Moderation
To ensure the accuracy, quality and impartiality when it comes to the assessment and reporting of a student’s work. As teachers may often mark their own students’ work, this is ensured through the ICCE moderation process.
Internal Moderation
Each school or home education academy (HEA) must have access to an ICCE-trained internal moderator. The internal moderator may be a teacher at the school/HEA, a national moderator or an independent consultant who is engaged by the school/HEA for the purpose of moderation.
The internal moderator is responsible for the quality assurance of the assessment and academic processes in a school/HEA and also moderates a sample of the tests marked by the First Line Marker (FLM), responding to any discrepancies found while moderating.
Internal moderation ensures that all marking within a school is consistent and impartial, so that no student is treated unfairly.
Identifying Internal Moderators
Moderation may only be performed by an ICCE-trained moderator, who has been approved by ICCE as the official moderator for a country, school or HEA. Facilitating the moderation of the tests of home-educated students is the responsibility of the HEA with which the student is enrolled.
The designated internal moderator must have:
- Training in and experience of the A.C.E. Programme and test marking
- The ability to pay attention to detail
- Attended, completed and passed the ICCE QA and Procedures Training and Moderation tests before they may be appointed as Moderator
The certification to act as an ICCE internal moderator is linked to a particular registered ICCE entity and is not transferrable to another entity without the prior approval of the ICCE Office.
Internal Moderation Process
The internal moderator moderates one test out of a unit of six tests and two tests out of a unit of twelve tests. All units in a certificate level must be moderated. The PACEs to be moderated will be selected at random. Only the original test may be moderated. A copied PACE test will not be accepted, unless approval is granted by the ICCE Office.
For details on recording moderation, refer to the ICCE Procedures Manual.
Where an internal moderator discovers inconsistencies or inaccuracies in the marking, the moderator will follow the appropriate procedures for managing deviation. Where applicable, 100% test moderation may be required. The ICCEL Board reserves the right to refuse to issue a certificate to a student where 100% moderation of a unit is needed.
The internal moderator is also responsible to provide feedback and, where necessary, remediation to first line markers (FLMs) when errors are found. A full description of the role of the internal moderator is available here.