Teaching, learning and assessment 2022/2023

We are working to the Ofqual announced checkpoint deadlines, for these in-scope qualifications. 

Checkpoint 1 - 26 May 2023 : The latest date by which awarding organisations must have agreed with schools and colleges which students should expect to receive a result by 17 August.

We asked you to complete a Head of Centre declaration in February confirming the learners that you are expecting to complete their BTEC qualification in August 2023. We’ll be reminding you to keep your cohort up to date, by making any changes such as withdrawals. If there has been a significant change to your cohort we may be in touch to confirm these changes. 

This is part of our work to maintain a shared view of your summer 2023 BTEC cohort. In June we will then begin to share learner-level tracking reports to your Head of Centre and Exams Officer for your summer cohort, so you can see if they are on track to receive a qualification result or if any action is required.

Checkpoint 2 – 23 June 2023: The latest date by which awarding organisations must have agreed with schools and colleges on the remaining information or evidence needed for each student to receive a result.

We’ll be in touch in early June to start providing this information through regular reports to your Head of Centre and your Exams Officer. By 23 June we will have a shared view of any missing information or action that needs to be taken for learners to receive their on-time qualification results.

In order for us to support you and your learners to receive their results on time, you must ensure that:

• Registrations and entries are made on time.
  Estimated completion date for each learner are accurate and up to date.
• That you have made accurate top-ups, where a learner is moving onto a larger qualification. (Where you do not do this, we will look to identify these incorrect registrations and work with you to resolve. Learner unit results must all appear under the same registration, the system will not automatically aggregate these for you.)
• That you have taught and assessed the correct combination of units for the course the learner is registered on. You can check this using the specification, or the BTEC Grade Calculator.
• That you have successfully achieved a Standards Verification ‘certification release’, through sampling of centre assessment decisions.
• You make a full award claim once all internal unit achievement has been reported and all external units have been sat or have a pending result. Where a qualification result does have a pending external exam result, the Full Award claim should be made by:

5 February - learners certificating following the release of a January result.

5 April - learners certificating following the release of a March result.

5 July - learners certificating following the release of a May/June result.

• Should a learner wish to decline an overall grade following the release of any external assessment grades, in order to resit, this can be done on request prior to certification. BTEC Tech Awards (2016) will only be awarded once annually, in line with the summer (August) results days.
• Pearson will give you information in support of achieving timely results, where there is a planned completion date occurring within that academic year. Pearson will be in touch with your Exams Office and require confirmation from the Head of Centre of all learners due to certificate in 2023. Any changes or omissions to this confirmation could result in delays to results for your learners.

Thank you in advance for your support in ensure timely certification for your learners.

For further guidance and information please check out our support articles on eligibility.

There are no adaptations in 2022/2023, which means that all external assessments must take place as scheduled.

Timetables

You can find final timetables for January, February, March and summer 2023 on our timetables page.

Conducting external assessments

Our policies and guidance for conducting external assessments can be found in the BTEC Instructions for Conducting External Assessment (ICEA) document. Policies for the conduct of examinations and General Regulations, can be found on the JCQ website.

Further support on conducting our task-based assessments can be found in the individual unit’s Administrative Support Guide (ASG). You can find these ASGs by selecting the External assessments button on the left of the Course Materials tab, found at the top of each qualification’s webpage. 

Secure Download assessments can be accessed from our Secure Test webpage.

Please see our Exams Officer support pages for more information on conducting external assessments. 

On demand assessments

All on-demand external assessments for BTEC Level 2 Firsts and Technicals are available for booking via Edexcel online.

In relation to adaptations, Ofqual confirmed previously that:

“For other qualifications, including vocational and technical qualifications taught alongside or instead of GCSEs, AS and A levels, a range of adaptations were permitted in academic year 2021 to 2022. […] Given that public health restrictions are no longer in place, these adaptations are no longer necessary for the academic year 2022 to 2023 onwards.”

This means our main adaptation of streamlined assessment will not be available in 2022/23, so you must plan to teach and assess the BTEC qualifications as normal. 

Ofqual have also released guidance on grading assessments in this academic year. You can read more about the Ofqual guidance on their website.

Special Consideration

In relation to the use of special consideration, learners must attempt all assessments that are required and when assessments are missed, they should be deferred to the next available opportunity. Where the assessment is the final opportunity and it has been unavoidably missed, for example due to illness, the special consideration process can be used.

Therefore, from the January series we will be advising centres candidates must resit, and only apply for special consideration in summer if they are unable to re-sit then. Unless there are difficulties arising, for example group performances which cannot be repeated, or candidates who are certificating, special consideration will not be awarded.

Exams Officers

Our On-demand eLearning takes Exams Officers from BTEC registration right through to results, through bitesize interactive modules.

Explore our on-demand training

You can also join us for our monthly Zoom webinar, where you can hear the latest news and updates from Pearson with an opportunity to ask questions.

Book on to our Exams Officer Zoom webinars

Quality Nominees

We offer a wide range of events and support for our Quality Nominee community. Including on-demand CPD, live events and regular catch-ups.

Explore our Quality Nominee training and support page

Teachers and tutors

We offer a range of training events to help you plan, deliver and administer BTEC qualifications. Whether you’re new to teaching or familiar with your sector, we’re sure you will find training that suits your needs.

Our popular live training sessions are delivered by our experienced trainers who offer you a wealth of practical knowledge and advice about delivering our qualifications.

Visit our Training BTEC Level 1-3 page to find out more