How do I submit outcomes for the Practical Endorsement?

How do I submit outcomes for the Practical Endorsement?

You do not need to send any evidence of students’ work or detail of your assessment to Cambridge OCR. At the end of the A Level course the Lead teacher for each science will have to specify a ‘Pass’ or ‘Not Classified’ for their students. These judgements will be based on the record of the on-going judgements made by the teachers against the assessment criteria either in paper format or through the use of the PAG tracker, which is designed to help with this process. 

In addition, your head of centre is required to provide a written practical science statement. This is done using the NEA centre declaration form which can be downloaded from any of the Cambridge OCR Science qualification pages. By signing the NEA centre declaration your centre is confirming that reasonable opportunities have been provided to all students, being submitted for entry in that year for assessment, to undertake at least 12 appropriate practical activities. A digital copy of this form is emailed to centre.auth@ocr.org.uk by 15 May in the year of entry. The form is also uploaded to Teach Cambridge under Assessment > Forms. Failure to provide a written practical science statement may lead to an investigation into suspected malpractice. For further support on NEA submission please use our website. 

Do students have to meet all of the criteria specified for a practical in order to ‘pass’ the practical?

 The practical endorsement does not require students to ‘pass’ practicals. As part of tracking student progress, you are recording student competencies in the specified skills and techniques. There is no requirement for students to re-do practicals if they do not demonstrate all of the competencies identified first time around, as there are likely to be other opportunities in other practicals you are carrying out for them to demonstrate these competencies. If, near the end of the two-year course, you feel that there are students who have not achieved all the competencies as required by the assessment criteria (CPAC), or experienced some of the apparatus and techniques, then you can arrange a mutually convenient time to allow this to happen. 

What evidence must the centre submit to Cambridge OCR?

 The centre visit by the visiting monitor is the only quality assurance conducted.

How long do I have to keep student work? 

There is no requirement for student work to be securely held or formally submitted. We actively encourage students to be responsible for it. The only point at which centres are required to hold student work is in preparation for a monitoring visit, as it will form part of the evidence for the practical endorsement being implemented appropriately. During the course, it may be advantageous for students’ records to be kept centrally. However, at the end of the course students will need their work for three reasons: 

• It is the student’s independent record and belongs to them. 
• They will need their work to revise for practical-based questions in the written assessments. 
• It may be advantageous for them to take it with them to university interviews, or refer back to it during future study. 

To reiterate, centres do not need to keep the work of students who have completed the course and gained the qualification. However, it is recommended that data tracking candidate progress is kept for the lifetime of the qualification. This could be a copy of the tracker for each year’s candidates.