Summer 2021 support

We understand that teachers have worked incredibly hard to derive fair and consistent grades for their students this summer.

Information and support on the summer 2021 appeals process for all centres following our UK and international academic qualifications can be found on our Appeals summer 2021 page.

Please visit our Appeals summer 2021 page.

We know that the opportunity to sit examinations remains important for many of your students and we remain committed to supporting students' progress.

Following the cancellation of the summer exam series, we are now able to share information on the October/November 2021 exam series for our general qualifications and international qualifications.

Please take a look at our October/November 2021 exam series page for full information.

On Friday 26 March the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) released comprehensive guidance on the process for deriving grades this summer. Whilst we recommend reading the full detail of the document, we know it’s an incredibly busy time in schools and colleges right now, and work towards determining grades for this summer is only one of the many things taking place. So, to help you work through and understand the detail of this guidance,  we have pulled out the ten key areas to note from the document, which we hope you’ll find useful. Take a look at the document below.

In order to assist centres we have created a comprehensive guidance on the process for deriving grades this summer. This document provides an overview of the approach together with detail on each of the specific aspects – including quality assurance, grading and appeals. It is important that you take time work through the document and in the coming weeks we will do all that we can to support you in your understanding of it.

Please note that for the following qualifications we will align to the same evidence-based approach that we are using for GCSE and A level qualifications. This means the guidance available for our UK general qualifications should also be used for these qualifications.

• Edexcel Awards in Mathematics
• Edexcel Advanced Extension Award in Mathematics
• Mathematics in Context (Level 3 Core Maths)
• Entry Level Certificate (English, Mathematics, Physical Education, Science)

The submission date for these grades will be 18 June 2021 as with all other qualifications. They could be called upon as part of the centre level quality assurance checks.

We know that you are keen to start preparing for grading candidates for our UK General Qualifications, and we are fully committed to making sure you’ll have everything you need for each individual qualification at the very earliest opportunity.

Below is the initial timeline of some of the key activities that we are working towards. We will update this as more key dates become available.

The Department for Education has published guidance for centres on a Private Candidate Support Grant.

JCQ have also produced guidance for private candidates.   

Private candidates will be assessed this year on a range of evidence, in a similar way to other students.  Centres accepting private candidate entries will need to understand how the private candidate has been studying, what evidence they may have already generated, and how much of the specification content they have covered in their studies.  Private candidates’ results should be included in a centre’s internal quality assurance checks as far as possible, but they may need to be excluded from wider quality assurance exercises where, for example, their evidence base is different from the centre’s other students. 

JCQ will produce a list of centres willing to offer GCSEs, AS or A levels to private candidates who wish to enter in Summer 2021. All JCQ centres will be given the opportunity to be added to the list. JCQ will be contacting centres shortly and asking them to provide details of the subjects they can offer and a brief outline of their assessment process including, for example, whether they can offer assessments remotely and whether they are willing to consider pre-existing evidence.We can assure private candidates that they will not need to pay higher entry fees if, as a result of this, they need to make their entry after the extended entry deadline. 

Further information for centres on how best to support private candidates, including guidance on the selection of assessment evidence can be found in the JCQ document above.  

Supporting students, parents and carers throughout 2021 is a top priority and it's important to us that all students receive a fair grade. We'll make sure you have clear information and guidance on how we're supporting your teachers to help them make their grading decisions, and will have lots of other support on our webpage dedicated to students, parents and carers.

Visit our dedicated web page for further information and support

We recognise and appreciate all the additional work that you and your colleagues have been doing for your students as a result of the changes to summer assessment. It’s been another extremely challenging year which has required extraordinary efforts by teachers, schools and colleges. 

While your fees are paid at the very end of the two-year course, they cover much more than just the final exams and enable us to provide everything you and your students need throughout the course. 

For full details please visit our 2021 qualification fees FAQs page. You'll also find two visual guides that explain what qualification fees cover for both UK and International qualifications, how the money from these fees is spent and how our costs have been affected this year. 

You can also read through our frequently asked questions.

2021 qualification fees FAQs and visual guides