Submitting Centre Assessed Grades (CAGs) - ncfe.org.uk · Page 4 of 21 The Portal The Portal is a secure website which will now allow you to submit Centre Assessed Grades (CAGs) for

Submitting Centre Assessed Grades (CAGs)

Version 4

29 June 2020

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Important message – Centre Assessed Grade submission The extended deadline for submitting Centre Assessed Grades (CAGs) for your learners has now passed (midday on 24 June).

You are still able to submit grades for your learners, using the guidance documents below, and your learners will receive a calculated result. We will do everything we can to support your learners in this process but must draw your attention to our previous communication which stated that

any data received after the extended deadline would not be subject to a guarantee of a result being issued by the published results release date. If you have any further queries, please contact us.

Call 0191 239 8000 Email [email protected] Live chat www.ncfe.org.uk

Contents Introduction .......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 3

The Portal ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 4

How do I create a new user?......................................................................................................................................................................... 5

Submitting Centre Assessed Grades (CAGs) ....................................................................................................................................................... 6

Finding your learners .................................................................................................................................................................................... 9

Graded Qualifications ................................................................................................................................................................................. 10

Qualifications with Ranking ......................................................................................................................................................................... 11

Ungraded Qualifications .............................................................................................................................................................................. 12

Expected Learner Outcomes....................................................................................................................................................................... 13

Declarations ....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 16

Evidence declaration ................................................................................................................................................................................... 16

Evidence Declaration Text for Information................................................................................................................................................... 19

Head of Centre declaration ......................................................................................................................................................................... 21

Head of Centre Declaration Text for Information ......................................................................................................................................... 22

Check previous submitted and banked grades ................................................................................................................................................... 24

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.ncfe.org.uk/

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Introduction

To access the new Centre Assessed Grades area of the Portal please log in using your normal username and password. Adding new users

If you need to add new users please do this as soon as possible, following the guide below.

If you have not registered your learners, please do this in the normal way no later than 24 June 2020.

Please do this in line with your own GDPR processes.

Eligibility timeframe for learners accessing the estimation process

Learners eligible for these extraordinary measures will be those that were expected to be ready for assessment between 20 March and 31 July 2020. Evidence

It is expected that you will have evidence to prove that the learners would have been ready for assessment and this may be checked as part of our Quality Assurance process.

Failure to produce evidence as part of our Quality Assurance process could result in a Malpractice investigation (see policy).



https://www.qualhub.co.uk/policies-documents/mandatory-policies-and-fees/

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The Portal

The Portal is a secure website which will now allow you to submit Centre Assessed Grades (CAGs) for your learners. Please be aware that if there’s 30 minutes or more of inactivity the Portal will time out and you’ll be prompted to log back in. The Portal can be found at the following address https://portal.ncfe.org.uk.

The link can also be found under the login areas of our websites;

www.ncfe.org.uk

www.cache.org.uk

www.qualhub.org.uk

For the best user experience please use the chrome browser.



https://portal.ncfe.org.uk/


http://www.cache.org.uk/

http://www.qualhub.org.uk/

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How do I create a

new user? The Portal Admin user is the person who will create new user accounts for your centre. To set up a new user go to My Account then Manage Users. Click on Create a new user. To create a new user, you will need the following information:

• Full name • Email Address • Username – Please use the user’s email address • Permissions – you can choose which permissions each user will have

Once all the fields have been completed and permissions have been selected, select Save. The user will receive an email to the registered address with a link to follow. This link will activate the new account with the new username. Once activated, another email will be received asking the user to change their password. You can edit users in this screen by selecting Edit next to the appropriate user account. This will allow you to change the full name, email address and permissions of the user. You’ll also be able to delete users from the Portal using the Delete button. It is your responsibility to make sure your users are correct.



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Submitting Centre Assessed Grades (CAGs)

Once you have logged into the Portal you will see a banner on the home page. Once you click ‘Enter here’ you’ll be taken to the new area.



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The homepage will give you a brief over view of the CAGs process. You can find out more information in the user guide or click ‘Submissions’ to start the process.



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Finding your

learners

Once you click ‘Submissions’ you’ll be taken to the next screen where you can select the Qualification, Session and Unit. You can then apply the grades to your learners.

A list of your learners will then be displayed, if you’d like you can filter your list of learners using the Forename, Surname and Batch searches.



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Graded

Qualifications

Qualifications which are graded will look like the examples below. Once you click on the grade this will turn blue. When you have made your selection please remember to save your CAGs. If you want to remove a grade selected just click back on the highlighted grade and it will be removed.



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Qualifications with Ranking

When you need to give us a rank order for a component, the column will be displayed and you’ll be able to enter this information. You can use the tab key to move down your learners.



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You may find this link helpful for guidance in providing centre assessment grades, especially in terms of meeting responsibilities in relation to equalities.

NB If you submit CAGs for NEA units where results are already banked, they will not be considered.

Ungraded Qualifications

If it is a unit which has an Achieved or Pass grade it will look like this. You can see further information about the unit (such as mandatory, optional or has credit) just under the unit code.



https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/885337/Guidance_on_objectivity_in_grading_and_ranking_15MAY2020.pdf

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Expected Learner Outcomes

As part of your submission you need to let us know if you expect your learners to be awarded a Full Certificate, Partial Certificate or are a Mid-Flight learner.



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You can access

these using the outcomes option in the top right.

Once you click ‘outcomes’ you’ll be taken to the next screen where you can select the Qualification, Session. You can then apply the expected outcome to your learners. If you are expecting a Full Certificate for your learner please select ‘Full’, if you expect a Partial Certificate please select ‘Partial’. If you are not expecting any certificate this summer then please select ‘Mid-flight’.



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Declarations

As part of the Centre Assessed Grades (CAGs) process you need to complete an Evidence Declaration per qualification level and an overall Head of Centre (HoC) declaration. Head of Centre declaration will be released on 08 June 2020.

You can access these using the declarations option in the top right.

The evidence declaration and Head of Centre declaration are on separate tabs at the top of the Declaration screen as shown below:

Evidence declaration

Please only complete this once ALL learners have had CAGs and expected outcomes submitted. Find the qualification you’d like to sign and click ‘sign off’. It is important that you read the declaration, enter your full name, email address, any comments and tick the declaration before agreeing.



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Evidence Declaration Text for Information

You should be able to respond Yes / Agree to the following numbered statements. If you respond No to any of the statements, please state why and provide as much detail as possible in the comments box below. For all learners on the qualification / component that I am responsible for, the following statements apply:

1. I have only provided a Centre Assessed Grade (CAG) where I believe that the learner would most likely have completed the

component if teaching and learning had continued as planned for the remaining components of the qualification (both

internal and external).

2. A CAG has been submitted for all learners who were expected to have completed a component of assessment between 20

March and 31 July 2020.

This may include:

learners who have not previously attempted an assessment

learners who have a banked result for the component but would have been booked for a resit in the 2019-20

academic year

learners who have not yet completed an internal assessment but would have completed the assessment or unit(s)

during the time frame specified

learners you expected to attempt the assessment but not achieve a grade - you should submit a grade of Not Yet

Achieved or Fail for these learners.

3. This CAG takes into account any reasonable adjustment that would be made to the assessment in respect of a learner with

a disability.

4. I have included a rank order if submitting a CAG for a numerically marked external assessment.

5. Only staff with experience of teaching that component to the learner provided their CAG.

6. At least one piece of valid evidence (see guidance) per learner was used to reach a judgement.

7. I hold evidence on the types of evidence used for the component and have provided a brief description of this in the

comments box below (this will be retained if necessary for QA activity).



https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/887046/Guidance_Summer_2020_results_for_vocational__technical_and_other_qualifications_22MAY2020.pdf

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8. I have

followed a process to ensure that all CAGs submitted are evidence based and as far as possible, free of any bias. This is in

reference to any learner with a protected characteristic or any other factor (for example character, appearance, social

background or special educational needs) that does not relate to their knowledge, skills and abilities in the subject. This can

be made available to NCFE upon request. Any concerns about equality for any learner(s) should be detailed in the

comments box below.

9. I have considered safe storage, data requirements and GDPR during this process.

10. I have included a description of any factors which account for divergence between historic grade profile and the grade profile

of the CAGs in the comments box below.

11. For Functional Skills – I have understood and considered the pass descriptors for the component being submitted (where

applicable).

12. I understand that failure to have completed all of the above, or intentionally providing incorrect responses, may result in a

malpractice investigation.



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Head of Centre declaration

The Head of Centre declaration tab provides a reminder of the steps required before sign off. It is important that you read the declaration, enter your full name, email address and tick the declaration before agreeing.



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Head of Centre Declaration Text for Information

You should be able to say Yes / Agree to the following numbered statements:

1. I have read, understood, and considered the Ofqual publication ‘Guidance for Heads of Centre, Heads of Department and

teachers on objectivity in grading and ranking (May 2020)’.

2. Only suitably qualified and experienced staff who taught the learner for the relevant component were involved in estimating

that learner’s results.

3. All staff involved in estimating results have been briefed on the process as outlined in NCFE and Ofqual’s guidance

documents, and are familiar with the requirements and associated materials to support the process.

4. At least one piece of valid evidence per learner was used to support judgements.

5. Sufficient valid evidence was retained before any CAGs were submitted, and this evidence is available to support the

process.

6. As far as possible, where more than one member of staff was involved in teaching an individual learner for any component,

those members of staff worked together to agree a CAG.

7. Where more than one member of staff was responsible for teaching a component, they worked together to standardise their

CAGs and ensure a consistent approach was followed.

8. I understand that in certain cases, NCFE may determine that the minimum evidential threshold has not been reached. This

includes where there is little or no banked unit data, CAGs are not possible, and/or there is little opportunity or evidence to

support the generation of CAGs / support the QA process.

9. Teacher judgements have taken into account any reasonable adjustment that would be made to the assessment in respect

of a learner with a disability.

10. Teacher judgements were evidence based and, as far as possible, free of any bias. This is in reference to any learner with a

protected characteristic or any other factor (for example character, appearance, social background or special educational

needs) that does not relate to their knowledge, skills and abilities in the subject. This can be made available to NCFE upon

request



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11. I have

overseen a sense check, comparing the numbers and proportions of individual grades and pass and fail CAGs for each

component, with expectations about how each cohort of learners would perform under normal circumstances.

12. I have considered safe storage, data requirements and GDPR during this process.

13. I understand that failure to have completed all of the above, or intentionally providing incorrect responses, may result in a

malpractice investigation. This could then lead to the disqualification of some or all learners, centre sanctions, or further

escalation if required.

14. I understand that NCFE will carry out a full quality review of all submitted CAGs, and that if concerns are identified, may contact centres for further investigation. This may require submitting the evidence used, providing additional information, or reviewing and resubmitting some or all CAGs. I understand that if NCFE’s concerns cannot be resolved and they are unable to release a calculated grade for some or all learners, adaptation or delay may be unavoidable.



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Check previous submitted and banked grades

To check the status of previous submitted and banked grades log in to the Portal and select ‘Submit Grades’ from the navigation bar then search for your learners, don’t forget to click on the unit to want to view.

If a grade has been submitted and has not been banked yet through the External Quality Assurance (EQA) process, it will show as

locked.

If a learner has been banked following the External Quality Assurance (EQA) process it will look like this, B means this is a banked grade.



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Documents

Submitting Centre Assessed Grades (CAGs) - ncfe.org.uk · Page 4 of 21 The Portal The Portal is a secure website which will now allow you to submit Centre Assessed Grades (CAGs) for