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Welcome to Issue 46 of the VQ Bulletin. We are getting closer to the end of summer assessment period, with the final timetabled BTEC examination having taken place last week. We know GCSE, A Level and T Level assessments will also finish shortly, so we hope you will be looking forward to the summer break. We are planning to send one more VQ Bulletin before the end of term, with some special editions in the run up to results week(s) in August.  

This edition continues to focus on supporting you to make sure your Level 1/2 BTEC Firsts, Tech Awards, Level 2 BTEC Technicals and Level 3 BTEC Nationals Results Day(s) in August run smoothly. We have added a 'Getting ready for BTEC Results' summary video to our reminders, and we also recommend reviewing our support for eligibility processes.

Although we know it continues to be a busy time, we are looking ahead as part of the Level 3 Vocational Qualification reform and we would like to invite you to join our research community to inform the next generation of BTEC Nationals. We want to prioritise the teacher and learner voice in our qualifications and support materials. If you are interested in participating, please complete this form, and we will be in contact shortly. Thank you to those that have already been in touch, your collaboration is vital and appreciated.

In addition, we would like to thank you for your continued support and for your feedback on the examination and tasks that are also running at this time. You can offer any feedback that you may have on our website.   

Finally, where you have been allocated a Standards Verifier (SV), please ensure you send your samples to them as soon as possible (if you haven’t already) as the deadline for first samples has now passed. Late submission can impact on our ability to release results on time. If you are experiencing any issues with this, please let your SV know. 

Yours sincerely,

Streamlined Assessment is an adaptation put in place for this academic year only, to give more time to teaching and learning. It permits teachers and tutors to assess fewer Learning Aims or Objectives. It was available to many, though not all, BTEC Nationals, Firsts and Level 3 Skills in 2021/22, with either one or two units being permitted to be streamlined.

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

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 (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: 

On 11 May 2022, the DfE published the provisional list of qualifications that will no longer be funded from the 2024/25 academic year for 16-19 learners in England due to overlap with T Levels in Waves 1 and 2.

Pearson are appealing 14 qualifications on this list as we do not believe they meet the criteria to be defunded.

We need evidence from employers and HEIs to appeal some of these qualifications and need to collect this before the appeal submission date on 8 July 2022. You can help ensure the qualifications remain funded in 2024/25 by putting us in touch with the employers or HEIs you work with to show that these qualifications:

1) have been used regularly in the last 3 years to support entry to occupations in the industry, or
2) are used and accepted as a current entry requirement for progression to relevant HE courses.

If you able to support us, please get in touch with your details and we will work with you and your contact to produce a letter that can be used to support our appeal.

We are looking for employer support for the following eight engineering qualifications:

We are looking for HEI support for the following two Construction and Health & Social Care qualifications:

For further information on the reforms, please see our website.

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:

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. 

You can find guidance on managing external assessments, including absences, on our main 2021/22 Teaching and Assessment pages.

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

Join our interactive training session and explore the journey from BTEC Level 3 to Higher Nationals. Aimed at tutors and progression advisors, the focus of this session is to outline the further education support available for both tutors and students. Find out more and register your place for Thursday 7 July 4-5pm (BST). The session will also be available on Tuesday 12 July 12-1pm (BST). You can register your place here.

We have recently refreshed and updated our support articles, detailing answers to our most asked questions.

Controlled Assessment Conditions

With the increased number of apprentices working from home, additional measures will be introduced to ensure that the remote assessment is conducted in line with controlled assessment conditions. This may mean, the independent end-point assessor (IEA) will ask the apprentice to move their web camera around the room, to ensure no unauthorised material is present, which could provide an unfair advantage during the assessment.

We are seeing several instances of apprentices entering their EPA assessment with substantial amounts of work-based evidence, to help support them in their assessment. Whilst work-based evidence is permitted, please ensure that the number of evidence items does not exceed the permitted number. Further information can be found within the EPA Resource Pack or Additional Documents of the standard.

Some EPA assessments also allow the use of notes to be brought into the assessment. Where apprentices choose to bring notes, please ensure that the EPA Resource Pack or Additional Documents is consulted to ensure compliance with the standard. 

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.