Centre Guidance on Teacher Assessed Grades (TAG) Guidance for Functional Skills

Thursday 12 August 2021

FUNCTIONAL SKILLS TAG UPDATE

All approved TAG results have been released in XAMS, these are visible to centres under ‘results’.

For those TAGs not approved by Skillsfirst, these have been ‘returned to centre’ in XAMS.

Skillsfirst will also return a revised version of the centres TAG submission spreadsheet confirming decisions for all learners / assessments. We will provide an explanation for our decisions based on the Reviewers feedback. 

Wednesday 30 June 2021

FUNCTIONAL SKILLS TAG UPDATE:

Functional Skills TAG results

Functional Skills TAG results will be confirmed to centres on or before Thursday 12th August 2021.

All approved TAG results will be released in XAMS, these will be visible to centres under ‘results’.

For those TAGs not approved by Skillsfirst, these will be ‘returned to centre’ in XAMS.

Skillsfirst will also return a revised version of the centres TAG submission spreadsheet confirming decisions for all learners / assessments. We will provide an explanation for our decisions based on the Reviewers feedback. 

Appeals and complaints

Skillsfirst has an Appeals Policy in place which explains that learners are only able to appeal internal assessment decisions with the centre, although it is possible, with Skillsfirst’s agreement, that the External Verifier could be the final point of arbitration.

Our normal Appeals and Complaints Policies apply to all Functional Skills TAG decisions, the policies can be located on our policies page of the website and in the documents area of QMIS.

Friday 30 April 2021

UPDATE: Teacher Assessed Grades (TAG) Guidance for Functional Skills

Further to our recent communications related to Teacher Assessed Grades (TAGS) for our Functional Skills qualifications, please find attached version 2 of Skillsfirst’s Guide to Teacher Assessed Grades for Functional Skills qualifications in 2021. This includes the process for submitting TAG results into the XAMS platform, as outlined in Section 5.1. For your ease of reference, all changes made to the content of this document since the previous version are highlighted in yellow.

We have also attached for your convenience:

Skillsfirst Guide to Teacher Assessed Grades for Functional Skills qualifications in 2021

Head of Centre declaration

Functional Skills TAG submission spreadsheet

Exemplar of the TAG spread sheet

FS TAG additional guidance document (to be used when completing the submission spreadsheet)

We would like to take this opportunity to remind you that Ofqual’s approach to Functional Skills assessments, in line with the directive from the Department for Education, is that all Functional Skills assessments should continue wherever possible, either face-to- face (where it is safe to do so, in line with Public Health England guidance) or via remote invigilation. Functional Skills Qualifications therefore offer a TAG option as a last resort only, for those learners that the centre expected to be entered for assessment between 1 August 2020 and 31 August 2021 only.

If you have any questions relating to the TAG process, please email [email protected]

Wednesday 14 April 2021

Teacher Assessed Grades (TAG) Guidance for Functional Skills

Further to our recent communications, we are pleased to share our Teacher Assessed Grades (TAG) Guidance for Functional Skills, which outlines the approach Skillsfirst is taking to TAGs for the remainder of the academic year 2020-2021.

We would like to take this opportunity to remind you that Ofqual’s approach to Functional Skills assessments, in line with the directive from the Department for Education, is that all Functional Skills assessments should continue wherever possible, either face-to- face (where it is safe to do so in line with Public Health England guidance) or via remote invigilation. Functional Skills Qualifications will therefore offer a TAG option as a last resort only, for those learners that the centre expected to be entered for assessment between 1 August 2020 and 31 August 2021 only.  Further information is provided in Skillsfirst’s guide to teacher assessed grades for FS qualifications 2021.

We have linked the following documents, to support you with the TAG process:

Skillsfirst Guide to Teacher Assessed Grades for Functional Skills qualifications in 2021

Head of Centre declaration

Functional Skills TAG submission spreadsheet

Exemplar of the TAG spread sheet

FS TAG additional guidance document (to be used when completing the submission spreadsheet)

Further information will be provided in relation to the process for submitting TAG results into the XAMS platform (referred to on page 15 in Skillsfirst’s guide to teacher assessed grades for FS qualifications 2021.

If you have any questions relating to the TAG process, please email [email protected]