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  November 2022 
Dear Colleague,

This term is swiftly moving on and in this newsletter you will find all the latest information to support you with the quality assurance of your vocational programmes.

If you have any questions about Quality Assurance, please contact the team via Live Chat or the Pearson Support Portal and, if you are not already a member, join the QN Community, where we share the latest information and you can network with other BTEC centres.

Features this month include:
  • QNs for all types of qualifications: please check that your Annual Quality Declaration (AQD) is complete, as the deadline has now passed. (The HN section has a separate deadline: 24 February 2023)
  • Check all Lead Internal Verifiers registered for their programmes and carried out Centre Standardisation with the whole assessment team. Deadline was 4 November 2022.
  • If a Centre Assessment Standards Reviewer has been allocated to your centre to conduct the Holistic Review, prepare your team by referring to the guidance in the Centre Guide to Quality Assurance.
  • Schedule a meeting with Lead IVs to review current registrations and the processing of any transfers or withdrawals (keeping on top of this will make claiming certification easier at the end of the year).
  • Book onto the QA catch-up sessions.
  • Check out our on-demand offer and full schedule of live support events to help staff with all aspects of quality assurance and BTEC assessment rules.
The Annual Quality Declaration (AQD) deadline was 18 November for all sections other than the Higher Nationals, which has a deadline of 24 February. The completion of the AQD is a requirement for all vocational centres, regardless of the quality assurance model your qualifications fall under.

We appreciate that there have been some technical problems, but these are now mostly resolved, so can we kindly request for all Quality Nominees to check that your centre’s AQD is complete, particularly if colleagues were given access to provide programme or assessor details, as only the QN or assigned manager can submit the AQD. The direct link to the AQD is here; remember you will need your Edexcel Online login credentials to access the platform.

To check your AQD is complete, each section should be green along with the word ‘completed’, as shown in the example below. 
Some centres have experienced AQD access issues, and we apologise for the inconvenience caused. We believe all centres should now have access, and therefore politely ask those Quality Nominees that are yet to complete and submit the AQD to do this please at your earliest convenience.  

If you still cannot access the AQD, please contact the Vocational Quality Assurance Management team via the Pearson Support Portal
The deadline for all Lead IVs (Level 1 QCF, legacy Tech Awards, BTEC Firsts and BTEC Nationals) to register or re-instate their registration has now passed. Please check Lead IVs have made the correct registration and have confirmed standardisation has taken place. To support Lead IVs, please see our new Centre Guide for Lead Internal Verifiers

Centres in scope for the Holistic Review will now be in communication with the allocated Centre Assessment Standards Reviewer (CASR). To support your centre staff in preparation for this activity, please refer to the Centre Guide to Quality Assurance. If you have not been contacted by a CASR, you will not be required to undertake this activity, and you can confirm an allocation has not been made to your centre by viewing Edexcel Online. Go to BTEC, Centre Assessment Standards Reviewer in the left-hand menu, and if an allocation has not been made, it will show as Dr Not Active

Programme Control Measures have now been sent to the Quality Nominee at each centre. Please ensure these are shared with programme teams as soon as possible. Further information regarding Programme Control Measures and appeals can be found on pages 2023 of the Centre Guide to Quality Assurance. Please note that, due to regulatory requirements, all programmes must undergo sampling annually. Therefore, 'Low Control' means a smaller sample size is required, as indicated in the Centre Guide, rather than no sample at all, as was previously the case.  

The Centre Guide to Standards Verification has now been released; please share this with your teams. Our Standards Verification live events have also now commenced, so please book your place by going to our Quality Assurance Events & Support webpage.

If you are delivering the new Tech Awards for first teach from September 2022 and the legacy Tech Awards or BTEC Firsts to the final cohort for that qualification (in the second year of a two-year programme), then, provided certain criteria are met, we will allocate a Programme Control Measure of 'Low Control' to your legacy Tech Award / BTEC First to reduce the required administration for you in this final year. Please see page 8 of the Centre Guide to Standards Verification for further information. 
If you have learners completing a Pearson-Set Assignment for the internally assessed components in this first assessment series, early moderation opens from 1 December, and all marks and the moderation sample must be uploaded by 15 December.

Each learner should have an Assessment Record sheet completed to record their marks and feedback. You can download a template for this from the BTEC forms and guides webpage. For the learners selected for moderation, the Assessment Record sheet is the only document required to be submitted in addition to the learner's evidence.  

Learners selected for the moderation sample will be identified by a tick next to their name in Edexcel Online, where centres will enter the marks for each learner, and the sample is to be uploaded via the Learner Work Transfer platform. 

The following support articles can be found on the BTEC Tech Awards 2022: Support Index webpage:
The monitoring activity for T Level programmes is now underway, with Reviewers (TQRs) allocated to Providers offering these courses. The first monitoring report should be complete by the end of Term 1, i.e. before the Christmas break, and we are asking for your support to work with the TQRs to ensure that this happens, please. We acknowledge we are later than we would have hoped in getting this activity underway, but we must comply with IfATE and DfE regulations, and as such, politely request that the one-hour telephone or Zoom call is scheduled at your earliest convenience.  
From 18 November, centres can no longer create or edit examination staff accounts on Edexcel Online. All other roles, such as Quality Nominee and teacher accounts, will continue to be managed by Exams Officers along with the permissions to delete non active accounts.

We recently wrote to the Head of Centre to inform you of this change and requested the return of a completed spreadsheet and the submission of the Head of Centre Declaration Form. If these activities have not been completed, we would be grateful if you could submit the form and return the completed spreadsheet to eprocessing@pearson.com. If you or your Head of Centre has not received the communication or would like it to be resent, please email eprocessing@pearson.com quoting your centre number. 
Our Quality Assurance Events schedule for January–May 2023 is now available.

All events are held on Zoom;  to book your place, please visit our Quality Assurance: Events and Support webpage.

Kind regards

Helen, Bill, Liz, Sally, & Sue
Vocational Quality Assurance Managers

Pearson Customer Services

The Lighthouse, Manchester, M50 3BF

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