We have spoken to some centres who have asked for consolidated guidance on how to ensure that BTEC Full Award Claims are processed in a timely way this summer. We know that many Examinations Officers and Quality Nominees may be new, or simply appreciate the reminder after a couple of years of having alternative processes in place. We have created the Vocational Qualifications: Eligibility Steps for Academic Year 2021/22 guidance (PDF | 2.8 MB), which we hope you find useful.

Here are some key points to note:

• BTECs are modular qualifications, meaning multiple unit grades must be submitted by centres, and exam results achieved, in order to meet ‘eligibility’ requirements. These requirements are always outlined in the specification, and you can confirm you have the required units, and unit grades to achieve a qualification outcome using our BTEC Grade Calculators.
• Q-TAGs will not form part of qualification results this academic year – all learners with affected assessment from 2020/21 must have U-TAGs submitted (PDF | 109 KB) from their centre, or they will not be eligible for a qualification result. If you have not completed that process, you will need to use the late U-TAG submission process (DOC | 71.7 KB).
• As outlined from page 8 in the guidance (PDF | 1,030 KB), U-TAGs have been awarded a ‘midpoint’ score. Please ensure you use this score when using the grade calculator, or your own MIS data systems. It is essential you achieve a Standards Verification ‘Release’, otherwise certificates will not be issued, and grades will not be sent to centres, or (where relevant) UCAS.
• You must submit a ‘Full Award Claim’ once all internally assessed grades are submitted, where learners are expecting a qualification result this summer.
• All ‘ineligible’ claims will appear as such and must be resolved in advance of results day to ensure timely results.
  

In the table below, you will find a list of key activities that must be completed by centres:

We have created a Top Tips for Students guide (PDF | 380 KB) for learners completing their assessments this summer. With exams continuing after the break and assessment deadlines coming up, please share with your learners as it not only has advice around preparing and sitting exams, but also information about the support available for students from both Pearson and other organisations.  

We have shared guidance on how we will return to normal aggregation this academic year, meaning that the summation of unit grades will determine the qualification outcome. This means it is essential that centres ensure all unit grades are entered, and relevant external assessments sat.

We updated centres in Issue 38 of the VQ Bulletin with information from Ofqual on the expected approaches to standards setting in 2022 and have created a guide for centres (PDF |1,791 KB), which sets out how BTEC qualification grades will be awarded by Pearson in 2021/22.

In March 2022, Ofqual 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 (PDF | 2.3 MB) should they have questions about Pearson’s approach, and we would be grateful if you could share this information with them.

We wanted to remind centres of a few of the aspects for standards setting this year: 

1. Pearson will set grade boundaries at unit level for external assessments (internal assessments are criteria-referenced, and centres will be awarding grades, with Pearson verifying those grades). A range of qualitative (review of learner responses) and quantitative evidence will be used to ensure that there is fairness, validity and robustness in the grade boundaries set in the external assessments. Part of the evidence, when we set grade boundaries for summer 2022, will be looking at how all the individual unit grades contribute towards a final qualification grade. Learners will have a range of unit grades, which may include banked unit teacher assessed grades from last academic year. Reviewing how all of these come together to form the qualification grade, may mean that the summer 2022 unit-level grade boundaries are not too different from when exams were last sat.   

2. Qualification grade boundaries are set in the specification, meaning that it is the combination of unit grades (and points) that define the qualification grade. 

3. U-TAGs awarded by Centres in 2020/2021 for external assessments that were due, but did not take place in that academic year, were awarded a ‘mid-point’ score. This was explained in our guidance (PDF | 1,030 KB) (pg 8), please refer to the correct points score when using the Grade Calculators or your own MI data systems:

Learners getting the same U-TAG grade on a unit will all get the same point score. In the absence of the raw mark detail, it is considered fairest for the midpoint of the point score range for each grade to be awarded as the point score for learners awarded with a U-TAG. Where the midpoint is not a whole number, then the notional number of points will be rounded up to the nearest whole number above, e.g., where the midpoint is 9.5 the notional number of points will be 10. We have also looked to align with other VTQ Awarding Organisations to ensure consistency for your centre.  

The notional points score that we will use for the L3 BTEC Nationals (RQF) and Level 1/2 Tech Awards external assessment units are shown in the tables below: 

Last month, Ofqual confirmed the subject content and assessment arrangements for qualifications in the following academic year (2022/23).

They confirmed that:
“For other qualifications, including vocational and technical qualifications taught alongside or instead of GCSEs, AS and A levels, a range of adaptations were permitted in academic year 2021 to 2022. […] Given that public health restrictions are no longer in place, these adaptations are no longer necessary for the academic year 2022 to 2023 onwards.”

This means our main adaptation of streamlined assessment will not be available in 2022/23, so you should plan to teach and assess the BTEC qualifications as normal.

Ofqual have indicated that they will review the external assessment arrangements for General Qualifications after this summer, as well as the approach to grading. Our priority will be to continue to ensure that there is parity for BTEC students. 

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 we will be able to work with you to support any BTEC 2021 alumni with their HE applications in the UK or internationally. 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. 

As always, we have a large selection of Knowledge Articles that have been designed to help Exams Officers and Quality Nominees. You can look through our most-viewed articles or use the search bar to help you find the specific information you’re looking for.

You are welcome to contact us with any queries or concerns, keep informed by following @PearsonBTEC where we will update you with the latest information, or access our FAQ page, which is updated frequently. Our social media is monitored from 8am-4pm, Monday-Friday and we welcome, and will respond to, any suggestions or feedback you have for us.  You can also review past bulletins if you’ve missed any or sign up to receive future updates if you have not already done so, via the link at the end of this bulletin.

Pearson’s May E-Bulletin was published and included the following:

• Q&A Networks and Training events
• Fees for 2022-23
• Provider Approval and Provider Monitoring
• Draft Key dates Schedule 2022-24

Assessment in Summer 2021/22

We know that many of you will be coming to the end of your delivery for 2021/22 and we wanted to remind you that External Examination will be completed remotely this year, via a 'remote visit', as outlined in the autumn 2021 BTEC Centre Guide to External Examination (PDF | 833 KB). In line with Ofqual regulations, no Unit Level Teacher Assessed Grades (UTAGs) can be awarded for students completing assessments after 31 August 2021. Please follow your internal Assessment Board process as usual. Your External Examiner is no longer required to complete a separate Assessment Board check report. Further information can be found in our online guide (PDF| 843 KB).

Final Lead Standards Verifiers Activities 

As we are coming closer to the end of the sampling year, Lead Standards Verifiers will be in touch to organise their final visit and determine your centres' risk level for the next academic year.

General Dates in ACE

Thank you to all providers who change the expected gateway date within ACE360 to ensure data remains accurate and up to date. Having this information accurate helps with forecasting the number of independent end-point assessors required to ensure your apprentices have access to EPA assessment when they need it. 

Testing

We are seeing an increase in the number of tests being booked when apprentices are still within the in training or gateway in process stage. As a reminder, please ensure that tests (both paper based and on screen) are only booked when the apprentice is in the Approved for EPA status.
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.