Exams Officer Newsletter
March 2026 |
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Welcome to your monthly Exams Officer newsletter |
Hello spring. As the season unfolds, we enter a crucial period of preparation that will lay the foundation of an effective May/June examination series.
With clear planning and a focus on readiness and wellbeing, spring offers the ideal opportunity to turn steady progress into strong performance when it matters most.
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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Date |
Activity |
| 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) |
| 1 April |
Results released to centres: for February for BTEC Nationals, Technicals and Firsts |
| 2 April |
Results released to learners: for February for BTEC Nationals, Technicals and Firsts |
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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 27 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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NEW Spring and summer: essential information |
To help prepare you for the May/June exams, we've put together this essential information article containing important knowledge on upcoming key dates, events, assessments, and available resources. |
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Centre Declarations of Interest |
At Pearson, we value protecting the integrity of our qualifications and assessments for our learners. Our centres have a shared responsibility to help us do this through reporting and managing possible conflicts of interest that may arise relating to our qualification assessments.
We will shortly be sending a short form for centres to complete. |
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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 Bitesize - NEA &
Learner Work Transfer
9 March 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 past events on our support article. |
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Access arrangements
Access arrangements and reasonable adjustments are a key means of enabling learners who have specific needs (either temporary or long-term) and/or a disability to access assessments and exams without being unfairly disadvantaged. |
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The deadline for access arrangements to be made is 21 March 2026. Applications can be made in Access Arrangements Online (AAO), which you can access via EOL.
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Important change to mark submission for internally assessed and externally moderated work |
Following our announcement on 12 February about changes to mark submission for moderated work, we’ve now published additional, subject-specific guidance for summer 2026; this includes Art and Design, PE, Sport, Drama, Performing Arts and English. For centres with entries, see what these changes mean to your subject areas.
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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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In preparation for the examination series, here are some recommendations for your invigilators and learners:
- be clear about what and how many timetable clashes there are and who is affects
- support them on how timetable clashes are to be managed, including the supervision arrangements for learners sitting exams in an earlier session than timetabled
- put procedures in place on handling and minimising candidates who might pose a risk of causing a disturbance during the exam
- implement arrangements to prevent learners bringing mobile phones to your centre or take possession of mobile phones in ways which candidates will have confidence in (e.g. secure lockers, sealed and named bags at the front of the exam hall)
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Keeping on track for summer results |
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Now you've completed your cohort declaration, we have a shared view of all your students expecting results in the summer.
When you log in to the VQ Learner Tracker, you’ll see a ‘centre action’ column on the registrations screen. |
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Use this to see exactly what you need to do between now and the 5 July claim deadline for each student to receive their overall qualification result on time in August.
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Tell us how you got on
Now you’ve completed your first term-time checkpoint of 2025/26, we’d love to hear how you’ve found it – what's worked, what you might like us to improve, and anything else you want to tell us about it. Complete this short form to let us know. |
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Make your summer BTEC entries
The deadline to make summer series entries for BTEC Nationals, Firsts and L2 Technicals is Friday 20 March. If you have students receiving results from the January series on 19 March, you’ll have until 27 March to make any resit entries for them.
Need help? See our entries index for step-by-step guidance |
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Receiving your results from the January series
Results from the January/February series for BTEC Tech Awards, Firsts, Nationals and L2 Technicals will be released under embargo on Wednesday 18 March for you to then release to your students on 19 March.
If you want to check how to view results, explore post-results options and much more, we’ve got everything you need in one place.
Explore our results support |
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Share your feedback on our 2027 provisional BTEC timetables |
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BTEC Tech Awards
Submitting cash-ins for the January series
If students sat their external assessment in January, you have until 16 April to submit a cash-in on Edexcel Online to claim their certification for that series.
You can't claim for the January series after this date.
You can submit cash-ins for the summer series either alongside your external assessment entries, or you can submit them via EDI until 15 May and on Edexcel Online until 5 July.
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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Digital Functional Skills (DFS) and Essential Digital Skills qualification (EDSQ) key differences |
Planning to deliver Digital Functional Skills (DFS), or is this your first year delivering it? You must make sure you have the correct programme approved before registering or teaching learners.
Please be aware that Digital Functional Skills (2023) is not the same as Essential Digital Skills Qualification (2020) and separate approval is required for each qualification. To check which qualification you are approved for, please see the following article BTEC: Existing Programme Approvals. |
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Digital Functional Skills (2023) programme details
The Qualification Numbers for DFS are:
- Entry Level 3 - 610/3359/5
- Level 1 - 610/3358/3
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Essential Digital Skills Qualification (2020)
The Qualification Numbers for EDSQ are:
- Entry Level 3 - 603/6840/8
- Level 1 - 603/6839/1
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Tell us who’ll upload student work this summer
If you’ve made entries for T Level employer-set projects or occupational specialisms this summer, we’ll need to know who’s uploading your students’ work to SharePoint so we can make sure everything’s set up correctly. We sent an email to all centres with entries with a link to the form you’ll need to complete for each person who’ll upload work.
Missed the email? Read it here |
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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 27 February 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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