GCSE Engineering: NEA changes for 2022 exams
Published: Monday 12 Jul 2021
Ofqual has published the arrangements for non-exam assessment (NEA) and fieldwork for students entering for exams in 2022. Here are the changes to GCSE Engineering you need to know about for summer 2022:
The following NEA sections have changes for 2022.
Problem solving
- problem solving should be evident in the prototype design but students aren’t required to demonstrate this in a final prototype.
Engineering skills
- this section has been reduced from 15 to 10 marks
- students will no longer be assessed on the skill of making but will be required to show their ‘intentions of prototypes’ and demonstrate their understanding of the processes involved in making
- the assessment no longer requires students to make a final prototype – instead, they can show their understanding of the processes involved in making by writing about them. However, making skills are important for progression to future study, and for students understanding, so we’d encourage you to continue to allow students to make wherever possible. This is one way of demonstrating the knowledge tested in the 2022 ‘engineering skills’ section and is the best way to inspire and enthuse students in the subject.
Testing and evaluation
- there’s no expectation to test a final made prototype, but students should test their prototype designs.
NEA will still count as 40% of the overall GCSE qualification.
We’ve further NEA guidance for GCSE Engineering on our website.
There are no planned changes to NEA sections in drawing and conventions, production planning or applying systems technology.
Ofqual is planning a consultation on summer 2022 towards the end of this term. We’ll provide further updates and guidance about the summer 2022 exams as soon as we are able to.
