How to use candidate style work to support marking of the NEA units in Cambridge Nationals subjects
06 June 2023
Subject advisors from a range of Cambridge Nationals subjects have worked together to create this blog. We explain what candidate style work is and how teachers could use it to help the delivery of the new qualifications.
What is candidate style work?
Candidate style work is a resource that can be accessed by teachers through Teach Cambridge. The aim of the resource is to help with understanding of how NEA work could be marked using the marking criteria.
How and why was the resource created?
Candidate style work was created by senior assessors at OCR to give teachers an idea of how a student might tackle the tasks set out in the set assignment. It is not designed to act as a template or guide to how students should structure and produce work and does not in any way indicate an endorsed approach to creating an NEA task. As always, students are encouraged to produce work in the way they feel most comfortable.
You should use candidate style work alongside other resources to aid your understanding of the criteria and how work could be marked. It is also important to point out that, as stated at the front of the document, you should not share candidate style work with students and it should not be used as an exemplar or to submit as evidence.
Candidate style work vs candidate exemplar work
The key difference between these two types of resources are that candidate style work was written by an adult with subject expertise while candidate exemplar work has been completed and submitted by a student in an assessment series that has been through standardisation with our moderators.
When we launched the new Cambridge Nationals for first teach in 2022, we created candidate style work to help support your understanding of how marks could be applied in relation to the different mark bands. It’s important to note that we produced this resource using the sample set assignment and not using the live assignment that your students will work from. Also, not all tasks are covered, and grading is holistic.
Candidate exemplar work is produced using a selection of actual students’ work from the most recent assessment series. When candidates work is submitted for assessment, it goes through the standardisation process with the moderation team to make sure there’s a level playing field for all candidates. This ensures consistency across centres and that all work is marked to the same standard. Each year, exemplars will be released after a full assessment series has taken place.
How can candidate style work be used to support teachers?
Candidate style work is designed to support your understanding of how your students work could be marked against the marking criteria. You could use it:
- As part of a departmental meeting to support discussions around your students’ approach to the tasks in the set assignment and to develop a whole team understanding of the marking criteria.
- To refer to when marking your students’ work to make sure you can place your students in the correct mark band.
- To understand how any OCR-provided templates could be used by students to meet the marking criteria.
- To see how different command words that are listed in the specification and the NEA task are evidenced and to support your understanding of what each command word in a mark band means in practice.
- To understand common misconceptions that we think students may have within each task and to make sure you address these with students during the teaching and learning phase.
Limitations of candidate style work
Candidate style work is helpful for teachers; however, it is important to be aware of the limitations and any potential problems it could lead to.
- Plagiarism. There could be a risk that over reliance on candidate style work can lead to problems with plagiarism, as your student’s work may look too similar. Please be aware of this and importantly make sure all students are aware of the implications. The student guide to NEA can help with this.
- Narrow skill development. It is really important that you teach what is on the specification and then the students will be able to apply their knowledge to the set assignments. Overuse of the candidate style resource may limit your students’ ability to explore alternative approaches and styles that suit their learning needs.
- Limited understanding of the subject. If candidate style work is relied on too much, there is a possibility that candidates could focus more on replicating the format and structure of the candidate style work rather than truly understanding the subject and the concepts involved. This may result in superficial learning and a lack of depth when applying the subject content, which could hinder students’ progress.
A good understanding of these issues will help you get the best out of the resources and avoid the possible pitfalls.
Support available
We have lots of other resources available to support you in your delivery of Cambridge Nationals subjects. Here’s a list of some of those available, but please check the subject page of Teach Cambridge for any other subject-specific resources and updates.
Stay connected
If you have any questions, you can email us at vocational.qualifications@ocr.org.uk or support@ocr.org.uk, call us on 01223 553998 or tweet us @ocrexams. You can also sign up to subject updates to keep up-to-date with the latest news, updates and resources.