VQ Bulletin - Status Update 01 July

Information on the timings around making corrections to Q-TAGs can be found in our Correcting errors in Teacher Assessed Grades (TAG) submissions document. This resource will give you direction on what to do depending on whether you are correcting an error pre or post results.

We are hugely grateful to those of you who were selected for the BTEC Q-TAG Quality Assurance process for your timely participation in the review activity, which is due to complete by 16 July. Our Reviewers are working incredibly hard to complete this activity asap. To confirm, if you have been selected, we will only contact you if additional information is required. If your submission is clear and in line with the processes outlined, we will confirm via email that the process has concluded, by 16 July.

Please note (as per our previous status update): 

• If you are running licence to practice qualifications, these have a different QA process and timelines which must be followed (you have been contacted separately on this)
• If you are making late submissions or late amendments, we may still need to contact you.  We could be in touch about other issues, as we would do in the normal course of events around certification, so you should ensure that someone is contactable
  
• In line with GQ, you must not confirm any Q-TAG judgements with learners until the specified learner results day(s) 
  
• You must retain the evidence which is used to support a Teacher Assessed Grade until 6 months after the date of the issue of the result, or the conclusion of any complaint, malpractice investigation or appeal in relation to that result, whichever is later.
  

As you are already aware from our recent communications, we are releasing embargoed BTEC results to Exams Officers only via their Edexcel Online mailbox on 4 August. This is in advance of the General Qualification (GCSE and A-Level) centre results dates and in response to feedback from centres with large BTEC cohorts who told us they would find this helpful in terms of the extra administration time this would give them.

We would like to remind those of you who do choose to access the results on 4 August, that it is essential that the results remain embargoed (i.e. not released to learners, other colleagues who are not involved directly in the results administration process or discussed on external platforms) until the specified learner results day(s) - Tuesday 10 August for Level 3 and Thursday 12 August for Level 2. Please ensure your Exams Officer contact is correct in Edexcel Online as results will be delivered to their mailbox.

Some of you have told us that you don't need to receive the results early or that it would increase your workload unnecessarily. If this is the case for you, there is no requirement to access it on the 4th August and please feel free to access the data nearer the specified external release dates at your own convenience.

To confirm, in a change from normal years, BTEC results must only be released to learners on the same date as General Qualification learner result date(s): 

*The centre embargo is defined by JCQ as: “The Centre will keep results entirely      confidential and restricted to key members of centre/ consortium/Academy Trust    staff, at the discretion of the head of centre, until the official dates and times of      release of results to candidates”

Please note that following a request from stakeholders, the time that BTEC Level 3 Nationals results can be released to students on 10 August 2021 is 8.30am. This is different to previous years (where the time results release time was 8am) and the time we previously said it would be. It is important that results are embargoed till that time.

We hope this does not cause any inconvenience for centres. The change to a later time is to coincide with when information relating to outcomes of university offers will be available on the UCAS Track portal from 8.30am on 10 August 2021.

UCAS have also announced an extension to the UCAS Advisory deadline to 8 September 2021. This is the date by which any offer conditions must be met. Centres may submit appeals for university applicant learners that have not attained their firm offer using the ‘priority appeal’ option. 

A further reminder that the legacy Functional Skills English and Maths comes to an end on 31 July 2021. Further information to help you ensure learners can complete in good time was included in VQ Bulletin 21 and we would ask you to review this message, if necessary.