International Exams Officer Update
25 October 2024 |
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Welcome to latest edition of the International Exams Officer update.
We'd like to remind you of the new Autumn/Winter essential information article which can help you navigate the next couple of months as you may be preparing to run exams throughout October to January.
You can also find support for other processes taking place during this time. |
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Thank you to all centres who completed their Edexcel Online Account Confirmation by the 14 October deadline.
If you haven’t already done so, please work with your head of centre to review and update your centre’s Edexcel Online accounts. The Edexcel Online Account Confirmation can only be submitted by your head of centre, though you can access the confirmation to check your centre accounts are up to date and make any changes in Edexcel Online if necessary. Your head of centre will then need to access the Edexcel Online Account Confirmation themselves to submit the confirmation. If your centre has multiple subsites, you will need to confirm the account list for each subsite separately.
Read our centre guide to the Edexcel Online Account Confirmation |
Our new dedicated space for Exams Officer training. We have created this as part of our commitment to you to offer enhanced support and training in 2024 and beyond.
Features
Access our library of interactive modules alongside live training, curated support articles, and the most useful documents from our website. We have brought everything you need to one place to save time when you need to upskill or refresh yourself on a topic.
- Pause interactive modules and return to them later
- Make notes in the notepad that you can refer to and download later
- Receive email alerts when new content is released.
- Follow curated learning paths for a particular qualification or process
Exams Officer Update live sessions |
We will release information on future EO webinars via this update.
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Pearson Progress is the centralised system which is used to make the administration of BTEC’s easier for centres.
In this Progress demonstration we will explain how to set up the centre and user accounts. We will also demonstrate how to create the programmes you deliver for your learners, how the learners can upload their work and how the assessor can view and mark their work.
We will advise how to conduct internal verification for your programmes through Pearson Progress as well as what Progress looks like from a learners perspective.
This event is intended for Exams Officers, Quality Nominees, Assessors/Teachers/Lecturers and Heads of Centres, so that we can showcase the benefits of Pearson Progress to all affected roles within a centre.' |
| Date |
Description |
| 14 October |
Deadline to complete Edexcel Online Account Confirmation and Terms & Conditions.
All centres
2024/2025 |
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As learners are enrolled on to their BTEC programmes (including BTEC Tech Awards), you should make their BTEC registrations within 60 days of enrolment to avoid any late fees. You should check that your centre has approval for the programme they will be following, and if you need to gain approval to run a course you should do this straight away.
Where learners have completed a BTEC programme, and are moving on to a larger sized qualification this year, you should “top up” these learners, and not create a new registration. You can create a top-up once the learner’s previous qualification has been certificated.
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If you notice any errors on your learners' summer 2024 certificates, such as spelling errors or unit grades reported incorrectly, we can issue amended certificates.
If you do request a certificate amendment, you no longer need to return the certificate for some of our qualifications; the original certificate can be securely destroyed once the amendment has been made.
Read our dedicated certificate amendments support article for details on the process and timescales involved. |
We’re reaching out to invite our international centres to collaborate with us on some exciting improvements we’re planning for 2024/25.
If you’d like to get involved in providing feedback for the VQ Learner Tracker and how we can refine our processes to better support you, complete our short form and we’ll be in touch over the next few weeks with more information.
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| Date |
Description |
| 1 November |
Deadline to submit access arrangements applications
GCSE English Language and Maths, International GCSE
November 2024 |
| 1 November |
English as a Second Language, Chinese and French – end of window for speaking tests
International GCSE
November 2024 |
| 2 November |
High late entry fees will be charged from this date
GCSE English Language and Mathematics
November 2024 |
| 3 November |
Deadline to submit transferred candidate arrangements
IAL, Edexcel Award in Maths, Project Qualifications
January 2025 |
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If any of your learners sitting these examinations have additional requirements, it is important your centre applies for these arrangements on their behalf.
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If your candidates are resitting their GCSE Maths or English exams in November, you should have now received your question papers.
You can track your standard question paper despatch for General Qualifications via Edexcel Online.
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.
For further guidance on this service, please visit our Support Portal.
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Our colleagues at The Exams Office will once again be hosting a face to face event aimed at supporting international customers through the administration of qualifications and exams.
You can read more about the training available here |
Did you know you can add your centre to our published list of international centres that offer Pearson and BTEC qualifications, to help in recruiting students?
If you would like to add your centre to this list, please complete the form below. |
Once confirmed, your centre details will be added to this list on our qualifications website. You can remove or amend your details at any time by resubmitting the form. |
There are multiple ways to contact the customer service teams at Pearson. The New Customer Support Portal allows you to choose a method that best suits you.
- Support case – This is much like an email, but we will see all the information you have already populated. You can then log back in to the portal to track the progress of these cases.
- Live chat – A team of agents is waiting to answer these during normal working hours.
- Phone – If you would like to speak with us, we have a team of agents waiting to take your call.
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If you choose to contact us via email to pqs.internationaleo@pearson.com, you'll notice that our responses are sent from 'customersupport.reply@pearson.com'. This is a response only email address, and allows any responses you send, by clicking 'reply/reply all', to be linked to the existing support case.
However, if you were to compose a brand new email and send to that reply email address, there is no case to link it to, so we do not receive your email and you will not receive a response. This should result in a bounce back email stating the address is invalid. |
The likelihood is that Pearson won’t be the only awarding organisation that you or your centre work with, and this means that you will receive lots of different communications. Some of these may be more relevant to your role than others, so it’s important that you and your colleagues are signed up to receive the regular updates that matter to you. It's also important that Edexcel Online accounts are accurate as these are used to determine who needs to receive ad hoc communications.
As Exams Officers, you will be responsible for the creation and maintenance of Edexcel Online account for those in other roles, such as teachers or other curriculum staff. Whilst doing this you could also sign them up to receive the relevant subject advisor updates.
Here is a full list of all the regular updates we send, including an archive of previous editions and the sign-up forms.
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Our new digital international postcards are now interactive. These postcards have been designed to give you an insight into some of the areas our Customer Service team can support you with, whilst also providing you with access to the Knowledgebase articles that will help you self serve on the specific processes. These easy to use postcards will also provide you with the Contact Us information for your local Customer Service Hub support team.
Click the button below to see the postcard for your region. |
Cyber Security
Whether you’re a new or experienced Edexcel Online user it's important that we are all aware of the possible threats to our collective data. We would encourage all exams staff, new and old to visit our cyber security webpage and watch our short training video. |
Multi Factor Authentication
Multi Factor Authentication was successfully rolled out to nearly a quarter of a million Pearson Portal users last year. Although it has now become a standard way of accessing our systems, that we should all be familiar with, it can sometimes present challenges if a smart device is lost or replaced. You can read more information, see a quick start guide and access FAQs and troubleshooting for our authenticator app in our Pearson Portal Authenticator support article. |
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. |
Sign up to receive these updates
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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