ELC Science: important NEA reminders for 2023

Published: Tuesday 28 Mar 2023

We have a few important reminders for submitting marks and portfolios in summer 2023 to ensure the ELC Science non-exam assessments (NEAs) are delivered as smoothly as possible, as outlined in the specification.

For schools with fewer students than the minimum sample size (20), your moderator will request work for all students. For larger entry numbers (more than 20 students), we will request a percentage of your students’ work.

Each student’s portfolio should have the candidate record form at the front with the relevant pieces of work held together using a treasury tag or in a card folder. Do not use plastics wallets or paperclips/elastic bands as they can become dislodged.

You can submit marks to us online using Centre Marks Submission (CMS) on Centre Services. If you’re new to CMS, our submit marks page has more details.

The deadline to submit total ELC marks for each student is 15 May 2023.

Externally-set assignments (ESAs)

You should mark the ESAs in red, in accordance with instructions attached to the mark schemes, using both ticks and crosses to ensure that the moderator knows that all student work has been seen. For the teacher devised assignments (TDAs), annotation is essential for some of the ephemeral skills, and to support marks where it may not be obvious it’s the student’s own unaided work.

Teacher-devised assignments (TDAs)

For the TDAs, annotation is essential for some of the ephemeral skills, and to support marks where it may not be obvious it’s the student’s own unaided work.

Teacher online standardisation

Teacher online standardisation is available on Centre Services for ELC Science. You should access teacher online standardisation before you start marking your assessments by following these steps:

• Log in to Centre Services
• Select 'Pre-exams'
• Click 'Teacher online standardisation'

This online resource allows you to mark students’ NEA work yourself and then after you’ve entered your marks, the lead moderator’s marks are revealed and justified. This is a great activity to do in standardisation time or departmental meetings to ensure that your marking is in line with our lead moderator’s standard.

We hope you’ll find this a really valuable resource to support you in the standardisation process, whether you’re in a large school with lots of teachers to work with, or in a department on your own. If you’re logging in to Centre Services for the first time, you’ll need to register.

Candidate record forms

You will need to sign a candidate record form and attach this to your students’ work. Students’ details should be entered on both sides of the form. Remember to record the marks for each skill area of the TDA, as well as the total mark. For the Single Award (5961) only record the marks for components you are submitting.

You must note on the form any assistance given to students which is beyond that given to the group as a whole. This includes any access arrangements that are in place, for example, use of a scribe/reader. You’ll need to include a copy of the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) Form 13 with the student’s portfolio, and where the usual JCQ procedures and paperwork apply.

Centre declaration sheet

All schools must submit a signed centre declaration sheet for 2023 to confirm that internal standardisation has taken place.

All teachers involved in marking your students’ work should sign the appropriate part of the centre declaration sheet. One person must be responsible for ensuring that the work has been assessed to the same standard.

If there’s been a change in staffing and the other staff member is no longer at your school, please go over any work that contributes to the portfolio to ensure consistency in application of the criteria.

Storing students’ work

Remember to keep all students’ work under secure conditions once it’s been marked, and with a copy of the completed candidate record form. After the moderation period, and the deadline for post-results services has passed, you can return the TDAs to students. However, because the ESAs are valid for several years, you must either destroy these or keep them secure.

Help and support

Your AQA appointed ELC Science NEA adviser is available to help with all aspects of the NEA. You can find out more about the NEA adviser service on our website. If you haven’t already got your adviser’s details, your exams officer should have them. If not, just contact the team at gcsescience@aqa.org.uk

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