Quality Assurance / Governance of the IEB-ISC

Governance in respect of the conduct of the IEB-ISC will fit within the current governance structures of the IEB. Its implementation will follow the internal quality assurance systems that apply to the IEB’s other assessments, i.e. all systems, processes and procedures used in the conduct of the IEB-ISC will be the same as or comparable, as necessary, to those used in the implementation of other IEB assessments, including the NSC. 

The internal processes are to be complemented by our external quality assurance partner, namely Stellenbosch University – Unit for International Credentialling (SU-UIC) (visit website).

For the IEB, the external quality assurance process must:

  1. ensure the establishment and maintenance of consistent and appropriate academic standards in the individual subject areas (and then by implication, the qualification) each year; the key activities associated with this are external moderation and standardisation decisions in respect of cut-off scores or mark adjustments;
  2. verify that the IEB has applied appropriate quality assurance processes to conduct a credible examination each year; while actual physical monitoring is possible, this can be done through reports and strategies that are in place at the IEB and in the IEB-registered schools, e.g. security provisions;
  3. oversee that the certification process is authentic and free of manipulation in any way.

 

The oversight of the quality assurance of the International Secondary Certificate is through a committee, of 7 people, called the SU-UIC Quality Assurance Governance Committee, set up under the auspices of the SU-UIC. The members of the Governance Committee are highly respected experts in the education community.  Their key function is to verify that the results of the International Secondary Certificate are valid and reliable.

Terms of reference for the committee include the oversight, monitoring and appropriate decision-making in respect of the quality assurance of the International Secondary Certificate, namely:

  1. Interrogation of any changes in curricula and processes;
  2. External moderation of examination papers and associated documents, i.e. analysis grids and marking guidelines;
  3. Verification of marking to standard;
  4. Review instances of irregular behaviour in the conduct and administration of the examinations to determine the validity and authenticity of the results;
  5. Standardisation of results;
  6. Verification of certification; and
  7. Verification that quality assurance processes for reliability in the conduct of examinations have been applied appropriately by the IEB.