Education CommitteeFurther written evidence submitted by OCR Examinations Board (Annex A)

APPENDIX A

BREAKDOWN OF EXAMINER CHARACTERISTICS

Date appointed	% Currently Teaching	% Never Taught	% Retired/Left Teaching	% Supply Teacher/Tutor	% Lecturers
October 2010	57	2.5	26	5.5	9
May 2011	71	5	8	7	9
September 2011	55	2.5	29	4	9

APPENDIX B

EXCERPT FROM OFQUAL CODE OF PRACTICE

Qualitative Evidence

(i)copies of question papers/tasks and final mark schemes;

(ii)principals’ reports on how the assessment functioned;

(iii)samples of current candidates’ work distributed evenly across key boundary ranges for each component, with enough representing each mark to provide a sound basis for judgement so far as the size of entry and nature of work permit. The material should be selected from a range of centres and/or consortia where work has been marked/moderated by examiners/moderators whose work is known to be reliable;⁹

(iv)archive scripts and examples of internally assessed work (including, in appropriate subject areas, photographic or videotaped evidence) exemplifying grade boundaries for previous awards, together with the relevant question papers and mark schemes; and

(v)in the case of a new specification, pertinent material deemed to be of equivalent standard from other examinations in the subject or other relevant subjects may be considered.

Where Available

(vi) any published performance descriptions, grade descriptions and exemplar material.

(vii)any other supporting material (such as marking guides for components where the evidence is of an ephemeral nature).

Quantitative Evidence

(viii)subject-level expectations, when available;

(ix)information on candidates’ performance in at least two previous equivalent series, where available;

(x)details of changes in entry patterns, choices of options and prior attainment, where available;

(xi)information about the relationship between component/unit level data and whole-subject performance, where available;

(xii)technical information, including mark distributions relating to the question papers/tasks and individual questions for the current and previous series, where available;

(xiii)item-level statistics; and¹⁰

(xiv)information on centres estimated grades for all candidates, including:

qualification-level estimates for linear (including linear unitised) specifications; and

unit-level estimates for externally assessed units in all other unitised specifications.¹¹

Instructions from the Regulators

(xv)any written instruction from the regulators specifying particular evidence that must inform the awarding process for a particular series; and

(xvi)relevant evidence from the regulators’ monitoring and comparability reports.

APPENDIX C

OCR METRICS

Figures below are “rounded” and taken annually, unless stated otherwise

Location	Three sites: Birmingham, Cambridge, Coventry
Staff	600+ employees
Assessors	16,000 examiners, moderators
Customers	7,600 schools, colleges and other institutions
Qualifications	470 general 1,050 vocational
Turnover	£116 million

Centre Approval and Visits

Centre approval requests	244 general 190 vocational 142 asset
Interchange centres	8,000 (90% of active centres)
CPC inspections	270
CAST visits	250

Entries

Entries	7.7 million (general) 1.9 million (vocational)
Candidates	1.3 million (general) 1.5 million (vocational)
Centres making entries	5,350 (general) 6,500 (vocational)
Pirate candidate investigations	126,000
Prior achievement requests	164 candidates
Transfer candidates	1,500

Assessors

14–19 and post-19 assessor agreements	12,500
Active (allocated) assessors (VQ)	1,200
Allocations made (VQ)	40,000
Centre/assessor amendments processed (VQ)	7,000
Awarding and marking review-related meetings (GQ)	910 (attended by 3,690 assessors)

Assessment Production

Assessment materials produced and published	6,500 items (including Post-19, 14–19 and Asset)
Assessment materials printed	Over 3,000 print orders placed for ~9.5 million copies
Mark schemes produced and published	2,000 items
Examiner reports published	1,000 items
scoris® zoned papers	770

Exam Stationery Production

Personalised attendance registers	400,000
Examiner mark sheets	160,000
Personalised internal assessment mark sheets	145,000
Forecast Grade forms	600,000
Examiner address labels	100,000 sheets
Candidate answer sheets	30,000

Logistics

Question papers despatched	8.5 million
Non-confidential items despatched	17 million
Orders for publications received	6,500
Publication items despatched	45,000

Special Requirements

Special consideration requests	86,000
Access arrangement requests	9,000 modified paper requests, 4,000 referred access arrangement requests

Processing

Scripts marked traditionally	2 million
Multiple choice answers keyed	27,000
Supplementary marks keyed	260,000
Centre authentication forms processed	3,400
Coursework mark adjustments and moderator reports processed	60,000
SEM forms (checks on examiners’ marking) processed	9,850
Visit reports processed (NVQ and Nationals)	14,000
Pay claims checked and authorised (VQ)	24,000

ESM

Scripts for e-marking	70% (% of total examined 14–19 qualifications)
Scripts scanned and marked on screen	3.75 million
Scanned (A4) images	>60 million
scoris® concurrent user peak	1400
Peak marking/marks return (per day)	>100,000

Results and Certificates

Statements of results issued (GQ)	2.23 million
Certificates issued (GQ)	1.3 million
Results issued (VQ)	3.4 million

Post-results Services

Enquiries about results	49,000
Access to Scripts requests	95,500
Missing or incomplete results requests	4,100
Late certification requests	12,200

Archives

Certifying statement requests (GQ)	7,351
Archives requests (VQ)	22,000

APPENDIX D

RPI AND HISTORICAL OCR FEE CHARGES—GCE & GCSE

		OCR Fee % Variance			Actual Fee
Year	RPI	GCE 6 Unit	GCE 4 Unit	GCSE	GCE 6 Unit	GCE 4 Unit	GCSE
2007–08	4.10%	3.75%	n/a	4.35%	74.70	n/a	24.00
2008–09	4.80%	3.61%	−10.04%	3.33%	77.40	67.20	24.80
2009–10	−1.30%	3.10%	2.98%	4.84%	79.80	69.20	26.00
2010–11	4.70%	3.01%	2.89%	3.08%	82.20	71.20	26.80
2011–12	5.20%	3.65%	3.65%	3.73%	85.20	73.80	27.80

Annual RPI quoted is for August, calculated based on the difference from August of the previous year.

APPENDIX E

APPENDIX F

FEE COMPARISON BETWEEN AWARDING BODIES

Selected A2 Full Certification Fees

		2009-10			2010-11			2011-12
Subject	Unit Req	AQA	OCR	Edexcel	AQA	OCR	Edexcel	AQA	OCR	Edexcel
Chemistry		70.20	79.80	101.40	74.20	82.20	103.80	75.30	85.20	105.60
English		70.20	69.20	79.60	74.20	71.20	81.60	75.10	73.80	82.80
History		70.20	69.20	82.40	74.20	71.20	84.40	75.10	73.80	85.60
Design & Technology		70.20	69.20	155.20	74.20	71.20	158.80	95.30	73.80	161.20

Selected GCSE Full Certification Fees

	2009-10			2010-11			2011-12
Subject	AQA	OCR	Edexcel	AQA	OCR	Edexcel	AQA	OCR	Edexcel
Chemistry		26.10			27.80		28.15	28.20	31.50
English		26.00			26.80		28.10	27.80	27.30
History		26.00			26.80		28.10	27.80	29.60
Design & Technology		26.00			26.80		28.10	27.80	27.20

Notes:

AQA, OCR and Edexcel all quote unit fees for GCE. Unit fees shown are “std”, although there are exceptions to these for specific subjects where the assessment method warrants a higher fee ie visiting examiner etc.

Sep 2008 saw the introduction of the “4 unit” GCE with the exception of some subjects that remained as 6 unit quals (Sciences, Music). Fees for the newly introduced “4 unit” specifications were reduced by 10% from previous spec fees charged in 2007–08. Those subjects remaining as 6 unit quals were increased by 3.61%.

Analysis of 2011 Advanced GCE unit revenue shows that 20% (circa £6.2 million) was generated from resits.

Following the unitisation of many GCSE Short Courses in 2009 OCR opted to reduce the overall cost of gaining a Short Course where as competitors typically charge an additional £5 to £6 to certificate

APPENDIX G

EXTRACT FROM TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR ASSESSMENT TASKS

Confidentiality and Disclosure

5.4 The assessor shall not, without the prior written permission of the Head of Assessor Management of OCR, use his/her name in association with that of OCR whilst carrying out the assessment services. The assessor will not use the OCR name for the assessor’s own commercial or non commercial purposes or whilst carrying out services under any other agreement with OCR, or allow it to be so used, whether expressly or by implication. For the avoidance of doubt this restriction shall apply during the agreement and at any time after the termination of the agreement howsoever the termination comes about.

5.5 To ensure the integrity of OCR’s assessments the assessor is required to make written declarations if the assessor has any interest in or with any person taking or involved in any way with an OCR assessment to the Head of Assessor Management at any time during the period of this agreement and for two years following expiry of this agreement. The assessor has an interest in a person if that person is a close relative, or is a person where the assessor’s interest (whether professional or not) could compromise the integrity of OCR’s assessments, or the assessor’s integrity, if the relationship were not disclosed.

5.6 The assessor is required to notify OCR of any potential conflicts of interest or any previous or existing relationship with any OCR centre in which the assessor as an individual has been required to provide any services in any capacity.

5.7 The assessor is required to disclose in writing whether the assessor is preparing candidates for the specification for which the assessor is providing assessment tasks to the Head of Assessor Management at any time during the period of this agreement that this becomes relevant.

5.8 OCR retains the right to determine whether a conflict of interest exists and any such judgement shall be final.

November 2011