Developing Examination Specifications

What is an examination specification?

Examination specifications (also known as syllabuses) are produced by awarding bodies in order to define clearly for teachers, examiners and awarding body staff exactly what is required in terms of the assessment of candidates for the award of the qualification concerned. A specification should make clear exactly what is to be assessed in terms of content and skills, how it is to be assessed and the way in which the outcomes (eg grades) will be determined.

When are specifications developed?

Developing specifications is a long and complex process that involves a range of awarding body staff and examining personnel. Sometimes the development of a new or revised specification is triggered by the perception that there is a need amongst teachers for such a qualification. The awarding body carries out thorough market research to determine exactly what is required before starting the development. In other cases the timetable for the development of specifications is set by QCA, so that all awarding bodies are producing new or revised specifications in particular subjects at a particular level (eg GCSE) at the same time. For example, all GCSE Science specifications were recently revised by all awarding bodies for first teaching September 2006.

Requirements and criteria

The framework for setting specifications is laid out in a number of QCA documents. Firstly there are general requirements or criteria which apply to all awarding body specifications. Then there are qualification-specific criteria which apply to all specifications in a particular qualification e.g. all GCSE qualifications or all GCE A Level qualifications. In addition to these there are, for most subjects, subject-specific criteria which determine many of the features of a specification in that subject at that level. So, for example, the GCSE Geography criteria lay down many of the basic features which are common to all GCSE Geography specifications.

Specification contents

All specifications are required to include the following information:

• a rationale for the specification as a whole and the approach taken to assessment
• the educational aims of teaching the specification to students
• the assessment objectives (knowledge, understanding and skills) to be assessed
• the scheme of assessment, including information about the examination components, their weightings, the type of assessment used in each component and the way the specification as a whole operates
• the subject content and how this relates to the specification components
• information on any internal or coursework assessment, including assessment criteria to be used by teachers marking their students' work
• grading procedures, explaining how the specification outcomes will be determined. In many cases this will include grade descriptions for the key grades to be awarded e.g. for Grades A, C and F at GCSE.

Most specifications also include guidance for teachers on teaching and assessing the subject content and on preparing students for the various components of the specification. All specifications must be accompanied by a full set of specimen assessment materials, eg question papers and mark schemes, for all the externally set components.

Specification development and approval

Awarding bodies usually engage experienced examining personnel to draft new or revised specifications and specimen assessment materials. Once the drafts have been produced, the materials are vetted by awarding body personnel before being submitted to QCA for approval. QCA personnel then check the submissions against the appropriate criteria in order to provide detailed feedback to the awarding body. In most cases QCA will require amendments to be made and the materials to be re-submitted at least once before final approval is granted.

Publication

Only then is the awarding body able to make arrangements for the new specification and specimen assessment materials to be published to teachers, normally via the awarding body website and in hard copy. The awarding body will normally aim to have approved materials available at least twelve months before teaching is due to start.