AQA 7042 · C3.28 - AI authentication, monitoring, marking and malpractice reporting
Authenticity is built through the work, while a mark reflects what the learner independently achieved. Learn how monitoring, fair investigation, reporting and human judgement connect without replacing the learner’s decisions.
Authentication is a process
Authentication is the centre's evidence-based assurance that submitted work is the learner's own and was produced under the required conditions. It is not created by a signature alone and it should not begin when the final version appears. AQA requires sufficient supervision for the teacher to see how work develops through research, planning and production.
Before NEA begins, the centre must issue the current JCQ candidate information about AI and explain the applicable rules. Monitoring then connects the stages of work:
- the centre explains acceptable use, acknowledgement and the consequences of misuse;
- genuine intermediate stages are examined and retained;
- some preparatory and final work may be completed under direct supervision;
- progress is checked against reasonable deadlines and reminders; and
- where useful, the teacher has a short verbal discussion to check that the learner understands the work and that it reflects independent work.
The pieces matter because they should form a natural continuation. Early notes, later planning and submitted work need not look identical: good historical thinking develops. What matters is that the development can be explained by real decisions and genuine records, rather than by a missing or manufactured trail.
No single item proves authenticity by itself. A polished final draft does not prove misconduct; a folder of rough notes does not prove authorship; a confident verbal answer does not erase conflicting evidence. Teachers consider the whole process and investigate concerns through the centre's procedure. Teachers must not accept work that is not the learner's own, while the Head of Centre has ultimate responsibility for ensuring that inauthentic work is not submitted.
Natural continuation
A credible, evidenced development from genuine earlier stages to later work, in which changes can be understood as the learner's own research, decisions and revision.
Prevent before investigating
Good controls reduce both accidental misuse and the need to reconstruct events afterwards. Among AQA's History-specific suggestions are four controls in this lesson:
| Preventive control | What it contributes | What it does not do |
|---|---|---|
| Provide a pack of primary material and historical interpretations where possible | Creates a bounded, traceable pool from which the learner can make a choice permitted by the specification | It does not allow the teacher or AI to choose and evaluate the assessed materials for the learner |
| Consider restricting access to online AI tools on centre-provided internet and software | Reduces opportunities for unauthorised use during specified centre activity | It does not prove that all unsupervised work is authentic |
| Set reasonable deadlines and give regular reminders | Makes progress visible and discourages an unexplained last-minute submission | It does not turn a calendar into evidence of authorship |
| Allocate time for preparatory stages and portions of final work under direct supervision | Gives the teacher first-hand evidence of the learner's normal historical thinking and production | It does not transfer ownership of research or writing to the teacher |
These controls work together. A supplied pack makes possible materials traceable; supervised activity shows the learner working; intermediate stages show development; discussion tests understanding. None authorises the centre to invent missing records or to coach a learner to make inauthentic work appear authentic.
Fictional process check. Northbridge College gives every learner the same lawful pack of practice materials. A teacher then tells Sam which item to select and provides the evaluation that should be used. The pack itself is a valid risk control, but the later direction crosses the boundary: Sam's choice and assessed evaluation must remain Sam's own.
Monitor with genuine evidence
The following record is entirely fictional and contains no historical content. It is an authentication exercise, not a model research log to copy into assessed work.
Sam's file contains four dated stages:
- an early planning sheet completed in class;
- a later outline that reorganises the same broad lines of reasoning and records why two points were rejected;
- a supervised paragraph that displays Sam's usual level of historical explanation; and
- a final submission containing a new section whose vocabulary and reasoning differ sharply from the retained stages.
The difference creates a reason to check; it is not a verdict. The teacher can compare the stages, ask Sam to explain the development and the new section, review any required acknowledgements and follow Northbridge College's policy. JCQ says that AI-detection tools, if a centre uses them, form only part of a holistic approach. A score cannot replace the intermediate record, discussion, the teacher's knowledge of the learner or a fair investigation. When a concern is reported, the learner must be told the allegation and the supporting evidence and given the opportunity to respond.
Suppose Sam explains the new reasoning accurately and produces genuine dated reading notes showing how it developed. That evidence may resolve the concern. Suppose instead that Sam cannot explain it and the claimed notes do not exist. The concern becomes stronger, but the next step is still the centre's documented procedure—not a demand that Sam fabricate notes and not a classroom decision to conceal or privately punish the issue.
The signature changes the reporting route
The declaration of authentication is a formal and procedural checkpoint. The seriousness of inauthentic work does not depend on whether the form has been signed, but the route for handling the concern does.
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