Vocational Qualification Bulletin
November 2025 |
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Welcome to your November edition |
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Your first term-time checkpoint, the BTEC cohort declaration, opens on 1 December. It’s an important moment for everyone involved in getting students ready for next summer.
While exams officers will complete the declaration, quality nominees and BTEC programme teams play a key role too, and you’ll need to work closely to make sure it’s completed by 30 January 2026.
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This declaration helps make sure every student expecting a result in August stays on track. You put so much time and energy into preparing students for success, and this step helps protect that work so they can receive their results on time.
We’ll guide you through what you need to do and when, and make sure you’ve got the tools and support to get everything done smoothly.
Read on to find out what’s coming next and how you can get ready.
Don’t forget, we’re here to help. If you have any questions or need support, you can reach out through the Pearson support portal.
Hayley White
Vice President Assessment, Standards and Services
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This month's news and updates |
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Date |
Activity |
| 1 December |
Cohort declaration open in VQ Learner Tracker for completion |
| 15 December |
BTEC Tech Award: submit marks and learner work for January internally assessed components |
| 31 December |
Deadline to delete BTEC registrations made this academic year and receive a full refund |
| 30 January |
Termtime checkpoint deadline: cohort declaration. Your head of centre completes a declaration to confirm all students who are expecting a result in summer 2026 |
| 21 February |
BTEC Tech award entry deadline: make entries for internal and external components for May/June |
| 18 March |
Release of January results to centres |
| 19 March |
Release of January results to students |
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On the 1 December 2025, we’ll open the cohort declaration for you to complete by 30 January. This helps us build a shared, accurate picture of the students expecting results in August 2026, meaning we can work together to make sure your students can receive their results on time in August.
Not sure what to expect? Here’s what you need to know. |
✓ You’ll need to log in to the VQ Learner Tracker, and check that students who are expected to complete in summer 2026 have a “summer tag”. Any registration with an estimated completion date between 1 April and 31 August 2026 will have one assigned by us.
✓ Not familiar with VQ Learner Tracker? We’re here to help. We’ll make sure you have an account, resources, and an invitation to a dedicated webinar to help you get up and running.
✓ We’ll email when it’s opened, and if you’re not ready to complete the declaration yet, that’s okay. You’ll be able to let us know you’re working on it by selecting “View declaration” and pledging to complete it on time. |
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If you’re running BTEC external assessments, you want to find everything you need to know quickly and easily so that everything runs smoothly. We’ve made a new tool to help you do exactly that. |
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The Curriculum and Assessment Review: our response
The Curriculum and Assessment Review is an important milestone for education and skills in the UK – and it’s just the beginning.
We welcome the Review’s support for many of the recommendations we shared. All of these have been inspired by our work with schools and colleges across the country. And we’ll keep working to build an education system that empowers students, champions teachers, and drives the UK’s long-term success.
As we now move from ideas into further action, we’ll keep collaborating with educators, students, partners, sector experts to drive manageable and truly impactful change.
We’ve already started to do this and would love for you to join us in our next steps.
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Upcoming briefings on the current reforms
Join us for a summary of the key proposals from the Government White Paper, the Curriculum and Assessment Review report and funding guidance.
For schools: 10 December: 4–5pm | Book now
For colleges: 11 December: 4–5pm | Book now
Can’t make it or want to know more? We’ve put all our current information and updated funding guides online:
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Let us know what you think about the government consultations on post-16 Level 3 and Level 2 pathways
The DfE has launched their consultations on post-16 Level 3 V Levels and post-16 Level 2 pathways, and we want to know what you think about them.
We’ve put together a couple of short surveys, which should take you about 10–15 minutes to complete, to ask for your views on the proposed pathways and implementation challenges. Your participation is crucial to helping us feed back on these consultations and shape educational opportunities for learners.
Please complete the surveys by 30 November. |
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Double-check registrations and funding in England
As you make your new student registrations for this academic year, you need to be aware of upcoming changes affecting centres in England who drawn down DfE funding.
Some BTEC National qualifications are still available for self-funded programmes, and students outside of England. So when registering students for any of the new AAQ qualifications, look for ‘AAQ’ in the title to make sure students are on the correct programme. |
Update to the N grade in Level 3 BTEC Nationals (AAQs)
We have removed the N grade (near-pass) hurdle for externally assessed units in all Level 3 BTEC National AAQs.
This change means students can achieve the qualification with a U grade in external units, as long as they have gained sufficient points to meet the minimum threshold for a Pass at qualification level. The N grade remains available in externally assessed units, contributing points towards the qualification grade and providing an additional level of differentiation between the Pass and Unclassified grades, but is no longer a hurdle to qualification achievement. The specifications have been updated to reflect this change. |
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You can start uploading your December/January series marks and samples
Learner Work Transfer is now open for you to upload your sampled students’ work by 15 December.
You don’t need to wait until the deadline; if you’ve got work ready, you can start uploading now.
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Submit your marks on Edexcel Online
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Changes to sample sizes
Starting from the December/January series, we're asking for slightly larger moderation samples upfront for BTEC Tech Award qualifications. Why? It means fewer last-minute sample requests during your busiest periods. We’ll be in touch ahead of the 15 December submission deadline with more information and support.
If any of your students selected for sampling are absent, you should pick a different student of similar ability to replace them in the sample. This means we won’t have to ask you for an additional sample later on.
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What’s next?
Once you’ve submitted your students’ work, you can expect to receive your initial moderator feedback reports from 16 January 2026. We’ll email quality nominees and exams staff to let you know when they’re ready to download from Edexcel Online. |
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Read the November T Level update
This month:
- Let us know what you think about the post-16 Level 2 pathways consultation
- Tell us how you’re running your Digital T Levels
- Make sure you’ve made your registrations and entries
- All our usual sector updates
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Booking paper-based on-demand tests in December
From 1 December 2025 to 28 December 2025, you won't be able to book Functional Skills paper-based on-demand tests for any date from 29 December 2025 to 12 January 2026. All other dates can be booked as normal.
Outside this date range, our standard process is in place, and you’ll be able to book paper-based on-demand tests as normal up to two weeks ahead of any planned test date. |
Word-processed scripts
When learners complete a word-processed Functional Skills script, make sure the completed test script is enclosed with the relevant test paper. This will help us process and mark these exception scripts for you more quickly and efficiently. |
Standards verifier allocations for Entry Level Functional Skills
You should have now received your standards verifier allocations. If you haven’t heard from your standards verifier yet and have students sitting assessments in the 2025/26 academic year, please let us know.
The deadline to complete all standards verification activities this academic year is 31 July 2026. If you don’t complete activities by that date, this could delay your students’ certification. |
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Your programme control measures are on their way
We’re getting ready to share your programme control measures so you can prepare for standards verification in the new year. We’ll send your programme control measures to your quality nominee’s Edexcel Online mailbox, along with an email notification with more details, so keep an eye out. |
Autumn term housekeeping
With teaching and assessment well underway, now's an ideal time to do some quick checks with your lead IVs and exams officers:
- Are all learners registered on the correct programmes with correct end dates?
- Are all assessment plans up to date and checked for rules of combination?
- Are assessment and internal verification underway and being monitored to lead IVs?
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Download your Centre Guide to Standards Verification
The latest version of the Centre Guide to Standards Verification is now available to download from the BTEC quality assurance page. Share this with your teams so you’re ready to start working with your standards verifiers once they’re allocated in the new year. |
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As we look ahead to the Christmas break, here are the key dates you need to know for EPA assessments and knowledge test components in December. |
Assessment booking deadlines
- Book by 5 December for EPA assessments to be completed before 17 December
- Book by 12 December for knowledge tested components (final assessment date: 19 December)
Want grades before the break? Make sure assessments are completed by 15 December 2025. Anything after this date will have grades released in the New Year.
We'll do our best to help with any last minute requests, but these depend on assessor availability, so earlier is always better.
The EPA team will be taking a well-earned break from 23 December 2025, returning 5 January 2026. |
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New for 2026: Higher Nationals in Animal Conservation and Countryside Management for England
A new Higher Technical Qualification in Animal Conservation and Countryside Management for England will be available for first teaching from September 2026. |
If you're a centre in England already delivering the standard Higher National, you'll have automatic approval if your students want to continue with the HTQ. Otherwise, you’ll need to apply for new programme approval if you’d like to deliver this new HTQ next year. |
Updates to Higher Nationals in Construction for England
Updated specifications (Issue 2) for the following Higher Nationals titles are now available and will be ready for first teaching from September 2026:
These updated specifications remain Higher Technical Qualification (HTQ) approved and fully aligned with the updated occupational standard.
Key among the updates to these specifications is the introduction of a new mandatory unit: 4001DB Construction Design Project Design and Build (Pearson-set). Make sure you factor this in to your planning for next year.
The existing specifications (Issue 1.1) will still be available under ‘useful documents’ on the specification pages should you need to refer to them during the current academic year. |
Reminder: new Higher Nationals in Music and Performing Arts
We launched the updated suite of Music and Performing Arts Higher Nationals in May, so if you’re moving to these new versions, make sure you make the most of the training events we have available to help you deliver these new qualifications with confidence.
The existing Music and Performing Arts qualifications have a last registration date of August 2026. |
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The latest centre handbooks are available for you to download:
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Quality assurance dates for your diary:
- Standards verification activity: November 2025 – July 2026 (although timings may vary by programme)
- Lead standards verifier reviews (if applicable*): by December 2025 (dates set with each centre)
- Not sure if you’re in scope for a lead standards verifier review? See pages 51 – 55 of the Work Based Learning Centre Guide to Quality Assurance 2025–2026 handbook.
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Allocation release for Self-Regulated Framework (SRF) /Advanced Manufacturing Engineering (AME)
The allocations for SRF qualifications were released on 24 October.
The allocations for AME qualifications were released on 12 November.
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