Notice to Centres – Teachers sharing NEA material and candidates’ work

The sharing of exemplar non-examination assessment material for reference purposes encourages good teaching practice. However, teachers must closely control and supervise the issuing of work produced by former candidates in previous years and the sharing of exemplar non-examination assessment material. This will ensure that candidates do not use such material for their own work.

Centres must always keep live non-examination assessment material† and candidates’ work secure and confidential whilst in their possession. Teaching staff must not share live non-examination assessments with candidates or post candidates’ work on social media. Centres and teachers must be aware of the regulations concerning use of work in certain circumstances, such as exhibitions and for interview purposes. Please refer to section 4.8 of the JCQ document Instructions for conducting non-examination assessments – GCE & GCSE specifications.

Teachers must inform candidates that the copying of any non-examination assessment material in order to present it as their own constitutes malpractice. Candidates must not submit work which is not their own. Further information may be found within:

• section 5 of the JCQ document Instructions for conducting non-examination assessments – Vocational and Technical Qualifications
• section 9 of the JCQ document Instructions for conducting non-examination assessments – GCE & GCSE specifications.

Teachers must not encourage candidates to assist one another when producing work.

Teachers must remind candidates that they must not make their work available to others through any medium: they must not, for example, post and share their work on social media
(http://www.jcq.org.uk/exams-office/information-for-candidates-documents).

Where the specification permits some assignments to be undertaken as part of a group, reference should be made to:

• section 4.5 of the JCQ document Instructions for conducting non-examination assessments – GCE & GCSE specifications
• paragraph 9.1 of the JCQ document Instructions for conducting non-examination assessments – Vocational and Technical Qualifications
• the awarding body’s specification.

Exemplar material produced by an awarding body must be used in accordance with the awarding body’s instructions. If teachers are in any doubt, they should contact the awarding body for subject-specific advice and guidance.

Teachers or centres must only use non-examination assessment tasks and documentation for delivery to their candidates. Any attempt to use the non-examination assessment materials for commercial gain, or any breach of the confidentiality of those materials, will be treated as malpractice.

This document also applies to CCEA GCSE controlled assessment units and CCEA GCE AS and A2 coursework units.

* Live non-examination assessment material is defined as any work on a topic which has been set either by an awarding body or the centre for a current or future examination series, even if the work was completed in a previous year.