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 27 April, and more widely accessible on the website on Thursday 28 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 27 April and on the website on Thursday 28 April. 

Post Results Services  

Our post results services will be available as usual, from Learner Results Day on Thursday 27 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.

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 has been extended. Learners who sat BTEC assessments in the March 2022 series can be re-entered for June exams after March results have been issued, please note that late fees will be charged from Saturday 7 May.

Please check that all your learners are entered for correct exam components, 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.  

Conducting external assessments 

Many of our BTEC centres are running external assessments for the first time this year, please take the time to familiarise yourself with the BTEC guidance and support information. We have included some key topics and links in this section. 

Our policies and guidance for conducting external assessments can be found in the BTEC Instructions for Conducting External Assessment (ICEA) document. Policies for the conduct of examinations and general regulations, can be found on the JCQ website. 

Further support on conducting our task-based assessments can be found in the individual unit’s Administrative Support Guide (ASG). You can find these ASGs by selecting the External assessments button on the left of the Course Materials tab, found at the top of each qualification’s webpage.  

Please see our Exams Officer support pages for more information on conducting external assessments. 

Hot topics – Conducting examinations for BTEC 

Receiving and storing secure assessment materials 

When you can expect to start receiving standard question papers: 

• For exams taking place 13 April - 06 May, materials were dispatched from 04 April.
• For exams taking place 09 May - 07 June, materials will start to arrive in centres from 25 April.
• For exams taking place from 08 June, materials will start to arrive in centres from 17 May.

The yellow label service will be in place for the summer series for centres in England to return BTEC scripts. Attendance Registers and labels will start to arrive in centres from 27 April. 

Secure Download assessments can be accessed from our Secure Test space. To find out more about secure storage, please take a look at our exam storage support article.

Accessing materials that are provided electronically (‘secure download’) 

Please check how exam materials will be sent to you – if any are available via ‘secure download, you will need to visit our Secure Test space. You will only be able to access secure materials for assessments that you have entries for. 

Requesting PDF versions to make copies onto coloured paper 

You should request this by contacting our customer services team. Based on feedback, we are looking into the provision of colour paper copies for centres. 

If you identify you have not received assessment materials  

Contact our customer service team if you identify any issues with assessment materials on the day of the exam. In some cases, we will be able to securely send these to you. 

When to schedule onscreen exams to ensure results are issued by August results day 

You should scheduled onscreen tests to be taken by 17 June to ensure they are marked and results issued by August results day. 

Managing absences on the day of the exam 

Please review our managing absences support materials on the Teaching and Assessment pages. 

Notifying Pearson of malpractice or maladministration 

As an approved Pearson centre, you are required to notify us of any suspected or confirmed maladministration or malpractice.  

Returning assessment materials to Pearson safely 

Assessments will be returned to Pearson electronically (via One Drive) or via ParcelForce. Please follow the instructions for the relevant assessments. Please also take care to only include the required materials – including other materials can cause issues at our processing centre.

Please see our Exams Officer support pages for more information on conducting external assessments. 

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 will now 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. Further guidance on this can be found below: 

• The Exams Officer should email uk.special.requirements@pearson.com to request the timetable variation, stating how many students it will involve and the planned variation. You do not need to send any forms to us directly.
• You must obtain declarations (using this form) from each parent/carer for students affected, and keep these on your files. You do not need to submit these to us, but you must keep copies in case they are later requested.
• You will need to fill out the overnight supervision form for each timetable variation (not each learner) on PAAO (Pearson Access Arrangements Online). In the comments where it asks for reasons for the overnight requirement, you should add that it's a group overnight supervision.

Overnight Supervision Declaration forms must not be enclosed with the scripts. All completed Overnight Supervision Declaration forms must be kept on file at the centre for inspection.

Forms may be stored electronically or in hard copy paper format. They must be retained on file until the deadline for reviews of marking has passed or until any appeal, malpractice or other results enquiry has been completed, whichever is later. Forms must not be sent to an awarding body, unless specifically requested.

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 have reviewed the feedback submitted and for the upcoming series we are making the following changes/improvements: 

• No limit on user access for uploading learner work.
• Centre folders will be named with the unit code, assessment name and exam/submission date.
• Individual learner folders will be created on your behalf.
• An additional checklist will be included within the Online Attendance Register for centres to confirm if learner work is completed/uploaded.
• We’ve simplified how learners should save their work.
• The completed learner authentication forms no longer need uploading.
• The Administrative Support Guides (ASG) will reflect all changes.
• A learner handout for guidance on the correct file types and naming convention from the ASG will be included in each External Assessment folder.
• A notification email confirming successful upload will be issued.

Our next Exams Officers Update session will provide further information, as well as going through the latest news, updates and topics featured in our recent Exams Officer Newsletter for both GQ and BTEC. 

The next online live session will be held on Tuesday 26 April at 2pm. Please register for the event if you would like to attend. On demand guidance videos are also being produced which, once available, can be accessed as and when required via our website.

We are aiming to send the links out to centres at the end of April/early May. If you haven’t already, we would be grateful if you would complete this form with all contacts requiring access to your centre folder to support the upload of learner work. 

We have adapted our approach to work placement hours for Diploma and Extended Diploma sizes for the BTEC CPLD qualification and have also made a small amendment to Unit 9, which only applies to the Diploma and Extended Diploma.

Further details can be found in our recent communication.

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. 

Quality Nominee summer networking events return

Please join us at one of our online events in June, where we will talk through the quality assurance cycle for 2022/23, and look at the new centre guides to support you through the process. We will also give you an opportunity to discuss with colleagues what's worked well this year and what you will be looking to develop in 2022/23. 

Events are split by suite i.e. we are offering separate events for the redeveloped Tech Awards being rolled out in schools with effect from September 2022. Places are limited to one per centre and the events can be booked via the Training from Pearson page (filter by BTEC) or the QN Hub (under live events). 

The DfE have recently informed us that the BTEC Tech Award in Engineering (2022) has not been approved for 2024 Key Stage 4 Performance Tables, and we have chosen to withdraw this qualification.  

What does this mean for my learners?  

For all learners who are registered on the current BTEC Tech Award in Engineering (2017), or plan to register this September and complete by Summer 2023, this qualification is on the 2022 and 2023 Key stage 4 Performance Tables.  

For all other learners who will be claiming certification from 2024 onwards, there are two Level 1/2 Engineering qualifications available, but these qualifications will not be on Key Stage 4 Performance Tables.

We have extended the availability of the current BTEC Tech Award in Engineering (2017) in England and Northern Ireland to allow you to continue delivering this qualification with no change to content or assessment. The BTEC First Award in Engineering will continue to be available. You can contact our dedicated Subject Advisor at teachingengineering@pearson.com for advice and guidance. 

As a reminder, all other BTEC Tech Awards 2022 have been approved for the 2024 Performance Tables. Further information regarding BTEC qualifications on Performance Tables can be found here (PDF | 435 KB).

Pearson’s April e-Bulletin was published and included the following: 

• Q&A Networks and Training events
• Entries for the Summer Series
• Provider Approval and Provider Monitoring
  

ACE360 Draft Bookings 

Following on from the recent update which allows a draft booking to be made in the system (when apprentices have not progressed through gateway), please be aware that Pearson have made the decision not to use this feature. 

Adult Care Worker and Lead Adult Care Worker – Update 

In line with recent External Quality Assurance guidelines, NSAR have agreed to suspend the use of service user testimonies as part of the gateway requirements. Should apprentices have this evidence, we can accept, however, gateway will not be denied should this evidence not be presented. 

Information Communication Technician L3 and Data Analyst L4 

We are now accepting registrations for both standards on ACE360. Should you wish to add these standards to your EPA contract, please contact your Business Development Manager or Curriculum Development Manager in the first instance.

IFATE Flexibility – Extensions for the length of the end-point assessment period 

In line with IFATE, the COVID-19 flexibilities of extending the EPA period has been removed from 1.4.22. Please ensure that all apprentices who are Approved for EPA have a relevant booking, within the time specified in the Assessment Plan, to ensure that you remain compliant. 

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.