Moderator (also known as assistant moderator)

Role

Moderators are appointed by the awarding body to moderate centres' marking of candidates' work for a particular internally assessed component. They do this by re-marking a sample of work from each centre using the agreed assessment criteria for that component.

Moderators are required to follow the awarding body's procedures throughout the moderation process. The moderation period usually extends for several weeks after the deadline for the submission of centres' coursework marks to the awarding body and to the moderator. Moderators require good self-discipline in order to complete their allocation of work in time to meet the awarding body's deadlines whilst also meeting the professional and administrative requirements set by the awarding body.

Training and supervision

Moderators are trained by means of attendance at a standardisation meeting, run by the principal moderator for their component. They then carry out their moderation at home or by visiting centres, depending on the nature of the work to be moderated. Throughout the moderation period they work under the supervision of a senior moderator, who monitors their work and communicates with them via post, email and/or telephone. In the case of visiting moderation, the senior moderator will accompany the moderator on one or more visits in order to monitor their work.

Moderation procedures

Having received the centres' marks, the moderator requests a representative sample of work from each centre for re-marking. In the case of visiting moderation, the moderator specifies which candidates' work should be available for inspection during the moderation visit. After re-marking the sample of work, the moderator decides what course of action to take. They may agree the centre's marks or decide that the marks need to be scaled (ie adjusted up or down) to bring them into line with other centres. They may request a further sample of work to inform their judgement or, if they strongly disagree with the centre's marking, they may ask the centre to re-mark some or all of its candidates and then repeat the moderation process. (The process described in this paragraph may vary in some details across awarding bodies, but the principle remains the same.)

After moderating each centre, the moderator sends all the relevant documentation to the senior moderator who is monitoring their work. This includes a report to the centre on its coursework and standard of marking.

Qualifications

A moderator is usually an experienced teacher of the subject concerned at the relevant level e.g. a GCSE History moderator will normally have at least two or three years' experience of teaching History at GCSE level, although not necessarily in the specification concerned.

Moderators are appointed for one examination session at a time and are normally re-appointed for subsequent sessions if their work has proved acceptable and if there is sufficient work to be done.