General Qualification Bulletin - UK - Issue 16
Dear Colleague,
I hope the start of term has been a successful one as you settle back into the rhythm of the academic year.
In a few weeks’ time, the October/November series will begin. In this edition, and in our Exams Officer newsletter, you can find some helpful information about conducting examinations, as it may have been some time since some centres have done so. You can sign up to our Exams Officer newsletter here.
If you have any questions then please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us. Alternatively, there are lots of helpful articles on our Exams Officers support pages.
We know that many of you are eager to understand more about arrangements for adaptations to assessments for summer 2022 and I am expecting that the outcomes of the Department for Education and Ofqual consultation will be available shortly. I hope this will then begin to answer those questions. I know that the uncertainties around some of the details for assessments in summer 2022 have been unsettling as you plan your teaching and learning for the academic year. In the absence of the confirmation I encourage you to read the consultation and the relevant sections for your subjects. Whilst the proposals are not confirmed they may help you with planning.
Read the consultation
We’ll be keeping our Summer 2022 support page up to date. We’ll work as quickly as possible after the announcement to make sure that we are providing you with the information and support you need for your subject. If you have any questions that relate to summer 2021 then please visit our Summer 2021 support page.
Visit our summer 2022 support page
Visit our summer 2021 support page
Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter (@PearsonEdexcel) and our teams of subject experts who will be sharing the information as soon as possible. If you would like to speak to us directly, you can get in touch using our contact form, or by calling the contacting the relevant team for your role.
Hayley White
Assessment Director
Most of the entry deadlines have now passed for this series but can still be seen below and and on our October/November 2021 exam series page.
| Qualification | Exam Session | Entries Deadline | Late Fees Charged | Higher Late fees/refund and amendment deadline | Higher Late fees/amendment fees charged |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AS/A Level | November 2021 |
08/09/2021 | 09/09/2021 | 06/10/2021 | 07/10/2021 |
| GCSE and International GCSE | Novemer 2021 | 04/10/2021 | 05/10/2021 | 31/10/2021 | 01/11/2021 |
You should begin to receive the examination papers over the course of the coming weeks and these will need to be kept securely until the day of the exams. Guidance on storage of secure materials can be found on our support portal. For our International qualifications these will need to be stored securely and opened at the correct time according to the timetables on the day of the examinations.
4 October 2021 – First AS/A Level examinations
1 November 2021 – First GCSE and International GCSE examinations.
Timetables
The final timetables for all UK and International qualifications in October and November can now be found on our Timetables page.
Autumn (October/November) 2021 series fees
We know that the opportunity to sit exams remains important for many of your students and we remain committed to supporting students' progress. We have decided to freeze autumn (October/November) 2021 exam fees for all our general qualifications (GCSE, International GCSE and AS/A level). This means that the fees for this series will remain the same as the fees published for summer 2021.
Digital Learner Work Transfer
The following units will be using the Digital Learner Work Transfer system in the October series.
More information about the system, including how to upload samples and accepted file formats, can be found on our Learner Work Transfer (LWT) page.
GCSE Art & Design:
- 1AD0_02
- 1FA0_02
- 1GC0_02
- 1PY0_02
- 1TD0_02
- 1TE_02
A Level Art & Design:
- 9AD0_02
- 9FA0_02
- 9GC0_02
- 9PY0_02
- 9TD0_02
- 9TE0_02
For all other subjects, samples will be submitted as hard copies in the usual way. You can find out more about coursework and NEA submission on our support site.
We know that some customers may be intending to sit exams in January 2022. Please make sure that you have looked at which International GCSE qualifications are available in the series (PDF, 0.1 MB) as some amendments have been made. The final timetables for the series are also available on our Exam timetables page. We can confirm that there will be no adjustments made to assessments for this series, other than the changes to International GCSE English Literature 4ET1.
We fully understand teachers' need to plan their courses for the forthcoming academic year. In July the DfE and Ofqual released their consultation on the format of assessments in summer 2022 for UK GCSE, AS and A level. We are awaiting the final outcome. Full details can be found in this document (PDF, 0.1 MB). We know there are still uncertainties around some assessments in 2022 but hope that we should have the outcomes shortly.
Whilst we await these confirmations, the proposals for each subject are set out in Annex A of the consultation document. Whilst the proposals are not confirmed they may help you with planning and teaching and learning, something that you have told us you are keen to get finalised as soon as possible.
Ofqual has finished consulting on arrangements for non-examined assessments in 2022. The consultation was on subjects with practical elements. The outcomes can be found on the Ofqual website. We’ll continue to keep our summer 2022 support page up to date with the latest information.
We are able to confirm that due to the modular nature of International AS and A level qualifications there will be no adjustments to these papers in 2022.
We are also working on arrangements for International GCSE qualifications and will share a further update once confirmed. We will be ensuring parity between the UK GCSE. This could be through an intention to offer optionality or further examination support that ensures we maintain comparability to UK qualifications.
ResultsPlus is an online results analysis tool that is included in your qualification entry fee that gives you a detailed breakdown of your students’ performance in Pearson Edexcel exams.
ResultsPlus provides detailed analysis of your learners' performance and will help you to identify potential topics, skills and types of questions where students may need to develop their learning further. Whilst there hasn’t been a typical examination series for a while, you may find it helpful to understand how your students’ performance compares with class and Pearson Edexcel national averages and to gather some insight data that may support effective teaching and learning approaches.
> Find out more about ResultsPlus
In addition to ResultsPlus we also have our examWizard tool. This is also included as part of your qualification entry fee and is an online resource containing a huge bank of past paper questions and support materials to help you create your own mock exams and assessments. It is available for a range of GCSE, International GCSE, A level subjects, BTEC and Functional Skills.
> Find out more about examWizard
We are always looking to recruit examiners across our qualifications. This is an excellent opportunity to gain invaluable insight into assessment and to work with other examiners to get some fresh teaching and learning ideas and approaches for your subject.
There is a new Teaching, Learning and assessment page for Vocational and Technical qualifications in 2021/22.
You will find the latest information and support for our vocational qualifications on this web page, where you can also find news and updates, with links to our regular VQ Bulletin which contains all the key updates you need for our vocational qualifications. Please do bookmark this page for future reference.