It’s the BTEC Tech Award February series results day(s) this week, with learners receiving their results this Thursday 7 April! 

Learners have worked incredibly hard, supported by teachers, tutors and their wider school and college community, we want to pass on our congratulations to everyone this week, and set out some reminders of what services to expect this week.

Clarification - Learners’ Results Embargo: Results Days for the Jan/Feb/March series

In November last year, we let you know about the alignment of future results days with equivalent GCSE and A-Level results days.   

As you can see from the table below, although centres will have access to the results on the preceding Wednesday (day before), these results must be embargoed until 08:00 on the following day, in line with how A Level and GCSE results are issued.

We would like to clarify that centres must make arrangements to have results embargoed, to relevant centre staff with relevant Edexcel Online access only, to ensure that results are not released to learners until the relevant learner results day. 

Grade Boundaries and Lead Examiner Reports 

You will be able to access grade boundary information and Lead Examiner reports. These will be published via gold padlock to Exams Officers only on Wednesday 6 April, and more widely accessible on the website on Thursday 7 April. You can use this information to understand more about how the assessment was received by learners, and to inform future teaching and learning. 

Question Papers and Mark Schemes 

These documents will also be published via gold padlock to Exams Officers only on Wednesday 6 April and on the website on Thursday 7 April. 

Results Plus 

As part of our assessment feedback services, ResultsPlus will be available to you and your learners, from Learner Results Day on Thursday 7 April. 

ResultsPlus is a free online results analysis tool for teachers that gives you a detailed breakdown of your students’ performance in Pearson Edexcel exams and BTEC external assessments. You can find more information and how to login by visiting our ResultsPlus support page.

Post Results Services  

Our post results services will be available as usual, from Learner Results Day on Thursday 7 April. You will be able to submit 'reviews of marking and moderation' (RoMM) and 'access to scripts' (ATS) requests, as well as appeals. If you want to review the services that are available to you, please take a look at our post results services support page.

Standards Setting  

We updated centres in Issue 38 of the VQ Bulletin with information from Ofqual on the expected approaches to standards setting in 2022.  Earlier this month, they released a student guide to exams and formal assessments in 2021 to 2022 which explains what is in place to support learners in taking exams and assessments, as well as providing other information about this year’s arrangements.

We have also created guidance for students, should they have questions about Pearson’s approach, and we would be grateful if you could share this information with them. 

In addition, we have created this guide for centres, which sets out how BTEC qualification grades will be awarded by Pearson in 2021/22.

Please also find two infographics for the BTEC Tech Awards below, which explain what adaptations have been in place, and an example of how grades will aggregate this year, as we return to business as usual, the ‘Full Award Claim’ process: 

The deadline for June exams series has now passed (24 March 2022). However, for learners who have been waiting for their January, February or March results, this deadline is extended to the below dates:

• Learners who sat BTEC assessments in the January 2022 series can be re-entered for June exams after January results have been issued, late fees will be charged from 2 April.
• Learners who sat BTEC assessments in the February 2022 series can be re-entered for June exams after February results have been issued, late fees will be charged from 16 April.
• Learners who sat BTEC assessments in the March 2022 series can be re-entered for June exams after March results have been issued, late fees will be charged from 7 May.

Please check that all your learners are entered for correct exam components before these deadlines, as not doing so will impact on their eligibility for a result this summer. Learners must be entered for and take all assessments that are required, in line with the relevant specification, otherwise results cannot be issued. 

In order to minimise your administration workload later this year, you may find it useful to check BTEC learners' completion dates in EOL to ensure that they accurately reflect when your learners will certificate. We would expect for learners certificating in summer 2022 to have a completion date between 1 June and 31 August 2022. Our 'Update Learner Detail' support article shows how you can amend these dates in EOL through each learner's record.  

It is helpful to keep all learner data accurate; please withdraw BTEC learners via EOL that are no longer planning to complete the course they are registered on. It may be possible that these learners are eligible for a smaller sized qualification based on the units they have achieved so far. If so, please transfer to these smaller qualifications and claim a full award instead. You can find further information about these processes in our 'Edexcel Online: Withdrawing Learner Registrations' and 'Registrations: Transfers' support articles.

When creating timetables, we consult with a number of stakeholders and we received no feedback to suggest that scheduling assessments on 3 and 4 May would potentially be problematic. Whilst we attempt to ensure that timetables do not clash with major religious festivals and celebrations, it is not always practical to clear a number of dates to accommodate events that do not have a confirmed date. 

We understand that Eid al-Fitr may fall on 3 May this year, and we are acutely aware of the importance of ensuring that no learner is disadvantaged. 

As such, we are advising centres to use the 'Timetable Variation Process', which is a business-as-usual process. Should any learner be potentially disadvantaged because of Eid celebrations, this will allow learners to sit in the morning of the following day, subject to appropriate undertakings about overnight supervision. 

Please note, as specified in JCQ guidance, "the supervision of a candidate on journeys to and from the centre and overnight may be undertaken by the candidate’s parent/carer or centre staff". 

Following the implementation of the OneDrive submission process for the January series, we have decided to continue its use for those units in the summer series. Further details can be found in our recent summer 2022 submission method communication.

We wanted to remind you all that as outlined in our guidance last summer (page 16), you are required to retain evidence that is used to support a Teacher Assessed Grade for six months after the issue of the result, or the conclusion of any complaint, malpractice investigation or appeal in relation to that result, whichever is later. This is line with Ofqual’s regulatory requirements.

We are aware that some of the BTEC alumni, who completed their BTEC Level 3 National in 2021 and received a Qualification Teacher Assessed Grade (Q-TAG) may be applying for HE in the UK or internationally for the coming academic year or may plan to apply in subsequent academic years. 

Whilst UK universities were able to waive unit requirements for 2021, due to the disruption caused by the pandemic, we know that this is not the case for applying to HE in 2022 onwards. Therefore, we recommend that you retain assessment records relating to BTEC Level 3 Nationals for 2021, principally the assessment plan with details of: 

• Units studied 
• Unit grades not on EOL (which may already exist) 

This means that we will be able to work with you to support any BTEC 2021 alumni with their HE applications in the UK or internationally. As we will be able to provide alumni (that require it) a letter detailing their notional unit grades, which we can work out once we have confirmation of units studied and any existing unit grades you may have.  

Please be reassured that this will not involve or require you to retrospectively determine U-TAGs or retain learner work beyond the Ofqual requirement above. We would be grateful if you could retain the assessment plan as a minimum, so we can correctly identify which units students studied as part of their course, when we provide a letter. It is advised that you retain the assessment plan for as long as possible, we expect most queries from alumni over the next 2-3 years, with diminishing queries in subsequent years. 

Pearson Quality Advisor Events 

We have a range of live events to support you with the BTEC Quality Assurance cycle alongside a selection of on-demand CPD opportunities for teams to access when they wish. Don’t forget the weekly QA catch up sessions as well; drop in and ask any questions you or your teams might have – we're here to help. 

Please check out our BTEC page on the Home of Quality Assurance for more details and to book a place on the forthcoming events.

Please note that our events are focused on the current processes for UK centres only and we will have news soon in respect of our summer term offer that will have some forward-looking events. 

Construction 

For providers that are delivering the Surveying and Design for Construction and the Built Environment Occupational Specialism Assessment, an Additional Centre Guidance (ACG) document was made available week commencing 21 March to support the delivery of this assessment. Within this are details of the building required for Task 2 Surveying. 

The ACG was uploaded to the secure area of our website under gold padlock, and can be found on our T level technical qualification page.

This material can be accessed using the Exam Officers EOL log in details. Please refer to the timetable for all release dates. 

We recently published a student case study from Exeter College.

Legal Services  

We are still seeking expressions of interest for our Legal Services Provider Validation Panel (PVP) – this is where we ask you to take part in the development and work with us to make sure the Technical Qualification is right for your students and manageable for you to deliver.  

To become a member, you must:

• be intending on delivering Legal Services in September 2023.
• be experienced in delivering Legal or Law qualifications/units.
• be able to attend PVP meetings (these will be remote, via teams or zoom) to discuss content, assessment, manageability, resources etc. 

Extended late entry window

We have also extended the late entry window for the Construction Occupational Specialism assessments. Entries for the Construction Occupational Specialism Assessments for the summer 2022 Series are still open. We are now in the late entry period; therefore, late entry fees will apply. Late entry will close on 24 April 2022. The deadline for very late entry is the 25 April 2022. 

This has been reflected in our Construction Key Dates schedule. 

Post Results Services

All Exams Officers can now request post-results services for the Autumn 2021 assessments, but you will need to get permission from students before applying. 

Read the T Levels PRS webpage for more information on the services available and how to apply.

Missed our latest TQ newsletter?

Pearson’s March e-Bulletin was published and included the following:  Legal Services announcement and expressions of interest to join our Provider Panel Q&A Networks and Training events for the Spring term Entries 2022 Provider Approval window 

Read the 16 March Bulletin

New standards approved

Pearson has just been approved to deliver to the Outdoor Learning Specialist EPA and the Express Delivery Operative EPA. Should you be interested in delivering against this standard, please contact your Business/Curriculum Development Manager. 

Vendor Qualifications – Digital Marketer (ST0122) 

The EQA provider (NSAR) has provided guidance on the use of vendor qualifications for this standard. Training providers are expected to confirm with Pearson at the earliest opportunity which option they will be using to support apprentices through the gateway process.

Pharmacy EPA Dispensation Webinar 

We are holding a webinar on Thursday 7 April at 14:00-16:00 to discuss the Pharmacy Services Assistant EPA and updated Pharmacy Technician Integrated EPA assessment plan.

Reminder – ACE360 gateway dates 

To ensure we accurately forecast for future assessments, please ensure that any changes to apprentices' expected gateway dates are accurately recorded within ACE. For a helpful guide on how to do this, please refer to the “updating apprentice gateway end date” document, within ACE360 Knowledgebase. 

Recruitment of Independent end-point assessors 

We have a number of roles for Associates to be involved with End Point Assessment assessments. If you are interested, please take a look at our live vacancies page. 

For further information on our general qualifications for 2022, please visit our summer 2022 support page. We will be updating this page regularly. 

Please sign up to receive our regular Pearson Qualifications Bulletin on our website where you’ll also be able to read past issues.