Cambridge IGCSE Global Perspectives: Component 3 – Team Project (0457)

This guide covers Component 3 – Team Project, the third and final component of Cambridge IGCSE Global Perspectives (0457), 2025–2027 series, worth 70 marks and weighted 35% of the qualification — the single largest component. Global Perspectives is a skills-based syllabus: as with Components 1 and 2, “knowledge of content is not assessed” here either. The Team Project instead assesses research, analysis, evaluation, reflection, communication and collaboration, carried out by candidates working in teams.

Where this fits in 0457

Marlbridge already covers Component 1 (the Written Exam) and Component 2 (the Individual Report). Component 3 is different in kind from both: it is internally assessed and externally moderated rather than externally examined, it is the only component with a genuine team element, and it produces the most separate pieces of evidence — a shared Explanation of Research and Planning, shared Evidence of Action, and an individual Reflective Paper per candidate. Marks from Component 2 and Component 3 can be carried forward between series, which makes understanding exactly what is assessed here (and what carries the individual mark versus the team mark) important for planning when to sit each component.

Syllabus coverage

CAMBRIDGE IGCSE GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES 0457 — COMPONENT 3: TEAM PROJECT (70 marks)

Candidates work in teams of two to five to design and carry out a collaborative project, addressing a local issue linked to a topic from the syllabus’s topic list. The Team Project has two elements:

• Team Element — the Explanation of Research and Planning (10 marks) and the Evidence of Action (5 marks), both produced collaboratively and marked identically for every team member
• Personal Element — the individual Reflective Paper (45 marks), marked separately for each candidate
• Collaboration (10 marks: 5 team marks and 5 individual marks) is assessed across the whole process based on teacher observation

How the Team Project actually runs

The team selects a topic from the syllabus topic list and identifies a relevant local issue — a specific, local instance of that broader global topic. Each team member then researches a different aspect of the issue, such as a different perspective on it, before the team uses its combined research to decide, through discussion, on a course of action to address the issue. The team plans and carries out that action, then measures how successful it was. Throughout this process, the team collaborates on the Explanation of Research and Planning — a strategic, working document, typically built up in three stages (topic and issue identification, then plan of action and roles, then a final review of any changes made) — and on the Evidence of Action, which can take any appropriate form: posters, leaflets, web pages, videos (10 minutes maximum), presentations or event photographs. Evidence of Action must show what the team actually did, not evidence of research or planning meetings.

Word and time limits that cost marks if ignored

• The Explanation of Research and Planning is 300–400 words; if a team exceeds the limit, the teacher cannot award marks beyond the first 400 words.
• Evidence of Action submitted as video is capped at 10 minutes for marking purposes.
• The Reflective Paper is 750–1000 words (excluding citations and bibliography) and must not exceed 1000 words; again, marks cannot be awarded beyond the first 1000 words if the limit is exceeded.

These are hard caps, not guidance — a strong Reflective Paper that runs to 1400 words will only ever be marked on its first 1000.

The Reflective Paper (Personal Element, 45 marks)

Each candidate writes an individual Reflective Paper of 750–1000 words in continuous text (sub-headings are permitted for clarity), typically using the first person. It should present a summary of the candidate’s own research findings and how those findings were, or were not, used by the team; reflect on what the candidate learned from the whole experience — about the issue itself, about teamwork, and about themselves; and evaluate how effective both the action taken and the candidate’s own collaboration were. Because this is assessed individually even though the project is a team effort, the Reflective Paper is where an individual candidate’s grade is most directly determined, and it is worth nearly two-thirds of the component’s total marks.

Collaboration (10 marks)

Collaboration is assessed by the teacher through observation across the whole project, not from a single document. The syllabus lists the behaviours examiners look for: clear communication between team members, sharing and developing ideas, agreeing targets and deadlines, solving problems, being flexible when required, dividing tasks and recognising every member’s contribution, and asking for and giving support when needed. All team members receive the same team collaboration mark, but individual collaboration marks can — and often do — vary within the same team, so a candidate who contributes little to the actual collaborative process can lose marks here even if the team’s overall project is strong.

Common mistakes

• Submitting Evidence of Action that only shows research or planning meetings — the syllabus is explicit that this does not count; Evidence of Action must show the action itself.
• Writing a Reflective Paper that only describes the project instead of reflecting on personal learning and evaluating effectiveness — description alone caps the achievable mark well below the top band.
• Exceeding the word or time limits, which wastes effort that cannot be credited once the cap is reached.
• Treating Collaboration as automatically awarded rather than understanding it is observed and can vary between individuals on the same team.

How to approach it

Start the Team Project by agreeing the local issue and each member’s research angle early, since the Explanation of Research and Planning is built in stages across the project rather than written once at the end. Draft the Reflective Paper’s structure (research summary, personal learning, evaluation of action and teamwork) before the project ends, so reflection happens throughout rather than being reconstructed from memory in the final week.

Related resources

• Cambridge IGCSE Global Perspectives: Component 2 – Individual Report (0457)
• Cambridge IGCSE Global Perspectives: The Written Exam (0457)

Official syllabus

Cambridge Assessment International Education, Cambridge IGCSE Global Perspectives 0457 syllabus for 2025, 2026 and 2027: https://www.cambridgeinternational.org/Images/662457-2025-2027-syllabus.pdf (verified 2026-09-02).