News

AQA supports new Ofqual regulator

16 May 2008

AQA supports the establishment of an independent qualifications regulator and wishes Ofqual well. The qualifications system in this country has been shown to be as good as any in the world and we are looking forward to working in partnership with the new regulator to improve it still further for the benefit of all learners.

e-portfolios go from strength to strength

12 May 2008

AQA is delighted to announce that the e-portfolio project is being extended to a number of schools and colleges for summer 2008.

First Surrey students gain AQA's Extended Project qualification

07 May 2008

Esher College Students first in Surrey to gain AQA's Extended Project qualification. Read about the presentation ceremony.

AQA provides reassurance regarding exam security breach

01 May 2008

On 15 April AQA was informed by our courier that one of their vans containing GCSE and A Level examination papers had been stolen. These papers were being delivered to centres in the area of Hertfordshire. Much of the material was subsequently recovered; however, part of the consignment remains unaccounted for.

Incidents like this are extremely rare. However, AQA takes all such cases very seriously. Protecting the integrity of our examinations is in the interests of all candidates taking those examinations, who are our paramount concerns.

We have well established systems and procedures in place to deal with any incident that affects our examinations. Senior staff at AQA conducted an immediate assessment of the situation: as a result of this investigation a decision was taken to replace papers nationally.

All replacement papers are subject to our normal thorough quality assurance procedures and the regulator has been kept fully informed of our actions.

We would like to reassure our candidates that all examinations will proceed according to the published timetable.

Please read the letter we have sent to centres

AQA offers diploma reassurance

17 April 2008

Comments about diplomas by Jerry Jarvis from Edexcel in today's Guardian

Commenting on today's press coverage on the new diplomas to be taught in schools from this September, Dr Mike Cresswell, director general of AQA, said:

Schools and colleges can be reassured that AQA will continue to work in partnership with them to make the new diploma succeed. Teachers and learners can have confidence in our commitment to providing them with the support they need as they embark on these new diploma qualifications.

With any new qualification there are always initial concerns so there is nothing surprising or new in the comments being made about the diploma. But we have made major investments to ensure that our diplomas are a success.

We believe that choice of qualifications helps teachers to provide courses of study which are motivating and engaging for their students. This is why we want to see the diploma take its place alongside other qualifications, such as A-levels, as part of the choice available to young people.

Fees for the revised GCE A-levels

4 April 2008

Commenting on the QCA's report on fees charged and service offered by awarding bodies for the revised GCE A-levels, Mike Cresswell, AQA Director General said:

I welcome this report which provides important information for centres to help them make informed decisions about choosing or changing their awarding body. It shows for the first time the clear - and perhaps surprising - differences in entry fees.

The figures show that AQA charges the lowest exam fees. This reflects our status as an independent educational charity.

But for us value for money is about the total educational package that we offer – the quality of our exams goes with the very highest levels of support and guidance for schools, teachers and students. We are committed to working with teachers to raise achievement and help their students realise their full potential.

AQA has always played a leading role in supporting schools and colleges and helping them raise the achievements of their students. As the market leader, AQA offers the biggest range of GCE A-level subjects of any Awarding Body. This reflects our commitment to diverse educational provision and choice for teachers and learners. This commitment also underpins our policy of charging a uniform fee for all our A-levels so as to help minimise financial constraints upon the curriculum choices available to learners.

We believe that choice of examination provision helps teachers to provide courses which are motivating and engaging for their students and therefore makes a real contribution to raising standards of achievement. With that in mind, we are developing new Diplomas, the new AQA Baccalaureate and have a major role in piloting the new Level 3 Extended Project Qualification. We have new GCSEs currently in development for first teaching in September 2009.

To help meet our aim of helping schools and colleges to raise standards of achievement, all our new specifications are accompanied by text books, electronic teaching and learning materials, on-screen assessments and so on, from our publishing partner Nelson Thornes.

AQA is investing significantly in new technology to deliver world-leading standards of assessment and value for money to schools and colleges. But we are not driven by technological innovation for its own sake – we use new technology where our research shows that it improves the accuracy and reliability of the assessment process or enables us to offer additional or higher quality services for schools, colleges and learners.

Teachers, parents and students can be assured that AQA understands their concerns, offers the best value exam fees, the most relevant and engaging specifications, top quality exams and the highest levels of support and guidance to enable all students to realise their potential.

The QCA report may be found on their website.

DCSF Joint 14-19 Qualifications Strategy

31 March 2008

Commenting on today's announcement by the Secretary of State of a public consultation on a new qualifications strategy, Dr Mike Cresswell, AQA Director General said:

AQA welcomes the Government's commitment to offering young people choice in qualifications through the provision of GCSEs and A-levels alongside the new Diplomas and Apprenticeships.

We believe that diversity of provision and choice for teachers and learners are important ways of raising standards. That is why AQA already offers the biggest range of A-level and GCSE subjects of any awarding body and is developing a complete suite of Diplomas and our own AQA Baccalaureate qualification.

AQA is keen to work with the Government and the new qualifications regulator to ensure the success of the new strategy. There is much detail still to resolve and AQA will be playing its full part in responding to the consultation.

Services over the Easter Bank Holiday

14 March 2008

We are taking the opportunity to spring clean our systems. We regret therefore that you will be unable to access e-AQA from 5pm on Thursday 20 March until 8am on Tuesday 25 March. Any entries for series with closing dates of 21 March, which are received via e-AQA by Tuesday 25 March, will be accepted as on time. Any requests for priority photocopies of GCE scripts received via e-AQA by 25 March will also be treated as on time.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused by the need for this routine maintenance work.

Exam results for January 2008

4 March 2008

The JCQ Awarding bodies now have arrangements in place with Royal Mail for the delivery of examination results for the January and June examinations 2008. AQA's results for the January 2008 exams will therefore be delivered to you by Royal Mail on Thursday 13 March.

Please note that, for the January exams, you will receive the results electronically one week earlier than the printed copy (on Thursday 6 March). At that point, the results may be shared with candidates, their parents or carers and educational institutions or LEAs only. Other interested parties may have access to the information only when candidates have received the printed copies of their results on 13 March.

Delivery arrangements will be very similar to those in place up to and including the summer 2007 examinations. Royal Mail local coordinators will ensure that the results packages reach you as early as possible on results day.

You will also be able to make arrangements to collect your results packages from the local depot if this is more convenient for you. These arrangements should be made directly with your local Royal Mail depot.

If you have any problems with these deliveries, please check with your local Royal Mail depot first.

If you have any other queries about results, please contact our Exams Office Support team on 0870 410 1036.

AQA sets standards for OFQUAL

29 February 2008

The Department for Children, Schools and Families is currently consulting on the new, independent regulator. Work is progressing on preparations for the launch of the interim Office of the Qualifications and Examinations Regulator, to be known as OFQUAL, in spring 2008.

The UK's leading awarding body, AQA, has called for the new OFQUAL regulator to be more 'Hands Off' in its approach to regulation of awarding bodies than the existing QCA.

In its submission to the consultation on how the new regulator should be structured, Mike Cresswell, AQA Director General, said:

It is important that any awarding organisation satisfies high expectations in terms of assessment quality and standards and AQA supports the proposals which will underpin these expectations. But if the present approach to regulation continues with the new OFQUAL, the danger is that innovation will be stifled.

There is a real opportunity with the establishment of the new regulator to move away from the current prescriptive approach. AQA believes that it is essential for the new regulator to operate strategically and allow awarding bodies the freedom to meet specified quality standards in innovative ways which are cost-effective and promote educational improvement.

You can read a summary, our full response and the consultation document.

AQA presents Beacon Award

15 February 2008

Read about the presentation of this year's College/School Partnerships award.

AQA scores top marks from regulator

12 February 2008

AQA, the UK's leading Awarding Body, has today been awarded top marks for the quality of service it provides to centres.

In a QCA report published today, figures show that AQA achieved the best performance of the three largest awarding bodies. AQA scored 100% in the first four of the five performance targets set by the regulator:

• percentage of question papers dispatched on time
• percentage of examination results issued to centres on time
• percentage of priority enquiries about examination results completed within 20 days
• percentage of examination papers copied and sent out at least 10 days before the deadline for enquiries about results
• percentage of question papers without errors.

In the final target, AQA's performance was the best of all three awarding bodies at 99.6%.

AQA Director General, Mike Cresswell, said:

This is an excellent performance and is part of our drive to offer the highest levels of service to our schools, colleges and candidates. Providing the fastest possible resolution of any queries about results is crucial to candidates, as is providing timely and accurate examination papers. As an educational charity, our top priority is always the best interests of the candidates who take our examinations and we do everything possible to ensure that they receive the best possible service from us. We believe this unparalleled level of service helps centres to make informed decisions about the awarding body they choose.

GCE SCIENCES: QCA accreditation for new AQA-marked route for internal assessment

1 February 2008

Following teacher feedback, QCA has accredited our proposals for an AQA-marked alternative for all 5 new GCE Sciences: Biology, Human Biology, Chemistry, Physics A and Physics B.

The AQA-marked route in addition to the centre-marked Practical Skills Assessment (PSA) and Investigative Skills Assignment (ISA) route offers teachers of AQA Science specifications maximum flexibility when deciding what's best for teachers and their students.

Final specifications that include the new route will be sent to centres as soon as they are available. For a personal copy and a free binder, register with Ask AQA.

If you're considering converting to an AQA Science A-level in September 2008, contact us on 0161 957 3925 or book online to attend a free AQA 'Preparing to Teach' meeting near you.

Independent Schools Magazine profiles Mike Cresswell

28 January 2008

This month's Independent Schools Magazine publishes an in-depth profile and interview with Mike Cresswell, AQA's Director General. Mike focuses on topical areas of interest such as e-marking, on-line assessment and the choice of qualifications available to sixth formers.

New GCEs: lower fees

7 December 2007

We are pleased to now be able to give indicative fee levels for the new GCEs to be launched in September 2008.

The key change in the structure of the new A-levels is the reduction in the majority of specifications from six to four assessment units. Science and Maths GCEs, however, continue to have six units.

For the four-unit GCEs we have been able to pass on efficiency savings to reduce the total fee for a GCE by about 13% compared with current GCE prices.

We have also made a policy decision to price six-unit GCEs at the same price as those with four units.

This is in line with AQA's policy to price fairly.

We believe that these fees continue to offer good value and in some cases provide a significant cost advantage to schools and colleges. Notably the fees do not discriminate against those centres teaching six-unit GCEs: Science and Maths. In addition, we will continue to provide market leading specifications and support for teachers through a range of support meetings.

Please note:

The indicative fees assume a 3% inflation rate for both 2008/09 and 2009/10 (They are also necessarily provisional as our regulator is undertaking a review of all GCE fees).

* In 2008/09 A2 fees shown are notional only. There will be no A2 exams available in the new form for 2008. These notional fees are included to help establish the transition price of a whole A-level.

New e-portfolio handling system (ePHS)

30 November 2007

AQA successfully trialled the new e-portfolio handling system (ePHS) with a small number of centres participating in the Extended Project pilot this November. The trial will now be developed and extended to further components in summer 2008 and beyond.

ePHS enables candidates to produce coursework using a range of applications. This coursework can then be stored, managed and submitted to AQA electronically using a range of software.

Moderators and senior moderators then select and view whatever work they need from the AQA coursework repository.

• Centres keep their candidates' original coursework,
• Savings in postage, printing, paper, and time
• candidates can use a wider variety of applications in their work.

New Science A-levels – Important News

26 November 2007

Following teacher feedback QCA is now allowing AQA an opportunity to offer an AQA-marked internal assessment option to complement the popular PSA/ISA route for Biology, Human Biology, Chemistry, Physics A and Physics B.

This will offer teachers of AQA specifications the maximum flexibility when deciding what's best for teachers and their students.

All Centres who currently teach A-level science will be sent the new AQA colour printed specifications in the New Year. For a personal copy and a free binder register with Ask-AQA.

If you're considering converting to an AQA science A-level in September 2008, please contact us on 0161 9573925 to discuss how we can help you.

Annual Review 2007

21 November 2007

The AQA Annual Review 2007 was published on Monday 19 November to coincide with the Annual Seminar and Awards.

The Review offers a summary of our work as the UK's leading awarding body over the past year. It also provides an insight into our future vision. Some of the areas you might be interested to read about include the expansion of our programme of Continuous Professional Development for teachers, our collaboration with City & Guilds to deliver the new Diplomas, the new AQA Bacc qualification and our continued expansion of the use of new technology in the marking process.

AQA National GCE Awards

20 November 2007

Read about our GCE Award ceremony and find out who won the title of Student of the Year.

AQA launches new qualification in Enterprise week

9 November 2007

12–18 November is Enterprise week and AQA are pleased to announce their new Level 1 and Level 2 Certificate in Enterprise and Employability, available for first award in summer 2008.

For several years , it has been a statutory requirement for young people to experience some work related learning at Key stage 4, including an element of enterprise education. Enterprise also features in the new secondary school curriculum for personal, social, health and economic education at Key stage 3. Many centres also provide enterprise education both pre and post 16 in the context of Business Studies or Citizenship

An important element of the course is an enterprise project or activity which can be based on a manufacturing or service activity or used to address social, environmental or green issues.

We have received a very positive and enthusiastic response from interested centres, including some who are already teaching the course.

AQA's new Enterprise and Employability specification can be run alongside the existing AQA Level 1 and Level 2 Certificate in Preparation for Working Life and, like Preparation for Working Life, is regarded as the equivalent of a GCSE short course.

Find out more about this specification or contact us at the Work Related Learning department on 01423 543225 or by e-mailing Certificate in Enterprise and Employability.

AQA 2007 Christmas Card

6 November 2007

Students aged from 7 to 67 from almost 700 centres entered this year's AQA Christmas Card competition. The winning entry was submitted by Charlotte Davenport, aged 15, from Streatham House School in Liverpool. Charlotte won a prize of £250 and a further £250 for her school together with a set of personalised cards to her winning design.

The judges were impressed by the range and quality of the entries. Charlotte's winning card and other 'Highly Commended' entries are displayed.