Exams Officer Newsletter
February 2026 |
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Welcome to your monthly Exams Officer newsletter |
We are nearing the end of the winter period and despite the challenging weather, the focus on supporting students hasn't waivered. Thank you for your incredible determination and hard work.
Read on for key reminders, guidance, and support to help you continue the year with confidence.
As always, we are here. If you need further support, reach out to us through the Pearson support portal.
Best wishes,
Pearson Communications |
This month's news and updates |
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Activity |
| 12 February |
Post-results deadline: International GCSE for November 2025 examinations |
| 21 February |
Entry deadline: make your entries for summer 2026 for GCSE, International GCSE (UK centres), Entry Level Certificate, AS/A level, AEA, Mathematics in Context (Level 3 Core Maths) and Level 2 Extended Mathematics
Certificate, BTEC Tech Awards (2022)* |
| 4 March |
Results released to centres: for January 2026 series for Edexcel Award, Project qualifications |
| 5 March |
Results released to learners: for January 2026 series for Edexcel Award, Project qualifications |
| 18 March |
Results released to centres: for December/January for BTEC Nationals, Firsts and Tech Awards (from 2022) |
| 19 March |
Results released to learners: for December/January for BTEC Nationals, Firsts and Tech Awards (from 2022) |
| 20 March |
Entry deadline: make entries for external assessment for May/June for BTEC Firsts, L3 Nationals and L2 Technicals* |
| 21 March |
Entry deadline: make your entries for summer 2026 for Edexcel Award, Level 1 and 2 Projects and Level 3 Extended Project (EPQ) |
| 24 March |
Speaking window opens: for International GCSE Chinese, French, German, Spanish, Swahili and English as a Second Language for summer 2026 |
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* Learners who sat BTEC assessments in the January 2026 series can be re-entered for June exams after January results have been issued, and no late fees will be charged. The entry deadline for these learners is 28 March.
* Learners who sat BTEC assessments in the February 2026 series can be re-entered for June exams after February results have been issued, and no late fees will be charged. The entry deadline for these learners is 10 April.
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Introducing the newest member of the team: voice AI assistant |
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At the end of 2025, we introduced a new Voice AI Assistant when you call, giving you clear answers directly from our support articles.
Answer a few simple questions to help the AI assistant understand who its talking to, then just ask it your question in the same way you would ask a real person.
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Autumn & Winter: Essential Information |
To help support you during the autumn and winter terms, we've put together this essential information article containing important knowledge on upcoming key dates, events, assessments, and available resources. |
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Join us on our 'Bitesize' webinars
If you're a new exams officer or just new to Pearson qualifications, you might have questions about the administration of these. We are running a series of interactive, engaging live events which are dedicated to specific admin processes, providing in depth guidance and include demonstrations on the completion of the process specified.
Why not join us for our next GQ & VQ Bitesize event: |
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GQ Exam Admin &
Question Paper Security
9 February 2026
11:00-12:00 (GMT) 1 hour |
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BTEC Exam Admin & Question Paper
10 March 2026
11:00-12:00 (GMT) 1 hour |
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Don't worry if you missed any! You can always watch the recording of any event on our support article. |
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Improvements to the Edexcel Online Statement of Entry (SoE) Report |
We are delighted to let you know that based on insights from centres, we’ve made a number of improvements to the General Qualifications Statement of Entry (SoE) report in Edexcel Online to make it clearer, more informative, and easier to use.
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Summer 2027 provisional timetables
The provisional timetables for summer 2027 will be available on our website from Monday 2 February. The feedback window will run until Friday 20 March. Please send any feedback into timetables@pearson.com.
These will be available on our provisional timetables webpage. |
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Entries
A key step in achieving a smooth summer series is ensuring that you have made the correct entries for your students for all exams. The deadline for making your entries for GCSE and GCE qualifications, and for our BTEC external assessments, is 21 February 2026. The deadline for International GCSE entries is 21 March 2026.
You can still make entries after the deadline, but this may result in you being charged increased entry fees. If entries are made too late, you might not receive a physical copy of the question paper.
Issues to look out for when making entries include:
- missing individual students
- entering students for the incorrect tier (e.g. GCSE Maths Higher vs Foundation
- entering students with the wrong awarding body
- entering incorrect dates of birth, names, UCI, etc.
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MFL Speaking assessments
Each year, we have a number of maladministration cases relating to centres’ delivery of MFL speaking assessments.
Please consider the following checks you can do to avoid any issues arising at your centre:
- Do you know when the speaking test window is and are the speaking tests planned in?
- Has the recording equipment been checked to confirm it is still working? Will someone be checking the equipment during the assessment window?
- Are the teacher-examiners clear about how the speaking tests must be delivered? Have they had refresher training? Who will check they are ready?
- Are teacher-examiners clear on how they can progress speaking tests without using improper verbal or non-verbal prompting?
- Have you got copies of the “warning to candidates” posters to display?
- Does everyone involved in facilitating speaking tests know that material must be signed in and out of the secure store where needed? (these materials must not be kept in desk draws or staff cupboards)
- Are you and your MFL teachers familiar with the new MFL Sequencing tool for GCSE French, German and Spanish speaking assessments?
Training on these assessments can be found on the following links:
For centres delivering our qualifications, Admin Support Guides can be found on our qualification pages in the Forms and Administration section. These are currently being updated for the 2026 assessment window and will be available soon. |
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Introducing the new GCSE MFL digital sequencing tool
Follow our checklist to make sure you and your MFL staff are ready to deliver GCSE Spanish, French and German speaking assessments:
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Onscreen Assessment Updates – January 2026
New Familiarisation Materials Now Available
We're pleased to share that additional onscreen assessments have been added to the familiarisation library of our onscreen platform. These resources are freely available and ready for centres to use with learners.
Familiarisation materials are digitised versions of past papers designed to support both teachers and students in gaining confidence with the format, layout and features of our onscreen platform ahead of their high stakes assessments.
They can be assigned directly through the platform’s Booking App. If you need any help assigning assessments to your students or getting started with the onscreen platform, our Onscreen Assessment Team is here to support you –just email internationalonscreen@pearson.com.
Text-to-Speech (TTS) Functionality
We're pleased to confirm that within the onscreen platform, the text-to-speech tool will be available as an access arrangement for eligible students in selected assessments during the May/June 2026 series. This feature will be available for the following qualifications and subjects:
- International GCSE Business
- International GCSE English Language A
- International GCSE English Literature
- International GCSE History
Upcoming Drop-in Q&A Sessions
We're here to help with any general onscreen queries you may have, so please feel free to join our friendly drop-in sessions. Just remember to sign up in advance—we look forward to seeing you there! |
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Thank you for completing your cohort declaration |
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Thank you to all of you who've completed your cohort declaration and met our first termtime checkpoint. This gives us an accurate picture of the students expecting results in August 2026 and helps us work with you to make sure they all get their results on time. |
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There's more to come, starting with visibility of what you need to do between now and results coming to VQ Learner Tracker. We'll be in touch next week with more information so you know what to expect and what to do when. |
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Your new BTEC external assessment overview tool
If you’re running BTEC external assessments, find everything you need to know quickly and easily so that everything runs smoothly. |
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Summer and winter 2027 provisional timetables
The provisional winter and summer 2027 BTEC timetables will be uploaded to our website on 2 February 2026. Centres can provide feedback from 2 February 2026 until 20 March 2026 via email at timetables@pearson.com. |
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Updated special considerations form for BTEC internal assessments |
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We’ve created a new form to make applying for special considerations for internally assessed BTEC units quicker and easier. Make sure you save a copy and use it for all future special consideration applications for internal units. Read our latest update. |
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BTEC Tech Awards
Make your summer entries
The deadline to make entries for the summer series is 21 February. You can also enter cash-ins for students sitting their terminal assessment at the same time as making your entries.
Don't forget about the terminal rule
The terminal assessment rule means students have to take their external assessment at the end of their qualification; i.e., the same series in which they'll certificate. This means students must sit their internal assessments either before or in the same series as the external assessment.
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UK webinar events
We will host a series of monthly online exams officer updates during 2025/2026. These live events go through news, updates and various areas to support you in the coming month. |
If you were unable to attend our event in January, you can access the recording on the support portal. |
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Find out everything you need to know to manage examinations and administer our qualifications.
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Our new dedicated space for exams officer training created to offer enhanced support.
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JCQ
Published on 22 January 2026.
Sign up to future updates.
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Ofqual
Keep up-to-date with the latest news and blogs.
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The Exams Office
Working in collaboration with Dfe, Ofqual, JCQ and awarding bodies.
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Social media
Join our Facebook community to stay up to date with news.
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