V Certs FAQs

'V Cert' is our brand name for our technical award qualifications for schools. We have developed these qualifications in line with the technical guidance provided by the Department for Education (DfE) and these qualifications have been approved to count on KS4 Performance Tables.

Each V Cert technical award is equivalent to one GCSE, and contains both internally and externally assessed elements.

V Certs are recognised by DfE as Technical Awards.

Schools can deliver any existing age-appropriate qualification; see Section 96 for further information. However, if you're looking for qualifications that are included in the Key Stage 4 performance tables then you will need to choose a qualification from the list published by the DfE.

Our V Cert technical awards are on the DfE list and each is equivalent to one GCSE.

The Department for Education (DfE) approves qualifications for KS4 performance tables, and our V Cert technical awards are approved up until 2026. 

The full list of technical awards approved for KS4 performance tables can be found on this page on their website. 

The list of all qualifications that attract performance points can be found on the DfE website. These are updated every year.

All Level 1/2 V Cert Technical Awards are graded from Level 1 Pass through to Level 2 Distinction* and are equivalent to GCSE grades 1 to 8.5. See the grading table below.

Qualifications are assigned a discount code by the Department for Education (DfE) to show where one qualification discounts the other because the content of each qualification is deemed too similar.

If a pupil completes 2 qualifications that have the same discount code, although the pupil still gains both qualifications, only 1 of those qualifications will count towards the Key Stage 4 Performance Tables. For example, if a pupil completes both GCSE Physical Education and the V Cert in Sports Studies, only one of these qualifications will count in the Performance Tables.

These discount codes are updated by the DfE every year. See the DfE website for further information.

Qualifications taken from Year 7 onwards can count in the Key Stage Performance Tables once the pupil reaches the end of Key Stage 4.

However, the early entry policy comes into effect from Year 9.

This means if a pupil completes a Level 1 qualification in Year 7 or 8 and completes the Level 2 qualification in Year 9 or 10, then the best result from either the Level 1 or Level 2 qualification will count in the Performance Tables.

However, if the pupil completes both the Level 1 and Level 2 qualification in Year 9 or later, then it is the first entry that will be reported in the Performance Tables.

Each qualification specification provides guidance on the experience and qualifications needed to deliver and assess the qualification, but it isn’t intended to be exhaustive or definitive. Examples of relevant qualifications and occupational backgrounds are given as benchmarks. 

Other equivalent qualifications or backgrounds may also qualify prospective staff for delivery or assessment roles. Centres must provide sufficient numbers of suitably experienced assessors and internal quality assurers to ensure that qualifications are delivered effectively. Staff recruitment should be made at the discretion of centres, and centres should be aware that it is their responsibility to ensure that all staff involved in the delivery and assessment of our qualifications are suitably qualified. 

Each subject specific qualification specification can be found on the qualification pages.

The Operational End Date is the last date that we can accept registrations for a qualification. The qualifications will be reviewed before this date with the intention of extending the accreditation period, pending further review of the qualifications by the Department for Education (DfE).

You’ll still have 2 years from the operational end date to claim your certificates.

For the external assessment, please take a look at our external assessment timetable. 

For the non-examined assessment, please take a look at the tutor guide for the qualification – this can be found on the individual qualification pages, under the ‘support materials’ tab, within the teaching/delivery guidance section. Our Moderation page also provides key dates and support to help you plan and deliver the NEA. 

For all V Cert qualifications, learners must be booked onto both the external and NEA (Non-Examination Assessment) assessments at the time of registration. Please note that both paper and online exams are available, so you'll need to select the relevant delivery method appropriate for your learners. Learners are required to sit both assessments in their final year of study. 

Please refer to our Portal User Guide for support.

Yes, learners can sit the external assessment via Surpass. Your centre needs to be approved for online assessments with NCFE to enable your learners to sit online assessments. You can find more information on our online assessment support webpage. 

Yes, please visit the relevant qualification page on our website and you can download these in the ‘assessment materials’ section.

Yes, but this must be completed no later than two weeks before the date of the external assessment. You must contact our Customer Support team via email at [email protected]  to make this change.  

You should follow the External Assessment Contingency Planning document. If you have any issues, please contact our Assessment Delivery team on [email protected]. 

Papers for set date/time assessments are dispatched from our external printers and will arrive three working days before the published date of the assessment. 

All external assessment papers are available via the Portal one hour before the published start time of the assessment, so you can also go on and download/print these if required. Instructions can be found in Instructions – Digital Materials for External Assessment. 

For the Level 1/2 Technical Award in Music Technology, pre-release audio files will be available from the NCFE Portal 10 working days prior to the assessment for centres to ensure the files work on the exam equipment. 

Our courier, DHL, will attempt to deliver hard copies of assessment papers three times. This will begin three working days prior to the assessment and continue for the next two working days.  

If delivery still proves unsuccessful, we’ll make the papers available in the Portal on the afternoon before the assessment. 

In line with JCQ guidelines the tolerance is 6%, details on moderation outcomes can be found on the website in our moderation pages.

More information can be found on our preparing for moderation webpage.

Guidance on marks awarded can be located on the moderation pages of the website.

Centres do not need to annotate learners’ work – although if this assists your marking, please do. When the NEA assessment materials are released, a proforma will be provided for assessor feedback and comments. It is important to complete this for all learners at task level to clearly indicate how assessment decisions were made.  Moderators will use this to support the moderation of learner work. 

Centres must share this feedback with learners once the NEA has been completed to allow for any internal appeals to take place.  

Grade boundaries will be set each academic year once all results have been moderated and examined. This is in line with GCSE qualifications.

There will not be a grade calculator issued for this qualification due to grade boundaries changing each session.

Centres will be able to see the external assessment mark, the internal assessment mark and the overall grade that has been awarded on results release day. Guidance on marks awarded can be located on the website in our moderation pages. 

The live synoptic project marking grid/centre pack details the indicative content that could be included in the pupil response. This is a guide and is not an exhaustive list of what must be included. Learners may make all, some or none of the points included in the indicative content, as its purpose is as a guide to the relevance and expectation of the responses. Learners must be credited for any other appropriate response.  

You can find more details on our approach to moderation on our webpage. Basic rules are outlined in the table below.  

Once you have submitted all marks for your learners, you’ll be able to view the sampling plan list the day after the submission deadline.  

You can view this in the Portal via the bookings tab and then select ‘upload learner evidence’. There, you’ll be able to select ‘sample learners’, which will display a list of learners chosen for moderation and requiring evidence to be uploaded. The Portal user guide has further details on how to do this.   

Yes, the evidence upload checklist is contained in the live assessment materials pack which can be downloaded from the Portal. 

On Monday 18 August 2025, you’ll be able to access the assessment results for your learners as well as your learners’ overall grades on the Portal (see Portal User Guide for more information). These results are embargoed until 21 August 2025 – at which point, you can share results with your learners.    

Following results day, you’ll be able to view the final moderation report via the NCFE Portal, in the same place where results slips are located. This report is unique to each cohort. It includes feedback from the Moderator regarding the accuracy of centre marking as well as any areas for development.

No, you will not need to claim certificates for your Level 1/2 Technical Award learners. If your learner has passed the assessment, centres will not need to claim the certificate. Learners will be auto certificated 6 weeks after results release date.  

Learners will be auto certificated six weeks after the results release date. This means you’ll be able to view their e-certificates on 2 October 2025 on the Portal and will receive a physical copy of the certificates around four weeks after this date.  

No, only learners with a full achievement will receive a certificate. 

If you or your learners have queries about grades received, please view our post-results services for more information on enquiries about results, access to scripts, a review of marking and more. 

No, there are no resits for single assessments, early attempts at either assessment, or the chance to combine multiple attempts across more than one series. Learners can retake the qualification in full, but no assessment results from previous attempts at the qualification can be carried forward. Learners complete both assessments in a single series, and this provides their qualification outcome.     

Although there are no resits, these qualifications give learners a platform for further study if they do go on to continue that subject in further education - they'll have subject-specific knowledge which gives them a head start and helps set them up for future success.    

Yes, every mark counts! The scaled marks awarded for the NEA and EA are added together and aggregated to award the overall grade for the qualification. Providing the total combined NEA and EA marks equate to at least the marks required for a L1 Pass, the pupil will achieve the qualification. 

The NEA assessment will be numerically marked by centres, rather than graded. Centres will have access to administration and standardisation training to support the application of the mark scheme. Setting the grade boundaries and awarding learner grades is completed by NCFE as part of our awarding processes. As the grade boundaries are set by us as part of the awarding process, we won't know the boundaries in-year so will not be able to provide indicative grade boundaries ahead of time. 

• Tuesday 2 September: We’ll release the draft NEA on our website and open the clarification window. 

• Tuesday 16 September: Clarification window closes. 

• Monday 1 October: We’ll release the final NEA, and you can begin delivering it to your learners. 

You can watch our on-demand recording where we explain the new NEA release process. This video provides an overview of the work we've done to collect your feedback on the new process, how it will work and the key dates related to the new clarification period and delivery of the NEA.  

You can also join our webinar on Wednesday 27 August at 3:30–5pm. In this session, we’ll go through a live version of the content in the webinar above, and you’ll have the opportunity to ask questions to our team. 

You’ll be able to submit any questions via the webform provided when we release the draft NEA on 2 September. The deadline for raising questions through the clarification window is 16 September.  

Please note that the draft version is for reference and preparation purposes only and shouldn’t be used for the live delivery of the NEA.   

We’ll notify your programme contact once the draft NEA has been released via email. This communication will include a link to the NEA clarification webform, which will also be available on our website from Tuesday 2 September. 

Queries will be collated and answered when the clarification window closes. Please note, regulatory restrictions may prevent us from answering some queries.  

The draft NEA will be a near-final version.  

If the feedback we receive supports any change to the NEA, we’ll summarise the changes in the release of the final NEA on Wednesday 1 October 2025. The draft version will be watermarked as draft and shouldn’t be used for live delivery to learners.  

We’re releasing a draft version to support you with the delivery and planning of the NEA, and to allow you to review and gain clarification on any points prior to delivery commencing.  

No, the draft version must not be used to begin delivery; this would be deemed as malpractice. The draft must also not be shared with learners; this would be deemed as a maladministration.  

The submission date for learner marks will continue to be 30 April each academic year (or the closest working day to this date). This ensures sufficient time for the moderation process, and supports the accurate and timely release of overall grades in line with the published results release date.  

A new webform will be available for any further queries.  

The NEA briefs for 2024-25 were released on 1 October 2024. 

To access the live NEA, you’ll need to follow the below steps:  

• log in to the Portal  
• go to the 'Bookings' tab and click ‘View Assessments’  
• search for a batch number or product code to find students on the relevant qualification/assignment  
• select all learners  
• scroll to the bottom and click ‘View Bookings’  
• click on the desired component and a drop-down will appear  
• click the material link to download it.  

The Regulations for the conduct of the NEA can be found in the subject-specific tutor guidance documents. You can download the tutor guidance documents under the ‘support materials’ tab, in the teaching/delivery guidance section on the qualification pages. Please ensure you’re using the latest version downloaded from the website.  

Yes, please visit the qualification page on our website and you can download these in the ‘assessment materials’ section.

The allocated time for each NEA can be found within the tutor guidance for each qualification. If a learner receives additional time as a reasonable adjustment for external assessments, this can also be applied to the NEA. Centres do not need approval from NCFE to apply reasonable adjustments that reflect a learner’s normal way of working. 

All reasonable adjustments made in relation to the NEA must be recorded on JCQ Form VQ/IA and a record kept within the centre for inspection by NCFE. Details of any reasonable adjustments applied should be included on the checklist along with learner evidence and submitted on the Portal. 

The 2 hours of preparation and research time is to support the completion of the whole NEA. This 2-hour time period is entirely open book, so learners can access their teaching and learning materials, textbooks, the internet and other published materials. During this time, they should develop a research support pack which they can use when completing the NEA. Find more detailed information about the research pack in the Tutor Guidance document on each qualification page of the website. 

Learners should produce their research and support pack on an individual basis. Supervisors must not direct learners or provide templates or writing frames for learners to complete.  

Learners are only permitted to use the internet for the completion of NEA tasks where the brief states it is allowed. 

Each learner must list their browsing history for each task which allows internet access. The supervisor is responsible for making sure all learners begin each task and session with a clear browsing history. At the end of the supervised session, internet browsing history should be obtained by selecting the relevant history tab in the browser toolbar.  A learner’s browsing history should be clearly attributable to the individual learner who completed it. Acceptable formats include a screenshot of the learner’s history, an IT-based report or a typed/written list of websites accessed during the session. See the example below: 

Record of internet browsing history

Learner Name: XXXX XXXX 

Learner number: 106xxx 

Qualification: NCFE Level 1/2 Technical Award in Food and Cookery (603/7014/2) 

Assessment series: Summer 2025 

Learners should only be provided with the NEA brief; no other resources can be provided. Centre staff should not provide any additional resources or support, such as a template/writing frame or set of questions that could be seen to assist learners.  

The specification is not a list of everything which could be included in the NEA tasks – it is an overview of the vital components and content which should be included in teaching the qualification. In industry, there will be differences in what processes and/or equipment are used, so tutors will need to apply the specification to context and include specific detail regarding what could be used in the industry.

If a learner is absent from one or more supervised sessions, they should be given the opportunity to make up any missed time. The length of the assessment window will allow centres to implement their contingency plan should such issues arise. If a learner is unable to carry out the NEA tasks, centres should follow the special considerations or the access arrangements and reasonable adjustments guidance on our website.

Where no specific recommendations are provided, learners should select the software or equipment which is capable of allowing them to access all elements of the specification and undertake the assessment effectively. Tutors should refer to the guidance and NEA brief for further information.  

Yes, centres must retain learners’ research support packs and upload them with learner evidence to NCFE if selected for moderation.   

No, tutors should not use live NEA content or tasks as examples – the skills should be covered in the delivery of the content areas. Under no circumstances should indicative content or live mark schemes be shared with learners; this would be seen as malpractice.  

Learners should have access to relevant resources during their research activity – it is up to them to identify what would be relevant. 

This decision is up to the centre. If a learner’s evidence is contained all in a single document, it should be clearly indicated which work belongs to each task to support both assessment and moderation. If a learner’s evidence is on separate documents, each document will need to be labelled correctly. All evidence will need to be uploaded to NCFE for learners selected for moderation, including the assessor feedback document and student research pack. We accept both .doc and .pdf file types, and further information can be found in the Portal User Guide.

No – they should follow the tutor guidance and NEA brief as this would be seen as malpractice. The learners can only carry out research when the project brief allows it. Their research notes, taken from appropriate sources (including lesson notes and textbooks), should provide all the information they require to complete the tasks.  

If learners have attempted the NEA but have achieved no marks, the marks should be entered as 0. If they have not attempted the task, this should be marked as DNA. If no tasks for NEA have been attempted, each task should be entered as DNA and the learner’s overall mark would be DNA.

The resources are available to download for free via the qualification pages. 

You can register for our upcoming webinars here and view our on-demand playlist here.

To access additional teaching and learning support, please visit our V Certs delivery support page.