Awarding body faces £300,000 fine after T-level exam paper ‘failings’

An awarding body could be fined £300,000 following issues with its health and science T-level exam papers.

NCFE, which offers vocational and technical qualifications, faces the penalty after Ofqual instructed the organisation to withdraw, recalculate and reissue around 1,200 exam results in summer 2022.

More than 700 students received amended grades following the intervention by England’s exams watchdog.

Ofqual intends to fine NCFE for failing to develop valid question papers for its healthcare, healthcare science, and science T-levels in summer 2022.

The notice of intention, published on Tuesday, sets out how interested parties might make representations before a final decision is made on the fine.

The first T-levels, the former Conservative government’s flagship technical qualification, were introduced in September 2020 and they are still being gradually rolled out in England.

The two-year courses, which are broadly equivalent to three A-levels, were developed to help meet the needs of industry and prepare students for work.

An Ofqual investigation into the performance of NCFE in 2022 identified a number of breaches of the rules which awarding organisations are legally required to follow.

These included failing to make sure the processes and procedures NCFE had in place to develop assessments were followed, as well as failures in the way it identified and managed risks that could affect assessment delivery.

A report from the watchdog, published in October 2022, concluded that there were “fundamental issues” with the T-level exam papers and their associated mark schemes – including question errors, inadequate mark schemes and questions covering areas not explicitly in the specification.

Ofqual said the cumulative effect of those issues meant that the assessments were “not fit for purpose and did not secure a sufficiently valid or reliable measure of student performance”.

​A further investigation found further breaches during last year’s summer exam series, when Ofqual concluded that NCFE experienced additional issues with assessment delivery and the management of some of the assessment evidence it received from colleges for T-levels.

The watchdog said NCFE had admitted the breaches of the conditions and accepted the fine.

It had committed to a multi-million-pound programme to improve its systems and processes to reduce the risk of similar issues happening again, Ofqual added.

Catherine Large, executive director of vocational and technical qualifications at Ofqual, said: “Where regulatory requirements are not met by an awarding organisation, we can and will step in and take the necessary action, including issuing significant fines such as this one.

“Students must have confidence in their results, whatever qualification they take. To achieve this, we set legally binding standards for all awarding organisations to adhere to.

“NCFE has co-operated throughout the enforcement process and accepts the outcome of our investigation and the fine.

“This is a serious case in which we identified major failings in 2022, and NCFE have been closely monitored by Ofqual since. I am pleased that they are committed to making significant improvements.”

David Gallagher, chief executive at NCFE, said: “We have apologised to students, providers, and parents for the issues that occurred with the delivery of the T-level assessments, which led to regulatory action.

“Since these incidents, we’ve taken a number of measures to ensure these issues do not happen again and so that all our qualifications and assessments going forward are of the highest standard.

“This has included, among other things, enhancing our quality-assurance processes, introducing a new risk-management system, bringing in additional experts and resources, and enhancing our training, guidance, and procedures.

“We look forward to working collaboratively with Ofqual on our robust action plan and further strengthening our commitment to quality.”

Kevin Gilmartin, post 16 specialist at the Association of Schools and College Leaders (ASCL), said: “The decision by Ofqual to fine NCFE seems to be an appropriate response to what was a very distressing situation for students and their teachers.

“Hundreds of students had studied for these new qualifications, full of optimism for a successful result and positive progression to the second year of their T-level. Through no fault of their own they ended up failing the exam and it was up to the schools and colleges to pick up the pieces.”