English Speaking Board (International) Ltd

Author: Liam Morton

  • Centre update 5: update for centres offering Speech assessments in summer 2020

    We are writing to you to update you about the Extraordinary Regulatory Framework that is in place for assessments that would have taken place between 20th March and 31st July 2020. We are still waiting for Ofqual’s final guidance, but we wanted to update you about what we know so far, taking into account your expressions of interest and communications with us in the last few weeks.

    What qualifications are going to be awarded on the basis of calculated grades?

    ESB International (Ltd) is going to use calculated centre assessments for ESOL Skills for Life and for qualifications for learners with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.

    What assessments are going to be adapted?

    We propose to use adapted assessments for the following Speech qualifications:

    • ESB Level 1 Award in Speech (Grades 1, 2, 3)
    • ESB Level 2 Certificate in Speech (Grades 4, 5)
    • ESB Level 3 Certificate in Speech (Grade 6, 8)
    • ESB Level 3 Award in Travel and Tourism Oral Communication Skills for Overseas Resort Representatives
    • ESB Level 4 Award in Professional Presentation Skills
    • ESB Level 1, 2, 3 Awards in Using Oral Skills for Interviews
    • ESB Entry Level Award in Graded Examinations in Speech (Entry 1, 2, 3) (EAL-A1, A2, B1)
    • ESB Level 1, 2, 3 Awards in Debating
    • ESB Level 1 Award in Group Speaking
    • ESB Level 1 Award in Oral Skills for School Interviews

    Our aim is to support our centres so that as many learners as possible can take their assessments this term given the current situation. We will be contacting all of our centres after half term by phone to see how we can support you and your learners.

    What is adaptation going to look like?

    As a centre you need to consider which form of adaptation would allow your students to complete their assessment.
    We are considering three possible forms of adaptation:
    1) Asynchronous assessment where you film your learners performing their assessments, with a teacher acting as interlocutor and facilitating the interactive phase of the assessment, and you submit the videos to us for assessment. This would be for a situation when you and the learners can be at school together, but an external assessor is not permitted to come in. ESB would provide scripts and guidance for teachers acting as interlocutors.
    2) Synchronous assessment set up by the centre using video conferencing software, with all the participants and the assessor working remotely.
    3) Asynchronous assessment for more independent learners who are still based at home. This would include a calculated component for the interactive stages of the assessment when the learners are expected to demonstrate their listening skills. ESB would provide guidance for centres for filming and separate guidance for teachers to submit their calculated grade for the learners’ interactive skills

    The assessor will complete a report form as usual and results and certification will have the same value as the qualification taken under the usual Regulatory Framework.

    What guidance will there be?

    We will be providing guidance on:

    • how to facilitate and conduct your assessments
    • accommodating learners with special educational needs and disabilities
    • technical requirements such as filming, uploading video
    • guidance where teachers will need to submit calculated grades for learners interactive skills
    • additional documentation that you need to collect – consent forms, etc.

    What can centres do at the moment?

    You and your learners can start choosing your prepared texts, and preparing for the assessment. You can think about the dates for your assessment and which learners you will be registering, and you can book and register them in the usual way on our system. We do not anticipate the adapted assessments beginning
    before the middle of June.

    Our aim is to support our centres so that as many learners as possible can take their assessments this term given the current situation. We will be contacting all of our centres after half term by phone to see how we can support you and your learners.

    What if I have a question?
    Please send your questions to product@esbuk.org

  • Centre update 4: ESOL Skills for Life centre update

    Skills for Life and Ofqual’s Extraordinary Regulatory Framework

    Frequently Asked Questions

    Timelines

    Q: When will we know exact requirements?

    These will be finalised by the end of May at the latest. We are currently in the process of developing a centre guidance document, which will provide further detail on types and strength of evidence and the process for calculating results. The Ofqual consultation ended on 8th May, so we cannot provide any final guidance until the outcomes of the consultation are fully established.

    Bookings

    Q: Does this apply only to assessments that were cancelled in March, or for the rest of the academic year as well?

    ESB International first wishes to focus on the cancelled exams for March, therefore these would take priority for both centres and for us, as and when any calculated results are submitted.

    Once you have calculated results for March, we suggest you start to plan for any further cancelled or up-and-coming exams.

    Q: We had booked an exam date in June. I do not think this will work for our school this year unfortunately as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Will there be any charge for cancellation of that booking as it was made just before lockdown?

    Until we release our summer rules, we will not be sending out any cancellation charges.

    Q: If we book exams in July and the centre is unable to re-open and run them due to continuing social distancing measures, are these likely to be automatically put for calculated results as well?

    The Extraordinary Regulatory Framework is in place for all assessments which should have taken place between 20th March and 31st July 2020.

    Q: We had a few students who cancelled their exam due to covid-19, as they wanted to get back to their home country before the lockdown took effect, so exams were cancelled by us not you, would this still apply to the calculated results?

    If learners have not been able to take their assessments because of the COVID-19 situation and there is sufficient evidence for teachers to be able to confidently predict what they would have achieved, had they taken their assessments, then they should be put forward for a calculated grade.

    Q: Our exam dates are in the cancelled section but to register I need to create a new booking and it doesn’t allow me to do this.

    Our IT team is currently working on the best solution for centres with cancelled assessments, i.e. whether we can reinstate them or if they need to be re-registered.

    Q: What is the process for registering learners on ESOL Skills for Life reading and writing exams? Can we enter them now and they receive a calculated grade? Or are we expected to enter once schools reopen, should this be before the end of the summer term?

    Our centre guidance document for estimating results will include the process for registering learners and putting forward learners’ calculated results.

    I would recommend waiting for further guidance, which we are hoping will be available before the end of May, before registering any learners.

    Calculating results

    Q: What evidence will we be expected to submit for our learners?

    Centres are required to make available suitable evidence that supports their calculated grade decisions, should they be requested by ESB International for quality assurance purposes. We recognise that evidence will vary across centres and there may be some challenges in accessing certain pieces of evidence.

    Until Ofqual’s consultation outcomes have been published, we cannot release our final guidance on this, however we expect that learner evidence will likely be in one or more of the following forms:

    Mock exam results Previous achievement of Skills for Life Awards by the learner Lesson observations
    Evidence from formative assessments, e.g. completed assessment checklists and teacher feedback Predicted results Schemes of work/lesson plans
    Individual Learning Plans Teacher profiles of individual learners
    Class work/homework Initial assessments and diagnostic assessments

     

    ESB International may determine that it is unable to issue a calculated result which has sufficient validity and reliability to meet one or more of the principles of the extraordinary regulatory framework.

    In addition to evaluating evidence of a group of learners, ESB International must also consider whether there are some learners, but not others, for whom the available evidence does not meet the minimum threshold.

    Q: Will ESB International consider anything else in addition to learner evidence?

    Yes, ESB will also compare performance against previous years’. We will also look each centre’s current risk profile.

    Q: Who is responsible for submitting the centre judgements for the calculated results?

    The Centre manager or curriculum lead is responsible for collating all the entries for that centre.

    Q: Is it possible to nuance predicted results for individual members of staff?

    The centre coordinator or manager is responsible for collating the judgements for all the learners in that cohort or booking with the understanding that if the centre pass rate is usually 80% over the whole year, for example, then we would expect a similar achievement rate for the 2020 cohort, overall.

    Q: We are continuing with online classes though of course not all learners have been able to continue. What are the options for these learners to receive accreditation? Would these learners still be entitled to partake in the internal assessment procedures you detailed? And if so, are there any limitations regarding e.g. numbers of hours studied etc.?

    Ultimately, centres (teachers) will need to use their professional judgement to decide on whether they feel they could safely and with confidence, predict the most likely outcome if a learner were to have taken their assessments. If that judgement cannot be made, then the learner should not have their results calculated.

    If centres and teachers feel they can make that judgement and there is sufficient evidence available to justify their calculated grade, then they should be put forward for a calculated grade. As noted above, further guidance on what this evidence will entail will be made available to centres once the Ofqual consultation has been finalised.

    Centres can make the decision to delay an assessment for a learner, if there is insufficient evidence.

    Q: Does ESB International think that tutor assessment will include work learners have done in the online version of our courses? Most but not all have been able to continue studying remotely with our tutors. Will their assessment include this work or will we be only looking at stuff up to lockdown?

    Any learner work that provides evidence towards the centre’s judgement on their calculated results will be considered. There is no cut-off date for when this work was completed/assessed.

    Q: I’ve seen some AOs are planning to use online assessment for S&L. Is that something ESB International is considering?

    Ofqual have confirmed that our ESOL Skills for Life qualifications should use the mitigation of calculating results, therefore providing an online assessment for speaking and listening, which would be adaptation, is not something ESB International is considering at this point.

    For any further information, please contact us at product@esbuk.org and a member of the team will be in touch as soon as possible.

  • Centre Update 3: Speech centre update

    Dear Speech Centre Organiser,

    On 9th April, the UK Government set out how it expects vocational and technical qualifications (VTQs) to be assessed and awarded during the current pandemic, when schools and colleges have been closed to help prevent the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19). ESB International’s qualifications fall under this cohort guidance.

    Ofqual asked awarding organisations to compile a list of qualifications they offer and what their mitigation approach would be, i.e. how they plan to support learners and centres with getting final results. These options include:

    • Safely estimate or calculate results to issue to students
    • Adapt assessments so that they can be taken in different contexts but still safely and validly measuring the same skills, knowledge and understanding
    • Delay/reschedule (only used as a last resort).

    On 24th April Ofqual opened a consultation on its Extraordinary Regulatory Framework, which includes qualifications available for public funding that fall into one of three categories:

    • Qualifications where the primary use is to progress to FE/HE
    • Qualifications where there is a mixed use to progress to FE, HE or employment
    • Qualifications where the primary use is to provide a License to Practise/access to a profession or certificate of occupational competency.

    The consultation will close on the 8th May and a final list of qualifications in scope for the purposes of the framework will be published after that time. 

    Potential impact for ESB International’s Speech assessments 

    It is likely that speech assessments will need to be adapted  whilst centres are still closed or restrictions still in force that prevent a group assessment in a physical situation (subject to the final outcome of the Ofqual consultation).  

    What may be the potential adaptations if centres are still closed?

    • recording individual learners and submitting the recordings to ESB International to be graded by assessors – this maybe more suitable for younger learners
    • assessing a group live but using video conferencing software – this may be more suitable for older learners
    It is unlikely that we will be in a position to commence any adapted assessments until mid June at the earliest, given Ofqual’s current timelines.

    Current Actions required of centres

    1. Please read the consultation document to understand the extraordinary framework – do please participate in the consultation which can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ofqual-consultation-on-awarding-vocational-and-technical-qualifications-in-summer-2020

    2. You do not need to cancel booked speech assessments until we communicate with you the position from Ofqual on how we may adapt assessments. 

    3. Do please respond to product@esbuk.org if you’re interested in having your learners assessed remotely. This doesn’t commit you to anything, but it would be very helpful for ESB to have a sense of what speech centres may be interested in exploring.

    Once the Extraordinary Regulatory Framework is enacted, ESB International  will  propose to its Speech centres how we may carry out adapted speech assessments. Thank you for your patience at this time as the sector establishes how we can carry out our work.

    Any questions should also be sent to product@esbuk.org   

    *Please note that we are running on a skeleton staff due to furloughing and will respond to any queries as quickly as we can.

  • Centre Update 2: For centres regarding Ofqual’s Consultation on its Extraordinary Regulatory Framework – Proposal for ESOL Skills for Life learners

    On 9th April, the UK Government set out how it expects vocational and technical qualifications (VTQs) to be assessed and awarded during the current pandemic, when schools and colleges have been closed to help prevent the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19).

    Ofqual asked for awarding organisations to compile a list of qualifications they offer that fall into one of those categories and what their mitigation approach would be, i.e. how they plan to support learners and centres with getting final results. These options include:

    • Safely estimate or calculate results to issue to students
    • Adapt assessments so that they can be taken in different contexts but still safely and validly measuring the same skills, knowledge and understanding
    • Delay/reschedule (only used as a last resort).

    On 24th April Ofqual opened a consultation on its Extraordinary Regulatory Framework, which includes qualifications available for public funding that fall into one of three categories:

    • Qualifications where the primary use is to progress to FE/HE
    • Qualifications where there is a mixed use to progress to FE, HE or employment
    • Qualifications where the primary use is to provide a License to Practise/access to a profession or certificate of occupational competency.

    Proposal for ESOL Skills for Life centres:

    Pending the final list of qualifications in scope, which will be published after the consultation ends on 8th May, ESB International is proposing to calculate the results for our ESOL Skills for Life learners. After the Government’s position is finalised following the consultation, we will commence to contact centres that had cancelled assessments in March 2020 and commence the process for centres to calculate grades based on published trusted evidence criteria and subject to quality assurance checks by ESB International. Next, ESB International will move to call for bookings and registration of learners for the summer term assessments.

    We will send you detailed evidence criteria that may include use of evidence to calculate results such as:

    • Banked component marks and grades
      – Class work/homework, Initial assessments and diagnostic assessments
    • Internal assessment marks and grades not yet subject to Centre Assessment Standards scrutiny
      – Previous achievement of Skills for Life Awards by the learner, Individual Learning Plans, Formative  assessments
    • Information provided by centres in relation to likely performance
      – Predicted grades, Prior attainment data – Mock exam results, Teacher profiles of individual learners

    ESB International for quality assurance purposes will use evidence such as:

    • Historical centre data

    Current Action required of centres

    1. Please read the consultation document to understand the extraordinary framework – do please participate in the consultation
    2. Commence internal planning for calculated grades for the cancelled March assessments and review the potential sources of trusted evidence that you hold
    3. Commence planning for Summer Term cohorts and plan to gather learner registration data in readiness for booking

    Once the framework is enacted ESB International will commence communicating with you to implement calculated results for your learners.

    Any questions should be sent to product@esbuk.org

    Please note that we are running on a skeleton staff due to furloughing and will respond to any queries as quickly as we can.