Principal Moderator - GCSE - Design & Techonology 1DT0_02

Pearson; Greater London; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 85,000; Full time

Job summary

Pearson is seeking a GCSE Design & Technology Principal Moderator to ensure internal assessments meet standards and align with the unit specification and assessment criteria. The role involves setting coursework tasks, standardising moderation, and collaborating with the Chief Examiner to ensure consistent marking across centres.

You will oversee a team of moderators and team leaders, train visiting moderators, and prepare materials for standardisation.

Qualifications

• Qualified teacher with UK school-based teaching experience in Design and Technology.
• Experience and knowledge of quality assurance and assessment practice.
• History of moderation and/or moderating a regulated qualification.
• Knowledge of GCSE Design and Technology specification including internal and external assessment requirements.
• Excellent communication skills.
• Proven ability to provide and coordinate training such as standardisation and other standards-related activities.
• Ability to provide examples of when you have led or supported essential quality assurance activities.
• Experience in a senior position in Pearson or another awarding organisation (e.g. Chair, Chief Examiner, Principal Moderator, Assistant Principal Moderator or Team Leader experience).

Responsibilities

• Take full responsibility for the award of your allocated unit(s).
• Monitor the standards of assistant principal moderators in your team.
• Produce assessment materials as required by the Code of Practice.
• Ascertain the accuracy of each centre's assessment of candidate work.
• Ensure familiarity with the standard of work for previous years' grades.
• Attend awarding meetings and advise on preliminary mark ranges.
• Ensure samples of candidate work are available for reference.
• Remoderate work and prepare reports on results inquiries (EARs).
• Complete a report on each examination series if required.
• Advise on appointment and training of leaders/moderators.
• Submit E10 evaluation reports to the Chief Examiner.

Skills

Quality assurance

Moderation experience

Leadership experience

Communication skills

Training coordination

Education

Qualified teacher in Design & Technology (UK)

Tools

IT proficiency

Job description

GCSE Design & Technology Principal Moderator

A GCSE Design & Technology Principal Moderator ensures that internally assessed units meet the required standard and are consistent with the unit specification and assessment criteria. Principal Moderators are responsible to the Chief Examiner for the setting of coursework tasks and the standardising of coursework moderation.

Responsibilities

• Take full responsibility for the award of your allocated unit(s).
• Monitor the standards of assistant principal moderators in your team.
• Produce any assessment materials as required by the Code of Practice relating to your allocated unit(s).
• Ascertain the accuracy of each centre's assessment of candidate work, checking that their application of assessment criteria is in line with overall standards of the examination.
• Ensure that you are fully conversant with the overall standard of work associated with particular grades in previous years.
• Attend the awarding meeting, advise members on how the unit functioned and recommend preliminary ranges of marks for the judgemental grade boundaries.
• Ensure enough samples of candidates' work at the proposed range of marks are available to the awarding committee for reference.
• Be responsible to the Chief Examiner for the setting of assessment tasks and the standardising of their moderation, where required.
• Contribute to the training/re‑training of visiting moderators and support the senior team in the collection of relevant training and standardisation material.
• Assist in the collation and preparation of training materials for new moderator training and standardisation meetings.
• Contribute to, and support the process for, effective standardisation of all team leaders and moderators.
• Conduct standardisation activities including standardisation of the marking of assistant principal moderators, team leaders and moderators, as appropriate.
• Report on the performance of moderators and team leaders after standardisation.
• Participate in post-standardisation review activities.
• Be directly responsible for a group of team leaders and indirectly responsible for their allocated moderators, or directly responsible in components where there are no team leaders.
• Monitor, support and advise the team leaders or moderators assigned to you, overseeing all aspects of their work. Contact moderators assigned to your team leaders where the team leaders have not been able to resolve concerns. Refer any concerns that remain unresolved to the Chief Examiner and/or QDAM.
• Maintain regular contact with Pearson and the Chief Examiner, giving feedback on the performance of your team.
• Re‑moderate work and prepare special reports on the work of groups of candidates, in connection with enquiries about results (EARs) of an examination within specified timescales to enable compliance with regulatory requirements.
• Complete a report on each examination series if required.
• Advise on the appointment, training and reappointment of team leaders and moderators for the qualification.
• Submit an E10 evaluation report on issues relating to the performance of your allocated unit each series (collated from team leader and moderator reports) to the Chief Examiner.

Experience/qualifications needed

• A qualified teacher, with UK school-based teaching experience, in Design and Technology.
• Experience and knowledge of quality assurance and assessment practice.
• History of moderation and/or moderating a regulated qualification.
• A comprehensive knowledge of the GCSE Design and Technology specification, including internal and external assessment requirements.
• Excellent communication skills.
• Proven ability to provide and coordinate training such as standardisation and other standards-related activities.
• Ability to provide examples of when you have led or supported essential quality assurance activities.
• Experience in a senior position in Pearson or another awarding organisation (e.g. Chair, Chief Examiner, Principal Moderator, Assistant Principal Moderator or Team Leader experience).

Desirable

• High level of IT proficiency.
• Leadership experience in delivering qualifications.
• Knowledge of regulatory compliance and requirements.
• Experience of report writing within a regulated industry.
• Experience with marking and awarding Design and Technology at this level is desirable.

Industry background required

• Design and Technology teaching, assessment and/or moderation experience.

Competencies required

• You will be a good communicator.
• You will have sound organisational skills.
• You will have the ability to work well under pressure.
• You will have the ability to meet deadlines.
• You will have the ability to support and develop moderators and team leaders.
• You will demonstrate strong attention to detail and consistency in maintaining assessment standards.

About Pearson

Welcome to Pearson, the world's leading learning company. We have a simple mission: to help people make more of their lives through learning.

We are the UK's largest awarding body and offer qualifications that are globally recognised and benchmarked, with educational excellence rooted in names like Edexcel, BTEC, EDI and LCCI.

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Closing date: 04 January 2027 at midnight