements from our special requirements team – srteam@ocr.org.uk.

Using enough supervision to judge the authenticity of students work

The Specification states that teachers must use enough supervision to judge the authenticity of students’ work. This statement means that teachers may want to carry out additional checks to help authenticate the students’ work and their understanding of it. It does not remove the need for assignment work to be completed under teacher supervised conditions.

Can the teacher supervised conditions be after-school sessions or do they need to be in normal curriculum time?

If teachers want to hold additional sessions outside of their normal curriculum time for students to complete assignments, this is okay. The statement in Section 6.3.2 of the Specification relating to the assignments being completed in normal curriculum time, is meant to advise centres that this does not need to be ‘exam-type’ conditions, where students must all be in a specific setting (for example a school hall) at a set time and date stipulated by the exam board. In other words, we do not prescribe invigilated, timetabled sessions for completion of the assignments.

Allowing after-school sessions shouldn’t lead to students significantly exceeding the guide hours provided for the assignment. (See our question on timing for more information about time allowance for NEA assignments.)