Moderation is the process of validating the adviser’s assessment of the young people’s work.
Advisers assess the work of all the young people entered for moderation against the toolkit criteria for the respective level of Arts Award, and complete an adviser assessment report form for each young person.
Moderation involves a specially trained moderator looking at a sample of the young people's work to validate the adviser's assessment(s). Moderators do not assess young people’s work.
NB There is no moderation process for Arts Award Discover. For this unregulated qualification, the adviser's assessment is final. Find out how to request Discover certificates here.
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Important Update - Changes to Arts Award
Trinity is excited to announce we are making some important changes to how we quality assure Arts Award. The changes to the quality assurance process will improve the assessment and certification process for centres allowing greater focus on the delivery of Arts Award for young people.
In practice, this will mean that:
These changes will come into effect from 13 December 2023. For more detailed information, read our News and FAQs.
The deadlines to book moderation through the current process have now passed. This means that centres wishing to enter young people for Arts Award will need to wait until we launch our new process on 13 December.
The following information applies to the current booking and moderation process for centres with an existing moderation booking.
Whilst planning your Arts Award project, you should also be thinking ahead to what sort of moderation you're going to need and when you're going to need it. To help you prepare for moderation, consider the following:
For full guidance on planning ahead and a handy moderation checklist, download the Best Practice Guidebook.
There are three main moderation options available to book across all levels outlined in the table below. For full guidance on how to book and prepare for moderation, visit the individual moderation pages by following the links.
Read our Terms and Conditions of booking (updated: May 2023) before booking.
Note: The below fees apply to all moderations taking place from September 2023 - August 2024. For the fees that apply to the period September 2022 - August 2023, see Costs and Funding 2022 - 2023.
| OPTION | DESCRIPTION | FEE INFO | BEST SUITED FOR |
| Moderation takes place at your own venue on your preferred date and time Book any date with minimum 8 weeks’ notice | £550 Minimum Fee | Centres whose moderation fees will meet/exceed the £550 minimum fee Portfolios can be in any format | |
| Book onto a publicly advertised date Submit your portfolios/arts logs digitally via online link | £549 Maximum Fee | Centres whose moderation fees are up to the £549 maximum fee Online portfolios only | |
| Book onto a publicly advertised date Send your portfolios/arts logs by post Maximum 3 bookings per calendar year, cannot book consecutive dates | £549 Maximum Fee £24 Admin Fee | Centres whose moderation fees are up to the £549 maximum fee Hardcopy portfolios only |