There is some flexibility in GO 4 Schools as to how the current grade is displayed in vocational markbooks. By default, the current grade will be calculated following formal BTEC/NVQ/OCR rules, (i.e. the student will not be shown with a current grade of Pass or higher until they have sufficient points across the core units, have a grade reported for each unit in the permitted combination of units, with the minimum number of points across all permitted units achieved). However, you may want to display how students are progressing with their current work before they have reached this stage. Two independent features in GO 4 Schools allow you to tailor how the current grade is calculated:
- Teacher's minimum unit grade: The teacher can specify a minimum grade that each student should be considered to have earned in each unit. This allows a student to be given a grade of Pass, for instance, if they have started a unit but not yet completed all of the Pass learning outcomes for the unit. Note: the teacher specifies a minimum grade; if a student exceeds this minimum grade by completing all of the learning outcomes for a higher grade, the higher grade is used.
- Scaling the credits and points threshold to consider only started units: This functionality allows the calculation of the current grade to use scaled credits and points scores which take into account only the units the student has started. For example, imagine a qualification consisting of 10 units worth 5 credits each, with the student earning 5 points per credit for a “Pass” in a unit, 6 for a “Merit” and 7 for a “Distinction”. The pass threshold will be 50 credits, and the point scores for Pass, Merit and Distinction will be 250 (50 credits x 5 points per credit), 300 (50 credits x 6 points per credit) and 350 (50 x 7 points per credit) respectively. If a student has started just 2 units, the revised calculation will require them to have earned just 10 credits and points of 50 (10 credits x 5 points per credit), 60 (10 credits x 6 points per credit) and 70 (10 x 7 points per credit) for an overall “Pass”, “Merit” and “Distinction”. I.e. the credits and points threshold are scaled down to reflect the fact that they have covered just one fifth of the course.
When used together, these two features allow you to have more control over how grades for units are calculated and how the overall grade is calculated.
Warning: If you use these features you may be able to overlook students who have:
- Been given a minimum grade for a unit of Pass by the teacher but who have not actually completed all of the Pass learning outcomes. Although this may be the desired outcome early in a unit, it may be a significant problem later in a unit.
- Have not completed enough units to earn enough credits to pass the qualification.
These assist teachers see where a minimum grade is being applied, the marksheet title is flagged, and each student has an individual flag. If the grade is not flagged, then the student has achieved or surpassed the minimum grade.
We recommend using these features with care. You should consider:
- Removing the Teacher's minimum unit grade when units should be completed.
- Switching to the default calculation of the overall current grade towards the end of a course.
To enable/disable the scaling of credits and points, the option is at the top of a vocational type 1 markbook next to the label Current grade calc.:
