This is a statement from the National Association of Licensed Paralegals, regarding how NALP qualifications are graded and moderated.
Statement on Ofqual Announcements re Vocational and Technical Qualifications Results – Summer 2020
There has been some controversy about the qualification results issued this year due to the changes to the way examinations, particularly for General Qualifications (e.g. GCSEs and A Levels) have been graded and then ‘moderated’ by the regulator, with many students seeing their grades being lowered.
Ofqual has issued some guidance documents to Learners and Centres regarding Vocational and Technical Qualifications. These guidelines apply to NALP’s qualifications as they fall under this category.
The guidelines can be found here:
We wanted to assure our Learners and Centres that this type of algorithm-based moderation that has caused so many concerns, is not being used for any NALP qualifications.
The moderation that has been talked about in the media relates specifically to where the initial result was calculated by the teacher, based on their knowledge of the student and the results from any continuous testing undertaken in class.
Our qualifications were designed primarily for distance learning (though can be, and are, delivered via blended and classroom-based learning as well) and so no calculated results have been used for any of the results issued during 2020.
The assignments used for our assessments are designed to be able to be completed by learners at home and marked by our team of remote markers. This has meant that we have not had to make any adaptations to the way in which our assignments are delivered or marked.
We hope that this clarifies the position in relation to our qualifications, but if you do have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact us.
This statement was released by Jane Robson, Director of Compliance & Regulation