Your questions answered

That’s correct, no BTEC exams will take place in summer 2021. Instead, we are advising schools and colleges to still make exam entries for assessments that were due to take place. For learners who are not due to complete their studies this academic year, the Q-TAG  process (where the teacher issues the final grade) cannot be used. Instead, what we’re calling the ‘reduced assessment’ mitigation will continue.   

We recognise and anticipate that mid-flight learners (those in the middle of their studies who are due to certificate next year) will have been impacted by a different level of disruption than those completing this year. We also understand that learners are keen to know unit level results so that they can make decisions about their future path.  However, as we do not yet know what the situation will be next year, our decision is to ensure that we do the right thing by learners and take the time to review the situation in the next academic year.  This will allow us to consider the impact on these learners nearer the time they are due to complete their studies.  

In light of this we can confirm that we will request Qualification-level or Unit-level Teacher Assessed Grades for mid-flight learners, at the appropriate point of certification next academic year. We anticipate that this will be in January 2022 for March completers, and June 2022, for summer completers. 

This year student results days align to that of A Levels and GCSEs: 

• 10 August 2021 - BTEC Level 3 Nationals 
• 12 August 2021 - BTEC Level 2 Technicals/ BTEC Level 1/2 Firsts/ BTEC Level 1/2 Tech Awards 

Regarding grading assignments. Pearson will not grade your assignments. The principle this year is that a learner’s performance should be used to determine the final qualification grade submission (Q-TAG). Schools and colleges have been asked to make a holistic judgement, based on the available evidence they have from the entire length of a student’s learning journey. 

The principle this year is that a learner’s performance should be used to determine the final qualification grade submission (Q-TAG). Schools and colleges have been asked to make a holistic judgement, based on the available evidence they have from the entire length of a student’s learning journey.  Whilst these sources of evidence might not be the usual sources of evidence for every learner, the evidence used should be taken from actual learner work from taught course content, as opposed to a teacher predicting a grade or judgement on a learner’s potential. This means that where learners might not have completed the full course, they may still be securely awarded a qualification grade by their school, college or centre because there has been enough evidence to satisfy that centre that a learner is performing at a specific qualification grade. This means that a presentation may be sufficient in providing the evidence for your son that the centre need. 

Most BTEC students in the UK will receive grades awarded by their teachers, in place of exams this year due to the disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Teachers will be asked to base your grades on work you've done (or will do) during the whole of your course. This could include coursework and mock exams, as well as essays and in-class tests. You'll only be assessed on topics you've been taught. Your teachers might also choose to set you short assessments provided by the exam boards. These will not take place under formal exam conditions.

Exam boards like Pearson BTEC will provide teachers with guidance on how to most effectively assess your grades. However, there will be no return to the algorithm that was used last summer to moderate teachers’ predicted grades.

Teachers have until 18 June to submit their assessed grades, so any work you do up until that time may be considered as part of your final grade.

Results will be published earlier than planned, so that students have more time to appeal any grades they are unhappy with. This is particularly intended to help students with university applications.

This year most BTECs will be awarded using a Qualified Teacher Assessed Grade or Q-TAG. We have asked your school/college/private training provider to submit for you an overall qualification grade, based on your performance and a range of evidence from throughout the BTEC course. No algorithms will be used to generate results. Instead, we will be sampling student work, as we have done in previous years, and the submitted qualification grades will be subject to our quality assurance processes/checks to enable us to issue the final results with confidence.

Teachers and tutors will review the evidence you have built up from what you have been taught and have had marked over the duration of your course. They will collect this evidence (banked unit assessment AND alternative evidence eg coursework, mock exams, as well as essays and in-class tests), and decide if it is broad enough to use it to give a Q-TAG. If it is, they will award a Q-TAG which will need to be endorsed by a senior manager. If your teacher or tutor feels they don’t have enough evidence to award a grade they will discuss the available evidence with you and will ask you to produce additional evidence in April and May so that they can confidently award your grade. Once they have awarded their Q-TAG, they will sense check it against our quality assurance processes and then submit it to Pearson by 18 June.

The DfE has divided Vocational Qualifications into three groups, which are summed up in an infographic from Ofqual.

Group 1

These are qualifications that are most like GCSEs and A-levels, that are used for progression to higher education. Based on the government guidance, these include many (but not all) BTECs. Results will be given during the week of 9 August in line with GCSE and A-level results.

Group 2

These are qualifications that are used to enter directly into employment, such as NVQs. From the guidance:

• “Exams or assessments should continue where they are critical to demonstrate occupational or professional competence and can be delivered in line with PHE measures.“
• “Where the assessment cannot take place safely, it will need to be delayed.“
• “These may be written or practical exams and assessments”
• “Your assessments may take place in a different way than normal, using social distancing or remote assessment.“

Group 3

These are smaller qualifications that are unlike GCSEs and A-levels in their course structure. This includes:

• Functional Skills
• ESOL Skills for Life

Exams and assessments for these courses will continue so long as they can be carried out in safe conditions or remotely. Teacher assessed grades will only be used if you cannot access an in-person or remote assessment.

Exam regulator Ofqual ran a public consultation to help it plan how to manage the cancellation of this year’s exams. It says there were more than 100,000 responses, with more than 50% of those from students.

Ofqual’s interim chief regulator Simon Lebus said: “In normal years, we rely on exams to support students’ progression. "This year it is teachers’ judgement that will be used to assess what has been learned and determine student grades.

"Assessment cannot itself serve as an instrument to recover lost learning and compensate for the different experiences students will have had in different parts of the country, and the arrangements being put in place will therefore only take into account what students have been taught, not what they have missed.

"The aim is to make it no harder overall for this year’s students to receive a particular grade than students in other years.”

Education secretary Gavin Williamson said: “Young people have shown incredible resilience over the last year, continuing with their learning amidst unprecedented challenges while the country battles with this pandemic. Those efforts deserve to be fairly rewarded.

“That’s why we are providing the fairest possible system for those pupils, asking those who know them best – their teachers – to determine their grades, with our sole aim to make sure all young people can progress to the next stage of their education or career.”

Teachers can choose whatever form of assessment they think is best, but they must use evidence whatever decision they make regarding your grades. They can use evidence from across the time you’ve spent on your course.

In its guidance, the government has recommended the following range of evidence that teachers can draw on:

• Assessments provided by the exam board, including exam questions, past papers, practice or sample papers
• Coursework, even if this has not been fully completed
• Substantial class or homework (including work you’ve done during remote learning)
• Any tests you’ve taken in class
• Any mock exams you've taken
• Records of your capability and performance during the course in performance-based subjects like music, drama and PE
• Records of your progress and performance over the course of study

The Department for Education advised that the January examination series would go ahead, and that your school or college was permitted to run those assessments if they judged it right to do so.

We understand some learners might feel their performance may have been compromised considering the uncertainty and disruption. Ofqual have provided guidance that those learners who sat external assessments in January should be included in the alternative arrangements. This means your teachers can use additional evidence gathered through the breadth of your course, to support the submission of a Qualification-level Teacher Assessment Grade that may better reflect your achievement of the unit.

No. Centres will be asked to use evidence, gathered during the breadth of your course to inform their judgements on a Qualification-level Teacher Assessed Grade for certificating learners.

This means that, in line with students taking A level and GCSE grading this year, the emphasis will be on teacher judgement. Here at Pearson BTEC, we are providing guidance to teachers to enable them to do this.

We understand that some of you are concerned about how the awarding process will affect your UCAS application. We want to reassure you that we are working closely with UCAS, and HEIs to explain the results processing arrangements for this year, to avoid an impact on UCAS applications. We will update you with more information as soon as we can.

This year student results days align to that of A Levels and GCSEs:

• 10 August 2021 - BTEC Level 3 Nationals
• 12 August 2021 - BTEC Level 2 Technicals/ BTEC Level 1/2 Firsts/ BTEC Level 1/2 Tech Awards

In the event, you think there is an error with the final grade(s) issued, you will have the opportunity to appeal the result with us, via your school/college/private training provider.