TLDR: If some students haven’t delivered as you expected – don’t carry that weight. You’ve done your part. Burning yourself out will not help them to grow – they need to experience the consequences of their choices. At this point, the best thing students can do is quickly finish what they can and focus on the exam where 80% of the marks are.
I see the NEA as about students managing time, working to the mark scheme, and for some – delivering a project that supports the student’s next steps, e.g. writing a more complicated project than the mark scheme requires to support a university application. You’ve now probably seen students…
- …get absorbed in the programming at the expense of the wider requirements.
- …struggling with time management (understandable for their first first long project of this nature).
- …becoming frozen when they become overwhelmed & don’t ask for help.
These issues aren’t a reflection of your teaching. The NEA is about how well students identify what’s required and follow through independently.
In the past, I’ve had students hand in projects that were genuinely awful despite constant prompting and guiding, and it can feel embarrassing. But it isn’t your responsibility to exhaust yourself chasing them. You’ve already scaffolded, supported, and reminded them. Going beyond that doesn’t help them grow. They need to experience the consequences of their choices. So it’s not your job to let frustration get to you! Remember the students that do get it right.
At this stage my advice to students is always: finish what you can, as quickly as you can, and then focus entirely on the exams. It is possible to achieve an A without submitting any NEA at all. While that’s hard, it highlights the reality that the exam is worth 80% of the qualification, and they are far more likely to gain marks there than by endlessly trying to fix an NEA that’s already behind.
Give yourself permission to step back. You’ve done your bit. Now it’s their turn.
While I no-longer teach A-Level, I’ve had the pleasure of supporting others. I hope this helps!
