Cambridge Nationals: Reduction in assessment for 2020/21 and 2021/22

Reduction in assessment and Teacher Assessed Grades (TAGs)

For students certificating in summer 2021: The ‘dropped’ unit assessment(s) are now covered by the arrangements for teacher assessed grades (TAGs) at qualification level. You should determine a grade for the whole qualification using the OCR guidance on teacher assessed grades.

For students certificating in summer 2022: Your students are eligible for a unit level teacher assessed grade for any assessments which they would have planned to take this year (doing the assessment by 31 August 2021). This includes those units where you had originally planned to take the assessment but then decided to drop the unit assessment as part of the adaptations below, published in December.

• More information about this can be found in our article Cambridge Nationals and Cambridge Technicals: What teacher assessed grades in summer 2021 mean for adaptations (reduction in assessment) 
• More information about arrangements for students not certificating in 2020/21 can be found in our article Arrangements for Cambridge Nationals and Cambridge Technicals students not certificating in summer 2021.

Reduction in assessment for 2021/22 (Updated July 2021)

Ofqual and the Department for Education have launched a joint consultation on the adaptations to be made for assessments in 2021/22 for our vocational and technical qualifications (VTQs) such as Cambridge Nationals and Cambridge Technicals. We know you want clarity on next year so you can start to plan ahead.

We’d like to share the approach we propose to take for Cambridge Nationals and Cambridge Technicals, which will be subject to the final outcome of the consultation.

With the approval of the DfE, we are allowing assessments of moderated units to be reduced where disruption to teaching has been so great that it is necessary.

Schools and colleges are best placed to decide if they need to use this adaption. We recommend you plan to take all assessments intended for 2021/22, however also identify in your planning which assessment you will not take in 2021/22 if the impact of the disruption caused by the pandemic means you require it. All content must be taught as it is vital for your students’ wider learning and progression. We will ask schools and colleges to provide assurances of this.

It’s in the students interests to take and bank assessments where possible, however, these adaptations are there if you need them and can apply to all students due to complete assessments during 2021/22.

If you’re teaching a course with optional and mandatory units, we will require you to prioritise the assessment of mandatory units. Any reduction in the assessment of moderated mandatory units, including if you’re teaching a course with only mandatory units, should be as a last resort where all other options to complete them have been exhausted.

By reducing the amount of time you and your students spend on the assessments of moderated units, we hope this adaptation gives more time to focus on teaching and learning.

Students certificating in 2022 must take assessments in 2021/22 and we recommend you bank assessments as soon as you can.

We’ll continue to assess knowledge and understanding in the examined units for which there is no option to reduce the assessment.

For both Cambridge Nationals and Cambridge Technicals, we will determine the qualification-level result for students taking account of the reduction. You will not provide teacher assessed grades for these units.

Creative iMedia, Health and Social Care, ICT, Sport Science, Sport Studies

For students taking assessments in 2021/22, and where disruption to teaching has been such that it is necessary, assessment can now be reduced by one optional moderated unit, or, where circumstances require it, one mandatory moderated unit as a last resort.

All students certificating in 2021/2022 must take assessment in 2021/22 and it is important where the examined unit has not been 'taken' (either by sitting the assessment, by being eligible for a deferred assessed grade for summer 2020 or eligible for a unit TAG from summer 2021), it is taken in 2021/22. If your students are eligible for a deferred assessed grade for the exam from summer 2020 or a unit TAG from summer 2021, it is considered 'taken'.

Where you have a choice of mandatory moderated units and optional moderated units to reduce, the assessment of the mandatory moderated unit must be prioritised. A reduction can only include mandatory moderated assessment if the student is certificating in 2021/22 and does not have any optional moderated assessments left to take. For students certificating beyond 2021/22, you cannot reduce the mandatory moderated unit.

Can more than one adaptation apply?

Yes, students can have a deferred assessed grade for units which could not be assessed in summer 2020, a unit TAG from summer 2021 and, if the impact of the disruption caused by the pandemic means you require it, complete a reduced number of assessments overall. This will depend on the number of units left to take. You can also apply the unit level adaptations to the unit(s) students are completing during 2021/22.

Please see our infographic with examples of how this adaptation could apply for students certificating in 2022. 

Engineering

For students taking assessments in 2021/22 and where disruption to teaching has been such that it is necessary, assessment can now be reduced by one moderated unit.

All students certificating in 2021/2022 must take assessment in 2021/22 and it is important where the examined unit has not been 'taken' (either by sitting the assessment, by being eligible for a deferred assessed grade for summer 2020 or eligible for a unit TAG from summer 2021), it is taken in 2021/22. If your students are eligible for a deferred assessed grade for the exam from summer 2020 or a unit TAG from summer 2021, it is considered 'taken'.

Can more than one adaptation apply?

Yes, students can have a deferred assessed grade for units which could not be assessed in summer 2020, a unit TAG from summer 2021 and, if the impact of the disruption caused by the pandemic means you require it, complete a reduced number of assessments overall. This will depend on the number of units left to take. You can also apply the unit level adaptations to the unit(s) students are completing during 2021/22.

Please see our infographic with examples of how this adaptation could apply for students certificating in 2022. 

Enterprise and Marketing, Child Development

For students taking assessments in 2021/22 and where disruption to teaching has been such that it is necessary, assessment can now be reduced by one moderated unit.

All students certificating in 2021/2022 must take assessment in 2021/22 and it is important where the examined unit has not been 'taken' (either by sitting the assessment, by being eligible for a deferred assessed grade for summer 2020 or eligible for a unit TAG from summer 2021), it is taken in 2021/22. If your students are eligible for a deferred assessed grade for the exam from summer 2020 or a unit TAG from summer 2021, it is considered 'taken'.

Can more than one adaptation apply?

Yes, students can have a deferred assessed grade for units which could not be assessed in summer 2020, a unit TAG from summer 2021 and, if the impact of the disruption caused by the pandemic means you require it, complete a reduced number of assessments overall. This will depend on the number of units left to take. You can also apply the unit level adaptations to the unit(s) students are completing during 2021/22.

Please see our infographic with examples of how this adaptation could apply for students certificating in 2022. 

Information Technologies

There is no reduction in assessment for Cambridge Nationals Information Technologies as it only has two units.

However, where a student was due to take an assessment in summer 2020, or summer 2021, students are able to have a deferred assessed grade for that unit from summer 2020 or a unit teacher assessed grade from summer 2021, leaving the assessment for one unit to complete.

We are considering whether further adaptations are needed for this qualification. We will keep you informed about any further adaptations.

Please see our infographic with examples of how the deferred assessed grades for summer 2020 or unit teacher assessed grades for summer 2021 apply to Information Technologies: