General Qualifications Bulletin International Issue 70
Welcome to the November qualifications bulletin.
This edition provides an overview of our Profesional Development Academy where you can grow your teaching skills with a variety of courses throughout the year, your chance to provide feedback on the October/November exam series, a reminder on the moderation sample size for internally assessed work from January 2026, support for Exams Officers, and more.
In this months update:
- Key dates
- Grow your teaching skills with the Professional Development Academy
- Help shape future exams - October/November 2025 exam series feedback survey
- Reminder about moderation sample size for internally assessed work from 2026
- November 2026 provisional timetables
- Support for Exams Officers this autumn and winter
- The Curriculum and Assessment Review: our response
- Subject spotlight
- Follow us on Facebook
Download a spreadsheet with all the key dates for the 2025/26 academic year
You can also take a look at our interactive Qualifications Key Dates Calendar. It can also be downloaded and syncronised seamlessly with your own personal calendar, such as MS Outlook.
We’ve got a wide range of courses running all year round, covering different subjects and teaching approaches. Whether you’re just starting out with Pearson Edexcel or you’ve been teaching for years, there’s something for you.
You’ll find:
- Courses to help improve student outcomes
- Insights from recent exam series
- Support for your continuous professional development
Want to know what’s available and how it works?
Download our handy guide that explains the types of training, how to access them, and what subject-specific options are on offer.
Or, if you’re ready to dive in, head straight to the Professional Development Academy and start exploring.
Help shape future exams - October/November 2025 exam series feedback survey
As the October exam series has come to a close, and we look towards the November series, we hope your students are feeling confident.
At the end of each exam series, we like to get your feedback on the exam papers. Your feedback helps us improve. It’s shared directly with our senior examiners and subject teams, and it plays a key role in shaping future assessments and making the exam experience even better for students.
It only takes a few minutes, and your insights make a real difference.
Please complete the survey and provide your thoughts on the October International A level series, and once the November series is over complete the survey for International GCSEs and GCSE English Language and Maths.
It only takes a few minutes, and your insights make a real difference.
Thanks so much for being part of this - we truly value your input.
Reminder about moderation sample size for internally assessed work from 2026
From the January 2026 series, we’ll be asking for a larger sample size when moderating internally assessed work for Project qualifications.
From June 2026 onwards this approach will apply to GCSE, International GCSE, A level, Entry Level Certificate and Project qualifications.
We’re making this change because, from time to time, moderators need to request additional samples to complete their moderation. When these requests come later in the year, we know it can be challenging for you to manage alongside the demands of a busy series.
By asking for a slightly larger sample upfront, we aim to make the process smoother and reduce the likelihood of additional requests later on. This should help us complete moderation more efficiently, and give you and your students greater clarity and confidence in the outcomes. This process will not affect the way in which moderators currently review the sample, and they will only look at additional samples of work where needed.
Cohort size |
Sample size* |
|---|---|
1-15 |
All |
16-100 |
15 |
101-200 |
20 |
>200 |
25 |
We’ll be in touch ahead of your mark submission deadline to provide more guidance on submitting your marks and samples. But if you have any questions, you can reach us through our customer support portal.
Pearson customer support portal
*You must also include the highest and lowest marked students, if they have not already been selected in your sample.
November 2026 provisional timetables
The provisional timetables for GCSE and International GCSE for November 2026 are now available on our Provisional timetables page.
View the provisional timetables
The feedback window will run until Friday 14 November.
Please send any feedback to timetables@pearson.com
We’ve pulled together everything you need for the Autumn and Winter 2025/26 exam series - from key dates and deadlines to extra guidance - in one handy place.
Explore the EO Support: Autumn & Winter Essential Information
Training and Resources at Your Fingertips
Our Pearson Development Hub is your go-to space for Exams Officer training. It’s designed to save you time and help you stay confident in your role.
Here’s what you’ll find:
- A library of interactive modules you can pause and return to anytime
- Live training sessions and curated support articles
- The most useful documents from our website - all in one place
- Email alerts when new content is added
- Learning paths tailored to qualifications and processes.
To get started, log in to the Pearson Development Hub using your Edexcel Online username and password.
Access the Pearson Development Hub
Need help logging in? Check out our guide:
Pearson Development Hub: How To Access The System
The Curriculum and Assessment Review: our response
The Curriculum and Assessment Review is an important milestone for education and skills in the UK – and it’s just the beginning.
We welcome the Review’s support for many of the recommendations we shared. All of these have been inspired by our work with schools and colleges across the country. And we’ll keep working to build an education system that empowers students, champions teachers, and drives the UK’s long-term success.
As we now move from ideas into further action, we’ll keep collaborating with educators, students, partners, sector experts to drive manageable and truly impactful change.
We’ve already started to do this and would love for you to join us in our next steps.
Meet Tim Lawrence - your Psychology Subject Advisor
Tim is your go-to expert for all things Pearson Psychology. Whether you teach GCSE, A level, or International A level Psychology, Tim’s here to support you with resources, training and updates that make a real difference in the classroom.
Each month, Tim sends out a newsletter packed with useful content - and if you’re not already signed up, now’s a great time to join the list.
- An update on the UK A level Psychology exam paper changes.
- A new survey for GCSE psychology teachers.
- Training and profesional development opportunities.
- Answers to frequently asked questions from teachers like you.
Read Tim’s November Subject Advisor update
Sign up to receive future Psychology updates today
We’ve got two key updates for teachers preparing students for A level Psychology exams in 2026.
More time for Papers 1 and 2
From the June 2026 exam series, students will have 2 hours and 15 minutes to complete Paper 1 and Paper 2. That’s an extra 15 minutes in each exam to help reduce exam-day pressure and give students more time to show what they know. Paper 3 stays at 2 hours, as it carries fewer marks (80 compared to 90).
Updates to formulae and statistical tables - A level Psychology (8PS0 and 9PS0)
In response to teacher feedback, we’ve made some changes to formulae and statistical tables to improve clarity and ease of use:
- Mann-Whitney U test tables are now ordered from lowest to highest level of significance, making it easier for students to find the right one
- The instructions in the formulae and statistical tables section of each paper for the Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test have been clarified to avoid confusion.
You’ll find the updated materials in the Course materials section of our website, along with a full breakdown in the Summary of Change Document.
What about mock exams?
Past papers on our website will stay as they were when students originally sat them. But we expect teachers will want to:
- Give students the extra 15 minutes for Papers 1 and 2
- Provide the updated formulae and statistical tables as a separate exam aid for mocks.
How do you stay up to date with all the news and information about the subjects you teach?
By signing up to receive a monthly newsletter from your Subject Advisor you’ll be kept informed of all the key information you need to know throughout the year.
Follow us on Facebook
In September 2024 we launched our Pearson Edexcel Facebook page, designed to help and support you with the teaching and delivery of our qualifications.
We now have 18 Pearson Edexcel subject groups, run by our Subject Advisors. Thanks to all the group members, these have proved to be very successful in facilitating discussions, providing support and enabling teachers to share ideas and resources.
The latest subject groups to launch are Citizenship, History and Physical Education.
Join the Pearson Edexcel Citizenship Facebook group, run by Jenna Wyatt
Join the Pearson Edexcel History Facebook group, run by Mark Battye
Join the Pearson Edexcel Physical Education Facebook group, run by Penny Lewis
Find your Facebook subject group under 'About', 'Groups' and join today.