JCQ

JCQ stands for the Joint Council for Qualifications, a UK umbrella body that coordinates policy and procedures for the administration of externally assessed qualifications in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The JCQ brings together the major qualification awarding bodies to ensure consistent standards across examinations such as GCSEs and A-levels.

Its responsibilities include setting and publishing rules for exam timetabling, centre administration, and the conduct of examinations; administering access arrangements and reasonable adjustments; and providing guidance on malpractice. JCQ also advises on contingency planning for examinations and publishes guidance materials used by schools, colleges, and exam centres.

In practice, JCQ issues formal documents such as Instructions for Conducting Examinations and policy statements on malpractice, accessibility, and centre compliance. The organization acts as a coordinating body to standardize practice across boards, while individual awarding bodies retain responsibility for exam content and marking schemes.

Membership typically includes the major UK exam boards that operate GCSE and A-level qualifications, such as AQA, Edexcel (Pearson), OCR, WJEC, and CCEA.

The JCQ acronym can also refer to unrelated groups or entities in other contexts; outside of the UK qualification system, the meaning depends on the domain.