BTEC FAQs

*(excluding those following an adapted assessment, which will follow a different timeline, dependent on the learner completion and verification date)

**(on-demand includes a small number of BTEC First assessments: Unit 2 in Business, Unit 1 in Engineering, Unit 1 and 2 in I&CT, Unit 1 and 7 in Sport, Unit 8 in Performing Arts)

We reviewed the Ofqual requirements for awarding and calculating results this summer for vocational qualifications. We also consulted extensively with Ofqual and other Awarding Organisations on aspects of the approach. Part of our consideration included the information we already had on our systems and evidence we could reasonably request from your centre. We developed, tested and refined the statistical model, using historical data to identify the best approach for calculating BTEC results. This was then underpinned by qualitative checks, to sense check the outcomes, as well implement specific checks (e.g. for small or new centres). Part of our analysis involved comparing outcomes to previous years to ensure this year’s learners are neither disadvantaged nor advantaged by the process.

Broadly the approach is the same, except for BTEC qualifications with external assessment. Two points of difference there included ensuring that where results for non-completing learners were being claimed, that a minimum specified level of evidence had already been banked to enable us to more reliably calculate results for externally assessed units.

The second point of difference was in BTEC qualifications with external assessment, whereby in order to calculate results for externally assessed units we first separately predicted overall qualification outcomes (and associated points available) for completing and non-completing learners, using the rank order information you supplied us with. Historical data shows that these two groups of learners perform differently on external assessments, as they are at a different stage in the programme. Within that parameter, we preserved the rank order provided.

Given our size, we have data on many centres in the UK. When there is no or limited historical data available for a centre for a particular BTEC programme, we were able to identify characteristics that your centre has (e.g. prior attainment of cohort, size of cohort). Using these characteristics, we can ascertain an average for your type of centre and use the information we have for that centre type to calculate results.

We know that results for small centres, or those with limited historical data can vary from one year toanother. We have taken this into account during the process and ensured that it is fair for all learners. We have many qualitative checks in place to check on the accuracy and validity of results issued, and one is specifically to ensure and monitor that small centres are not adversely impacted, due to a more dramatic variation of year on year historic performance.

Fortunately, your centre number for BTEC qualifications includes a subsite affix (creating a six digit centre number). This means we have historical data for your centre at a subsite level and just as we asked you to put forward Centre Assessment Grades and rank order at subsite level, we calculated results on that basis.

We did not attempt to model centre trajectories because the characteristics of your current cohort are more significant determinants of attainment than an individual centre trajectory.

This is similar to the process for general qualifications, set by Ofqual, who stated: "For the vast majority of schools and colleges any year-on-year variation in results for a given subject is quite small, with small changes up and down seen. The lack of stability over a 3-year period in improvements or deteriorations in performance for the overwhelming majority of centres means that any statistical model is likely to be unacceptably unreliable in predicting any trends in performance in 2020. For this reason, the trajectory of schools and college results will not be taken into account in the standardisation process."

We considered changes in prior attainment and entry size when making adjustments and calculating grades. We have sought to maintain the historical value-added relationship observed at qualification and unit level.

Subject experts have identified appropriate cognate units (units from other BTEC qualifications that are similar in content and demand to the new BTEC units), and we have used historical data and value-added relationship for these cognate units to standardise and calculate grades for the new BTEC units.

Whilst the appeals process will not operate as in previous years, Ofqual have now confirmed:

• That a learner who had evidence of bias or discrimination will be able to raise this with their centre and that the exam board could investigate such evidence as indicating malpractice
• That centres must have a procedure which allows learners to request that a review is conducted of the centre’s decision not to appeal to an exam board
• That an appeal should be allowed where a centre believes it has made an error when submitting its Centre Assessment Grade and rank order information; or similarly, if the centre believes an exam board made a mistake when calculating, assigning or communicating a grade.

We strongly recommend that you share results of internally assessed qualifications (especially BTEC Level 3 Nationals, QCF) with learners as soon as you can after receiving them. This will give learners the maximum time to prepare for their next steps and confirm progression plans. 

Grades will be reported in the same way as in previous years on certificates

No. This must be kept confidential and not shared with parents/guardians and/or learners until the release of results (13/20 August 2020).

There are three options in relation to the release of CAGs and rankings on/after results day:

• Option 1 – Release CAGs and rankings to learners in each subject along with the grade awarded by the awarding body on results day.
• Option 2 – Require learners to submit a request to access their CAGs and rankings via a centre specific process (e.g. email request, completion of a form etc.)
• Option 3 – Require learners to submit a subject access request. This is the right of an individual to have access to their personal data. The request to access this data can be made verbally or in writing.

We will be changing claims from ‘interim awards’ to ‘full awards’ for completing learners for you. Certificates will look the same as in previous years, to ensure learners not disadvantaged.  

From 00:01am on the Wednesday (12 and 19 August 2020). Files are sent through the night in centre numerical order.

From 08:00am on the Thursday (13 / 20 August 2020) respectively.

You can view learner's rankings via the CAG portal.

You will be sent a report which shows what you submitted against what you received.

These should arrive in centre by 7 November 2020.

Following standardisation and quality checks as set by Ofqual, there may be changes to Centre Assessed Grades (up or down). 

Centres did not need to apply for Special Consideration for learners. They had to produce and submit a CAG based on evidence within centre and if they were to sit an exam, use their professional judgment to adjust the grade accordingly.

The UCAS Clearing service for this year has already opened. Universities are expected to receive the first batch of BTEC Level 3 Nationals (QCF) calculated results from 30 July 2020 onwards. UCAS and universities will be getting in touch with learners shortly after they receive their results to confirm offers and arrangements. 

As in previous years, UCAS has an embargo window with universities, which is from 2pm Friday 7 August until 8am 13 August 2020, to avoid results being inadvertently released to learners. This means UCAS and universities are unlikely to be able to discuss results/offers for any learners who receive results from 4 August onwards until the morning of 13 August 2020.

No, we did not use post codes for standardisation. There has been a range of evidence that has been used when standardising the centre assessment grades, this has not included postcodes. In the vast majority of instances we have been able to accept the centre (college or school) assessment grades submitted based on the evidence available.  

Only for BTEC L3 CPLD: 20780E, 31597, 31598H, 21221K.

We are not planning on offering additional assessment opportunities during autumn 2020 beyond this.

As this is an exceptional year, we will freeze the autumn 2020 fees which means that the fees for this series will remain the same as the fees published for 2019/2020.

BTEC L3 (CPLD): 24 August.

BTEC L3 Nationals (CPLD) Window:

• Entry Deadline: 11 September
• Late Fees: From 12 September
• Higher fees: From 30 September

As per the communication sent on 19 May 2020, COVID-19 Update for BTEC Exams Officers, we will not be accepting or processing any new entry requests submitted after the assessment was originally due to take place. All entries should have been in place by 15 May 2020.

The ability to make any new entries for timetabled BTEC assessments will be removed from Edexcel Online from 22 May 2020.

If you have a valid reason for needing to submit entries for assessments that should have already taken place, please let us know. Supporting evidence will be required from you to confirm validity of these entries, such as centre assessment plans and/or any other evidence that will support the request.

No. We are following the guidance for GCSE and A levels and, therefore, BTEC examinations will not take place in May or June this year.

For externally assessed units/components due to be completed, Pearson will calculate a grade for completing learners. For non-completing learners, a calculated grade will be issued provided a ‘minimum evidence threshold’ has been met and an entry has already been made. This means a learner must have been due to complete at least 25% of the internal assessment, which should include a mandatory unit/component.   

Further information can be found in the guidance document published on 15 May 2020.

To avoid burden for centre assessors, we will not be requesting additional information on these assessments and we will be calculating any external assessment result using a range of data. We will use the qualification-level rank ordering information, and we will also be taking into account a range of other evidence we have, for example, any banked component data for units learners have completed and historical performance at both centre and overall level, before awarding a Pearson-calculated and quality-checked result.  

Ofqual released a statement on 9 April 2020.

Learners who would have expected to have completed their assessments and/or received certificates between 20 March and 31 July, so that they could progress to further study, higher education or employment, are in scope to receive a calculated result.  

After close discussions with the Department for Education, Awarding Organisations and other stakeholders, Ofqual have provided further clarification about how some vocational and technical qualifications will be awarded in 2020. 

Ofqual confirms that, as far as possible, we will be calculating results for vocational and technical qualifications that have a core purpose of progression to further or higher education. This guide has been produced to support you in understanding what this means for you depending on which qualifications you offer.

Ofqual released a statement.

For qualifications that will follow the calculated results approach, Centres have been asked to provide unit grades for internally assessed completed units. In addition to this, we are asking for Centre Assessment Grades, based on the most likely grade that learners would have achieved, for internally assessed units that were due to be completed between 20 March and 31 July and an overall qualification-level rank order of learners.   

We will not be asking for centres to provide any Centre Assessment Grades for externally assessed units within these qualifications, instead we will look to calculate external assessment results (where learners have entries or test bookings) based on a range of available data and the rank order provided.  

Pearson will then conduct checks and statistical standardisation of the Centre Assessment Grades submitted.  

For qualifications in the ‘Foundation Learning’ suite, we are asking centres to follow the calculated results approach and the steps outlined in the guidance document published on 15 May 2020.

Please note that an aspect of remote sampling will be required as part of the mitigation for these qualifications. 

For qualifications that fall outside this approach, guidance will be issued shortly.  

Ofqual have confirmed that “learners who do not feel that the calculated result they have been issued with fairly reflects their performance will have the opportunity to appeal this result in accordance with awarding organisation appeals’ procedures, and/or to take a further assessment at the next available opportunity.” 

Pearson have established appeal processes in place for centres with the right to appeal issued results. We will be in touch shortly to confirm any additional arrangements this year, pending Ofqual’s consultation outcome. 

You can contact our Subject Advisor and Teaching Support Services using the contact us portal.

We can confirm that ‘normal’ Standards Verification activities will not take place, however Pearson will ensure quality checks are in place and an evaluation of qualitative evidence might be required. We will write to you separately on this point, as needed. Please note, for ‘Foundation Learning’, we expect for some remote sampling to be required and more information will follow on this. 

For any incomplete units that were due to be assessed between 20 March and 31 July, or where resubmission opportunities had been planned for this time, we are asking all teachers/assessors to make a fair and objective judgement of the grade they believe a learner would most likely have achieved. It is important that teachers/assessors take into account the full range of available evidence when they grade learners. This includes but is not limited to: 

• teacher professional judgement 
• reflecting on how previous cohorts have performed 
• part-unit assessments (e.g. where one or more assessment criteria have been assessed) 
• previous examination/external assessment results 
• results of any mock assessments 
• any other records of relevant learner performance over the course of their programme including non-assessed learning activities.   

Please note, you must consider all relevant unit grades including ‘Unclassified’. Pearson will monitor the range and distribution of unit grades claimed and may need to undertake additional quality checks.

You should not provide a Centre Assessment Grade where there is no evidence upon which to base one. 

We have confirmed for BTEC Level 3 Nationals, BTEC Level 1 and 2 Firsts and Tech Awards, where we expect to be able to provide calculated results, we do not require or expect any formal assessment for BTEC to take place while learners are studying at home.  We expect to collect Centre Assessment Grades from teachers and assessors for any incomplete work for all learners and these judgements will be used in the calculation of a final result where relevant.  

Supporting teaching and learning - while not a requirement, we are encouraging and supporting continued learning at home during this time, so when learners return to school or college, progress to HE, an apprenticeship, or work, they have the knowledge and skills they need to continue with confidence.  We also recognise the benefits that learning and a structured day have on general health and wellbeing and we want to make sure that we are doing everything we can to best support you and your learners at this time.

Any unit grade which is being submitted as a Centre Assessed Grade this year will not form part of any standards verification sampling next year. We anticipate that standards verification activity will take place as usual next year and this will be based upon work which has been completed and assessed after the submission of Centre Assessed Grades. 

We are looking into the provision of support for centres who would like this feedback in advance of next year’s SV process. Please contact us and we will do our best to support you. 

As formal assessment is not expected to be taking place during this time, we would not anticipate that 2019/20 BTEC Assessment Plans would be adjusted. However, we appreciate that for those non-completing learners part-way through a course, teaching and learning and therefore schemes of work may be adjusted, in order to continue with a remote method of delivery. You must retain version-controlled Assessment Plans should Pearson need to review your Centre Assessment Grade submissions. 

Yes. Learners will be granted this opportunity. We will release further guidance on how to conduct resubmission for calculated units closer to the start of the next academic year. 

In order to ensure a consistent and fair approach, all learners who would have expected to have either completed their assessments and/or received certificates between March and the end of July will receive a calculated result. Therefore, this includes learners in their first year of a two-year course.  

There will be minimum evidence requirements that need to be met in order for a calculated result to be issued, further details can be found in the guidance document published on 15 May 2020.

We have asked the Department for Education to clarify whether part-calculated results will count in performance measures, and are awaiting confirmation.

In the meantime, we strongly recommend that you continue to submit your actual and Centre Assessment grades and rank order information by the deadlines of 5 June and 19 June, respectively. This is the best interests of learners who are expecting to be issued with a result this summer. 

The rank order needs to include both completing (typically Years 11 and 13) and non-completing learners (typically Years 10 and 12) for the purposes of:

1. generation of external assessment outcome
2. quality assurance of the Centre Assessment Grades submitted

The statistical data generated through ranking supports a holistic view of learners’ achievement and performance. Please be reassured that the rank order submitted for Year 1 learners will not carry forward into their second year when they progress.  

No. Rank order activity does not need to be completed for learners who have not undertaken any assessment, as there will be minimal or no evidence to inform the ranking.   

You will be able to omit these learners from the sheets you upload into the grading portal. 

For Licence to Practise qualifications, there might be no other option but to conduct the assessment as soon as it can happen, once government restrictions on movement have been lifted.   

We are continuing to work work with other Awarding Organisations and Ofqual to agree and finalise arrangements for qualifications with work placement requirements/licence to practise.   

It is currently subject to the consultation outcomes whether any external assessments will be offered in a ‘Autumn’ series. We will update you as soon as possible.  

If a unit was due to be completed/assessed between 20 March and 31 July 2020 and learners are completing this year in order to progress to higher or further education - the approach we are taking is that Centre Assessment Grades are to be provided in line with this document. We expect that teachers/assessors will have good knowledge at this point in the year about their learners’ performance to be able to provide a Centre Assessment Grade. 

We are working with CIMSPA to determine the best ways to support learners to gain occupational competence. Once we have further information, we will write to the relevant centres with guidance. 

Please see our guidance to centres (published 15 May 2020) for detailed information on this process and key dates and deadlines.   

You may enter grades from now. The deadline for entering grades for both complete and incomplete internally assessed units is 5 June.

We are not asking for any full award claims to be made at this moment. Instead, please use the ‘interim claim’ option.

By submitting interim claims, the learner registration will remain 'open' and this will support any necessary quality checks. 

We understand that many of you will be in this position and can reassure you that these claims will be re-opened for you to submit your Centre Assessment Grades. 

We are not asking for a Full Award claims to be processed at this moment. By submitting interim claims, the learner registration will remain 'open' and this will support any necessary quality checks.