Here at NCFE, we know how vital exams officers are. Without you, it would be impossible to run and administer our exams successfully, so we work hard to make it easy for you to work with us.
On this page you’ll find all the key information to support you in your role, including timetables, a key dates calendar and FAQs, as well as monthly updates to ensure you’re kept up to date with any changes, events and training opportunities.
Below you’ll find your monthly update for July 2024, including key upcoming dates for your diary for reasonable adjustments, post-results and assessment and delivery support, and more.
Now that the summer series of T Level assessments has finished, and the new model of V Certs has been delivered for the first time, we wanted to share some key information on the next steps and results release. Please ensure you check our results webpage to ensure you have all the information you need.
At the end of 2023, we told you about the government’s measures to ensure the timely delivery of vocational technical qualifications (VTQ) results for learners in 2024 and beyond. Our plan and timelines for these arrangements can be found on our VTQ timely results webpage, and you can also view the full list of NCFE qualifications in scope.
Following this, from summer 2025 onwards, we’ll be bringing forward the completion date for EQA reviews for VTQs to 30 June. When arranging your EQA review, please ensure that EQA activity has been completed by the end of June to ensure your learners receive timely results for the qualifications in scope. If you have any queries, please contact [email protected].
We recently communicated an update to our fees and pricing for 2024-25, and also wanted to make you aware that we're introducing a late registration fee from 1 August 2024 for all of our qualifications (with the exception of V Certs and Functional Skills, and T Level late fees which are calculated differently). As this fee will apply to any new learner registrations with a learner start date of 1 August 2024 onwards, if you have any outstanding learner registrations to make, we recommend that you make these before 1 August 2024. Find out more.
To help learners achieve in Functional Skills and better understand the contexts in our assessments, we’re introducing new vocabulary lists with all our Entry Level maths assessments. The vocabulary lists will be available for all Entry K+Level maths assessments booked from 1 September 2024. If you have any questions or would like more information, please email [email protected].
We’re making updates to the Assessor Guidance document for SLC, which will include support and guidance on how to lay out the SLC task and brief that centres design. The updated guidance will give you the flexibility to contextualise the SLC assessment component, while ensuring adequate evidence is provided to demonstrate your learners’ understanding of the task. Keep an eye out for the new guidance on our qualification pages throughout July.
JCQ is looking for your views on the use of AI in assessments, and their recent survey, AI Use in Assessments: Protecting the Integrity of Qualifications, has been extended to Friday 19 July. Your feedback will be used to help improve future versions of the guidance that JCQ produces on this matter, and it should take no more than 5 minutes. Complete the survey.
We’ve launched new practice papers for Functional Skills English:
Paper-based practice assessments are now available across all levels in Reading and Writing, supporting learners to prepare for their Functional Skills English assessment.
Onscreen practice papers are available at Levels 1 and 2, allowing learners to prepare for their assessment using our onscreen platform, Surpass.
Each paper has been carefully chosen by our Assessment team to provide an authentic assessment experience. Find out more.
Find out more about fees that are applied if learners are booked under incorrect themes on our CACHE qualifications.
New assessor and internal quality assurance (IQA) training
We’ve got several new upcoming Assessor and IQA training events, which provide a great opportunity to meet with assessment and IQA professionals and like-minded practitioners to expand your knowledge and understanding of IQA, assessment, and our qualifications. Book onto our Assessor or IQA events today.
Functional Skills training
Join our Provider Development team in July for their upcoming CPD sessions, aimed at Functional Skills Maths and English Teachers. These sessions include ‘Error analysis for effective feedback’ for maths delivery staff and ‘Fun(ctional) English)’. Sign up now.
NCFE’s Professional Development Week
Our second NCFE Professional Development Week recently took place and was a huge success, with a range of informative CPD sessions covering topics from AI in education to supporting SEND learners. If you missed it or were unable to make the sessions, don't worry! You can recap all the sessions here.
We’ll be creating a series of bite-size videos, some of which are already available on our YouTube channel, detailing some of the common themes or areas of difficulty, and will also provide updates to our Portal User Guide, accordingly.
In acknowledgement of the high turnaround of centre staff dealing with NCFE’s administrative assessment processes, we would request that any centre with new or inexperienced staff, who may require support in enacting any of our Portal-related activities, contact [email protected], where one of the team will be glad to help signpost, integrate or demonstrate these processes directly.
You can find the upcoming post results deadlines for assessments for our CACHE and T Level qualifications in the Key Dates Schedule.
We understand that there are times when a student or provider feels that a result is at variance with their reasonable expectations. Therefore, there is a range of post-results options available to providers to support you and your students.
Requests for reviews of marking or access to scripts can be submitted by the provider on behalf of the student (with their consent), however before doing so, please ensure you’re familiar with our Enquiries about Results and Assessment Decisions Policy.
More information on post-results services can be found here.
Visit our assessment support page where you'll find everything you need to support you with assessment, including policies, forms and guidance on online assessment, remote invigilation, assessment and results queries, appeals, certificates, special considerations, access arrangements and reasonable adjustments, and much more.
Visit our delivery support page where we have over 1000 informative and engaging learning resources. Here, you'll find all you need to deliver our qualifications and support your learners.
View our Qualifications for Specific Delivery (QSID) document which provides qualification-specific instructions relating to the administration of external assessments for NCFE qualifications.
The Exams Office, in conjunction with their training partner Exams Training, offers a range of face-to-face training events delivered by industry experts, supported by high quality resources and held at 4/5-star venues across England. Events are available for:
Learn more about how you can keep up to date with your training
If you require a reasonable adjustment submission and/or paper modification, please ensure they’re booked before the below deadlines:
For more information on reasonable adjustments and how to submit an application, visit this page.
You can find the upcoming post results deadlines for assessments for our CACHE and T Level qualifications in the Key Dates Schedule.
