Vocational Qualification Bulletin 19 November
Thank you for your responses to the teaching and learning guidance we have created and shared with you. We understand that it may have been a challenge keeping track of all our communications, so we have consolidated all our updates into this VQ Bulletin which has all the important information you need to know.
We hope that you know we fully appreciate the constraints you are operating under at this time, and want to reassure you we are listening to and, where possible, acting on your concerns. We are also continuing to work closely with Ofqual and the Department for Education (DfE) to agree further arrangements which will mitigate the impact of continued disruptions.
Thank you for your ongoing support, we will continue to keep you updated through these bulletins.
BTEC update on Adaptation
We are pleased to tell you that after having considered feedback from awarding organisations, DfE has confirmed that the scope of the adaptations for 2021 performance tables qualifications can be expanded to include all students who will be taking the assessments in 2020/21. This means that the Tech Award adaptations apply to all learners.
BTEC January/February Assessments - a reminder
Thank you to everyone that registered learners ahead of the 1 November 2020 deadline. We wanted to remind you that learners must be registered on the qualification and also entered for an external assessment, in order to receive examination materials in good time. All learners that you are expecting to receive a result in the January/February assessment window must have an external assessment entry.Please check that all your entries are up to date and correctly reflect the learners due to be assessed.
BTEC Timetable update
Our final timetables for January, February and summer assessment are now available on our timetables page.
This page also includes a 'change log' of revisions, for your reference. Thank you to those who provided feedback, this is reflected in the final drafts available now.
Please note that we are making some 'Part A' and 'Part S' aspects of the BTEC Tasks available earlier. This is to enable you to schedule assessments within a longer window. You can find more information about these adaptations in the document BTEC External Assessment Adaptations for 2020-2021.
BTEC Quality Assurance update
Thank you for engaging in the Lead Standards Verifier (LSV) activities thus far. Your LSV is there to support you until the new term. We are incredibly grateful that 81% of centres completed their Annual Centre Declaration (ACD) ahead of the deadline. If you have not already completed yours, we need you to do this immediately. We understand that some centres did not keep copies of this information, and that you are currently unable to download the declaration submitted. If this is the case, please let us know as we are working to see if we can find a solution to this and will keep you updated.
Standards Verification will take place from January to June 2021. However, we aim to release some allocations ahead of the new term so you may be contacted by your SV during December to start the process. This year, more than ever, we want you to feel supported, so we hope you will find this earlier allocation reassuring.
We will publish further guidance in the Centre Guide to Standards Verification which will be available on from Monday 23 November 2020.
> BTEC Assessment and verification tools
If you need any help, the Pearson Quality Advisor Team offer free online support sessions for all aspects of BTEC Quality Assurance. These can be accessed via our Quality Assurance Support page.
> Support and development events for Quality Assurance
Reminder: please ‘bank’ internally assessed grades as you go along using the interim claims method. This enables us to have visibility of how your assessment is progressing this year, and is a key mitigation should you not have access to assessment information if you need to work from home at short notice, due to COVID-19.
Network Events
We will be holding a range of networking sessions for BTEC qualifications in the autumn term. Please do look out for these events on our live training page.
Functional Skills
Should you need any information or guidance, we have updated our COVID-19 support page to reflect current exceptions to the standard rules, and how to request these.
Here to help
Please contact us via our Support Portal if you have any questions, and a member of the team will be happy to help you. You can also find answers on the Frequently Asked Questions section on our website, which is regularly updated.