AQA 7042 · C3.23 - Supervision, progress evidence and authentic declarations
A teacher needs to recognise how your investigation developed, not just read its final page. Learn how genuine notes, plans, drafts and discussions support an honest authentication decision and the 2027 Candidate Record Form.
Authentication is built over time
Authentication is the process by which the centre becomes confident that submitted work is the candidate's own and was produced under the required conditions. It is not created by a signature at the end. The signature records a judgement that should already be supported by supervision and knowledge of how the work developed.
Sufficient direct supervision
Enough first-hand oversight for the teacher to recognise the learner's work and confidently authenticate it, including review of progress during research, planning and production.
Direct does not mean that a teacher must watch every search, note and keystroke. JCQ allows work to be completed outside the centre when the centre can still be confident it is the candidate's own. The important test is whether the teacher has enough contact with the learner and the evolving investigation to make an evidenced professional judgement rather than a guess based only on the polished final document.
AQA names three stages that must form one continuous story:
- Research: the learner finds, checks and records material through their own activity.
- Planning: the learner makes and revises their own decisions about how the enquiry will be organised.
- Production: the final work develops recognisably from those earlier decisions and intermediate stages.
The teacher's role is to monitor this progress. A final plagiarism check, a writing-style comparison or an AI-detection score may contribute information, but none can replace the teacher's continuing familiarity with the work. Authentication depends on the combined record.
Recognise genuine progress evidence
Progress evidence is a truthful trace of work while it is happening. It helps connect an early research or planning decision to a later stage of production. It is valuable because of what it can genuinely show, not because it looks formal or because a folder contains many files.
Centres decide which combination is appropriate under their procedures. Possible evidence can include:
| Genuine process evidence | What it may help the teacher establish | What it cannot prove by itself |
|---|---|---|
| Dated research notes or a source-search record made at the time | The learner's research activity, decisions and changing lines of enquiry | That every note is accurate or that all final writing is the learner's |
| A real early plan and later revised plan | How organisation and reasoning changed during planning | Who wrote every passage in the final version |
| Authentic version history or intermediate drafts | That production developed in stages and continued from earlier work | Authorship if the history was imported, altered or assembled retrospectively |
| Work completed while the teacher was present | A directly observed example of the learner's knowledge and working method | That every part completed elsewhere is automatically authentic |
| A teacher's recorded check-in or short discussion | Whether the learner can explain their choices and understands the work | A substitute for seeing relevant intermediate stages |
No particular row in this table is a universal AQA requirement. The strength lies in continuity: independent research leads to a plan, the plan leaves a trace in production, and the learner can explain the decisions visible across those stages.
Fictional process case — Student A's invented Lydora project
Student A has genuine dated search notes, a plan discussed with the teacher and several saved versions showing a section being reorganised. Near the deadline, Student A notices that no note was made of one informal check-in and proposes creating a new entry with an earlier date so that the record looks complete.
The existing material can contribute to authentication because it was produced during the real process and shows continuity. The proposed backdated entry cannot. A truthful gap is better evidence than a false record: Student A should state what actually exists and ask the centre how the gap should be handled, not manufacture an event or date.
Disclose help accurately
Independent work does not mean pretending that no permitted help or information was ever received. Teachers may give general guidance within the specification, and learners use books, websites, libraries and other resources. Authentication depends on distinguishing those real inputs from the candidate's own assessed decisions and recording what the current form asks for.
The 2027 AQA History CRF creates two related but different responsibilities:
- The candidate references all sources and tells the teacher about help or guidance from anyone other than their teacher. Any AI use must be acknowledged, with the real questions and relevant generated content retained and handed in with an explanation of use. The notice also requires the tool name, generation date and sources used by the tool.
- The teacher records help given in the form's assistance section. Additional individual assistance must also be recorded and accounted for under the specification and centre procedure; recording it does not authorise help that AQA prohibits.
Disclosure is not an invitation for the learner to decide privately that some help was harmless and can therefore be omitted. It is an accurate statement of what happened, allowing the teacher and centre to decide how the rules apply. Disclosing help is not automatically an admission that the work is invalid; the nature and extent of the assistance matter.
Fictional process case — Student B's invented Merovia project
Student B receives a catalogue explanation from a volunteer outside the History department and uses an AI search tool to suggest keywords. Student B tells the teacher, retains the actual AI-use record required by the centre and independently verifies every lead. Later, the subject teacher gives Student B an individual extra session that goes beyond the support given to the class.
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