1. Technician Support Events
GCSE Sciences Practical Assessment Guidance
November 2018

2. Welcome & Introductions
Elaine Lennox
Subject Officer: GCSE Chemistry and Double Award Science
CHEMISTRY
Michelle McGaughey
Senior Technician: Cookstown High School

3. Welcome & Introductions
BIOLOGY
Matthew Coan
Technician: Glenlola Collegiate, Bangor
PHYSICS
Stephen Wilson
Technician: Ballymena Academy

4. Agenda Support Events for GCSE Sciences (for first teaching September 2017)
Subject Officer briefing - Elaine Lennox
General administration and conduct procedures
Support for the Chemistry discipline
Michelle McGaughey
Support for the Biology discipline
Matthew Coan
Support for the Physics discipline
Stephen Wilson
Q&A
Contact Details

5. Timelines
Practical unit - Separate Sciences: Unit 3; Double Award Science: Unit 7; Single Award Science: Unit 4
Centres are responsible for providing their own apparatus and materials to conduct the assessments
Apparatus and materials lists are delivered to schools in November
Practical Booklet A can be completed between the 2nd January and the first Friday in June

6. Structure of Practical Assessments
Practical Booklet A for GCSE Biology, Chemistry and Physics are all 2 hr assessments which must be completed in one session.
Single Award Science is a 2 hr session covering only 2 random Science disciplines annually.
Double Award Science is three separate 1 hr sessions (1 per discipline) and can be completed at different times
All questions are mandatory and must be completed by all candidates.
The practical assessments are tiered so there will be preparation for both foundation and higher tier candidates.

7. Confidentiality
You will need to discuss the following issues with your HoD:
Which teachers will be required to trial the practical in advance?
How are the candidates arranged in the classroom to ensure they can work in groups to do the practical but work individually to complete Booklet A? 

8. Health and Safety
 Appropriate safety advice should be sought from CLEAPSS for the conduct of all practical tasks and discussed with the Head of Department in order to complete a Risk Assessment in advance of the practical sessions.

9. JCQ Regulations
All JCQ instructions for conducting examinations should be followed for this practical examination including displaying JCQ posters with examination information in the laboratory and removal of mobile phones. Posters should be available from your Examinations Officer.

10. Trialling and storing Booklet A
The Supervising Teacher may trial Booklet A three working days in advance of carrying the practical assessment with their class.
After the practical session is complete and the booklets are collected from the candidates, you may be required to help the Supervising Teacher collate the Booklets in order of candidate number (lowest to highest) and return them to the Examinations Officer for secure storage.

11. Completing Booklet A
Multiple sessions are permitted to accommodate all candidates within the centre.
Centres do not have to accommodate all their candidates to carry out the practical assessment on the same day.
The Supervising Teacher can decide in which order the candidates should attempt the practical tasks and can manage the session to accommodate the resources available within the centre.
 Foundation and Higher Tier candidates may carry out the practical assessment in the same room.

12. Invigilation
 An appropriate science teacher (known as the Supervising Teacher) must be present with an invigilator during the assessment to ensure compliance with health and safety regulations and deal with any technical difficulties that may arise unexpectedly.
An invigilator may be any adult in the employment of the school that is not the science teacher of the candidates, for example, this might be another teacher, science technician, teaching assistant.
The invigilator should remain with the candidates for the full duration of the assessment and must have read the regulations around invigilating examinations as outlined in JCQ Instructions for Conducting Examinations.

13. Controls for carrying out Booklet A
 Teachers and invigilators must not offer direction or guidance to candidates where this would assist them in completing Booklet A.  
Ideally candidates should work individually to carry out the practical tasks where this this can be accommodated by centres. However, candidates are permitted to work collaboratively in groups of up to three when carrying out the practical tasks.  

14. Biology Practical Skills Assessment (Double Award Biology and GCSE Biology only)
While the majority of Biology practicals will be able to be completed within the given time limit, there may be biological processes/reactions of some practical assessments which take longer than the time allocated to complete.
CCEA will provide candidates with a separate Practical Set-Up Instruction Sheet specific to such a practical. This sheet will detail the set-up of the practical and any initial recording that candidates may have to carry out at the point of set up.
Trialling for this type of practical is permitted three working days in advance the practical setup session.  

15. Special Consideration (SPC)
You will need to discuss the following issues with your HoD:
Individual candidate needs/special consideration
Any candidates needing extra time?
Will there be readers or scribes in the room?
Will there be classroom assistants in the room and what will be their role?

16. Michelle McGaughey – Cookstown High School
Chemistry

17. Planning for the practical assessment
Apparatus & Materials list released in November to HoD
Only the HoD will liaise with the Senior Technician(s) at this point
Using the list provided, plan logistically using resources available, number of candidates, staff availability and availability of laboratories

18. Confidentiality
Store the Apparatus and Materials list under lock and key when not in use
Ensure only the appropriate personnel have access to the prep room during the preparation phase

19. Exemplar – GCSE Chemistry SAMs

20. Question 1

21. Question 2

22. Questions to discuss with HoD:
Technician should check resources available in school and the dates on chemicals required and check that they are giving appropriate observations (eg. Flame test). Then identify any resource which needs to be ordered
Questions to discuss with HoD:
Will we require multiple sessions or multiple labs in the one session?
Identify suitable date and time for the session including set-up time the day before and clear up time on the day of the exam – the lab must be vacant
From the resources and/or instructions, identify how many candidates will work in each group

23. Now you can calculate the number of candidate stations required and needs to be prepared
If appropriate, the senior technician can brief other technician(s) on the requirements of the preparation for the practical assessment and identify a preparation schedule and roles and responsibilities
Using CLEAPSS guidelines, identify all hazards and health and safety precautions in a risk assessment

24. Preparing for the Practical Session
Make up appropriate quantities of solutions to the specified concentrations
Weigh out any solids which are required into individual glass vials
Label the chemicals as instructed by CCEA (this may be an unknown or name of chemical but will require Hazard labels)
These can be stored away securely until needed

25. At an appropriate time make up Gratnell trays for each individual station separately for Question 1 and Question 2 which can be stored on a trolley to be transferred to the lab
The Apparatus and Materials List should be regarded as a minimum requirement and can be tweaked to accommodate school resources and teaching methods etc
Ensure additional resources (apparatus and materials) are available for candidates on request eg. Breakages, spillages etc
Check all apparatus is working accordingly

26. Trialling the practical tasks
Each individual Supervising Teacher will have access to the Booklet A questions 3 working days in advance of the timetabled session in order to trial the experiments using the given methodology
Ensure resources are available for these trialling sessions
The technician(s) may work alongside the Supervising Teacher to:
ensure the practical works as stated
to organise appropriate classroom management strategies
to highlight any further risk assessment which should be discussed with candidates before the session
Get a set of results for emergency candidate use if they cannot get results to answer the questions
Ensure this booklet is returned to the Examinations Officer after trialling

27. Classroom Management
These issues should be discussed with the Supervising Teacher:
The order of questions being done eg. Will half the class do Q1 and the other half do Q2?
Special consideration candidates such as extra time, scribe or classroom assistants
Foundation and Higher Tier candidates

28. Set-up Day
Secure the lab – close blinds, black out windows on doors, cover wall displays and put a ‘no admittance’ sign on the door
Set up the stations for candidate groups
Ensure JCQ Examinations posters are in place
Ensure prep rooms which are holding equipment for the practical are not accessible to unauthorised students or staff. Windows blacked out.

29. On the day of the practical session…
Collect mobile devices
You may be required to be an invigilator alongside the Supervising Teacher but it is best that you are available to support teachers with additional apparatus and materials requests and emergencies
Clear up the lab and ensure this is done before other students enter the room again
Work with the Supervising Teacher to ensure that all used and unused Booklet A’s are returned to the Examinations Officer in ascending candidate number order

30. Absentees
Identify absentees and the need to keep resources to accommodate them
As our school is planning to run all candidates in one session, a mop-up session will be organised to accommodate absentees:
For one absentee, it would be appropriate to allow the session in an empty room with one Supervising Teacher
For multiple absentees, a lab can be set up to accommodate multiple disciplines and specifications

31. Matthew Coan – Glenlola Collegiate
BIOLOGY

32. When the list arrives Read it thoroughly and note what's needed
(Consumables, equipment)
Check if there is an extra set-up session needed (you will be informed on the Materials and Apparatus list)
Department meeting
(Discuss what the practical is, dates, risk assessment, if required, what is the time needed between the set-up session and the actual Practical Skills Examination)

33. Set up a trial (Its biology…)
Trial can be set up to three days before the actual examination or three days before the set-up session if required.
The Candidate Set-up Instruction sheet will be sent out to schools along with Booklet A at the beginning of December.

34. Example material list
(CCEA GCSE Biology SAMs)
Do you have enough mounted needles?
What crisps to use?
Do we have enough balances?

35. Other examples
Where can this be carried out?
When?

36. Preparing What rooms can you use? Preparing the room
(reduce disruption, well equipped)
Preparing the room
(cover posters, cover windows in doors)
Gratnell trays are invaluable
(material list per tray, organised mess)
Make extra sets
(absentees , missing equipment)

37. Set-up Session (if required)
Is the same room booked for both the set-up session and the actual examination?
Will the set-up session be in class time or are other classes being moved out?
Has the room been made ready in time for the set-up session as well as the exam?

38. On the day Material list 1 supervising teacher and 1 invigilator
(Check everything is there, have students check)
1 supervising teacher and 1 invigilator
(Technician)
Times up!
(Silence until papers collected)
Absentees
(Ensure extra sets, think about dates, prep room)

39. Stephen Wilson – Ballymena Academy
physics

40. Exemplar – GCSE Physics SAMs Advice for Technicians Where appropriate, or as instructed insure students wear safety glasses Ensure a specific risk assessment has been carried out for all equipment to be used Ensure sufficient equipment including spares has been ordered before the practical Pick the option which is correct for your centre

41. Experiment 1- Apparatus list

42. Booklet A

43. Experiment 2- Apparatus list

44. Booklet A

45. Questions to discuss with HoD: 1
Questions to discuss with HoD: 1. Do we have the equipment to run multiple sessions? 2. What order to conduct the practical to cause minimum disruption at changeover? (if appropriate) 3. Identify suitable date(s) and time(s) for the session including set-up time the day before and clear up time on the day of the exam – the lab must be secure / set up to JCQ requirements 4. From the resources and/or instructions, identify how many candidates will work in each group

46. Now you can calculate the number of candidate stations required and needs to be prepared If appropriate, the senior technician can brief other technician(s) on the requirements of the preparation for the practical assessment and identify a preparation schedule and roles and responsibilities Using CLEAPSS guidelines, identify all hazards and health and safety precautions in a risk assessment

47. Preparing for the Practical Session
Make up appropriate sets of apparatus
Label the apparatus as instructed by CCEA
If using multimeter for a specific function, fix and label up so it is clear what the functionality is.
If possible pre-prepare trolleys of equipment
These can be stored away securely until needed

48. At an appropriate time make up Gratnell trays for each individual station separately for Question 1 and Question 2 which can be stored on a trolley to be transferred to the lab
Ensure additional resources (apparatus and materials) are available for candidates on request eg. Breakages, failure etc
Check all apparatus is working accordingly in advance

49. Classroom Management
These issues should be discussed with the Supervising Teacher:
Will there be a new set up during the session for the second experiment at all stations? If so should the technician be floating?

50. ?
Q&A

51. Contact Details
Should any queries arise regarding the trialing, conduct and content of Practical Booklet A, please direct your queries to CCEA on the following basis: GCSE Biology and GCSE DAS Biology Edith Finlay - Subject Officer for Biology and Agriculture Tel ext GCSE Chemistry and GCSE DAS Chemistry Elaine Lennox - Subject Officer for Chemistry and Double Award Science Tel ext GCSE Physics, GCSE DAS Physics and SAS Gavin Gray - Subject Officer for Physics and Single Award Science Tel ext If your query is about the general administration of Booklet A, please direct your query to: Nuala Tierney - Specification Support Officer for the STEM Sector Tel ext. 2292

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