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Welcome to this week’s Exams Officer Update.

As always, our essential information guide is available for you to access and utilise throughout the academic year. The article is designed to aid you with frequently asked questions and various processes that you might require assistance with in your day-to-day activities.

Earlier this year, we unveiled the Pearson Development Hub - a designated space specifically tailored for exams officer training. We have created this as part of our commitment to you to offer enhanced support and training in 2023 and beyond. We've produced a guide to accessing the hub, and we'll let you know within this update whenever new training modules are available.
Our next live online event will be on Thursday 14 December at 2pm. You can register here if you'd like to attend.

Throughout the event, we will walk you through the latest news, updates, and upcoming processes for the weeks ahead, providing you with the opportunity to pose any questions you may have. You can view recordings of previous events on our Pearson Development Hub.
We will be using our Learner Work Transfer (LWT) system to manage the uploading of learners’ work for some BTEC Firsts and Nationals in the January 2024 external assessment series. You will no longer be required to upload learner work to SharePoint.

LWT ensures learner data is as protected and secure as possible. It will be familiar to many of you as a system you’ve used for standards verification, for our general qualifications or for the new BTEC Tech Awards.

You will access LWT through Edexcel Online, so please take the time before the January series to ensure that all members of staff at your centre who are involved in BTEC administration and delivery have Edexcel Online access. You can find step-by-step guidance on creating Edexcel Online accounts on our support portal.

There is subject-specific guidance for uploading learner work to LWT in each unit’s administrative support guide (ASG). You can find each subject’s ASGs on the qualification course materials page, under external assessments. The submission deadlines are detailed in our BTEC timetables; failure to submit before each unit’s deadline could result in a maladministration investigation.

Find out more about Learner Work Transfer for BTEC.
After working closely with colleges and schools and talking to many exams officers, earlier this month we shared the new BTEC key dates for 2023/24. They are designed to be more streamlined, and allow us to deliver results to all your learners who are expecting them in summer 2024.

Read our BTEC key dates for 2023/24.

The first of our upcoming key dates is the 9 February cohort declaration checkpoint, where we’ll be asking your head of centre to confirm your estimated completion dates are accurate for all registrations. To make the checkpoint as straightforward as possible, we’ll be getting in touch directly with colleges and schools shortly to explain how you can begin preparing for this checkpoint now.

We’ll be keeping you updated this year by contacting you directly, but you can also keep up to date by visiting our teaching learning and assessment page 2023/24 for the most up to date FAQs.
Date Description
16 January Entry deadline: make your entries for March 2024 external examinations
31 January Deletion deadline: delete learner registrations if learner has withdrawn from qualification
9 February 9 February Cohort Declaration checkpoint: deadline for your Head of Centre to confirm which learners are expecting a qualification result in August 2024, following a check that all estimated completion dates are accurate on Edexcel Online.
This year all school, colleges and training providers must maintain accurate estimated completion dates for all their learners. This is essential to maintain an accurate view of your 2023/24 cohort, and so we can track these learners through to completion.

Unsure of which estimated completion date a learner should have or need extra support? Read our comprehensive guide to maintaining estimated completion dates.
You can expect to receive standard and modified question papers for the BTEC January series from Tuesday 5 December. You can expect to receive attendance registers and labels from Monday 4 December.

The Yellow Label Service will be in place for this series for centres in England to return scripts. If you require tracking information, please contact us through the Pearson Support portal
Date Qualification Details
18 November Edexcel Award & Project Quals Amendment/ High late fees will be charged from this date - Jan '24 exam series
22 November GCSE English Language & Mathematics Final date for submitting special consideration requests to awarding bodies – Nov '23
22 November International GCSE Deadline to submit special consideration requests - Nov '23
23 November International GCSE, GCSE, AS/A level, Edexcel Award, ELC(A), Project qualifications & Mathematics in Context Basedata issued - Jun '24
If your candidates are currently resitting their GCSE Maths or English exams, you will be able to track your standard question paper despatch for general qualifications via Edexcel Online. 

The yellow label service is in place for this series for centres in England to return scripts. 

If you require electronic copies of these question papers, please check your Edexcel Online account is up to date, ensuring you have access to our Secure Download Service (SDS).

The stationery and materials spreadsheet for the autumn series is available to download from our website.
You can expect to receive standard and modified question papers for the Edexcel Award January series from Tuesday 5 December. You will be able to track your standard question paper despatch for General Qualifications via Edexcel Online. You can expect to receive attendance registers and labels from Monday 4 December.

The Yellow Label Service will be in place for this series for centres in England to return scripts.

If you require electronic copies of these question papers, please check your EOL accounts are up-to-date, ensuring you have access to our Secure Download Service (SDS) service.  
Cyber security is increasingly in the news and deliberate attacks on centres are sadly becoming more common. That’s why Pearson is committed to working with all centres to ensure our digital interactions are as secure and risk-free as possible.

In December of this year we will are rolling out a major enhancement to our current Edexcel Online Multi Factor Authentication process. We will be moving away from the current email One Time Passcode (OTP) and will be asking Edexcel Online users to authenticate via an app on their smartphone or other compatible device. Each account user will use their own device (capable of operating authenticator apps such as Microsoft/ Google authenticator). We are taking the opportunity to remind colleagues that using a personal device will not result in Pearson collecting and/ or using any personal data, including a mobile phone number. If you need support with accessing a device, please talk to your centre leadership about how they can best support you.
Whether you are currently running the November 2023 series assessments or have learners intending to take BTEC external assessments in the January 2024 series, it is important for you to stay up to date with the official exam regulations.

The JCQ have published the 2023/24 version of their Instructions for Conducting Examinations (ICE) document, which you can download from their website or from our support article collecting all regulatory documents, including the JCQ ICE, BTEC ICEA and general regulations.
We want to ensure you have all the help and support you need at your fingertips; that’s why we’ve got a library of support articles hosted on our Customer Support Portal. Each article contains answers, detailed information, step-by-step guides, instructional videos, and general advice. Articles require no special access, are easily searchable by keywords in their title, and are available 24/7, 365 days a year. And for good measure, we also have the portal user guide.

Take a look at our short video that explains more about our support portal, the information you can find and the further benefits it provides. 

We have launched a new dashboard/app called the 'Annual Centre Confirmation', which is available via the Pearson hub. This new dashboard allows Heads of Centres to complete an annual accounts review, of all other HOC and Exams staff accounts. The Head of Centre will need to confirm if these accounts are correct, need amending or need deleting before submitting a declaration to confirm this review has been completed. This is a mandatory exercise and must be completed by Friday 24 November.

Reminder to all examinations staff - you are able to review the centre list of accounts within the new dashboard, but exams roles aren't expected and cannot submit the declaration. This must be completed by someone in one of the listed Head of Centre roles.
Don't forget we have a dedicated Pearson Exams Officer Support page on Facebook. This provides you with a quick and convenient way to stay up to date with our latest news and live updates from the team.

Important and informative announcements will be posted on the page daily and messages will be monitored 8am to 5pm, Monday to Friday by Charlie, Emma and Seren; our dedicated Social Media Team. Message them with for help with your queries throughout your working day.
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If you would like to sign any of your colleagues up to receive these updates, you can do so here. You can view previous editions of the EO Update on our support portal.

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