Cambridge Nationals: NEA FAQs - Use of templates and checklists

What templates can I give to my students to use when completing the assignments?

Refer to Section 6.3 of the Specification

Where we think a template is useful for a task, we have provided it in the set assignment. Teachers must not give students any other templates to use when completing their live assignments. If moderators see that students in a cohort have all used a template that is not provided in the assignment, they may report this as suspected malpractice, particularly if it gives additional prompts to help meet the requirements of the task.

Students may create their own templates to record their evidence. They may also use templates accessed from other sources provided that:

• The source is referenced.
• The template is not pre-populated with responses for which the students may gain marks.

These may take any appropriate form.

Can I provide a checklist for students to use with the assignments?

Teachers should avoid developing anything for students that may constitute improper assistance (over-direction).

However, if a teacher wants to list all of the factual ‘You must’ bullet points from the tasks for students to tick-off as they complete them, this would be OK. If it included any additional information or prompts, this would likely be classed as over-direction and reported as suspected malpractice.

Best practice would be for teachers to ask students to create a checklist themselves if they would find it useful. It would not be a requirement for students to submit this self-created checklist for OCR moderation.