General Qualifications Bulletin - UK - Issue 25
Dear Colleague
I hope this term has been going well for you. With half term coming up for many of you in the next few weeks I hope you get the chance to have a well-earned break.
This week has seen the release of the advance information for the majority of our GCSE, International GCSE and A level qualifications. It has been provided as part of the package of support available for students revising for exams in May and June 2022.
We know it’s a challenging time in schools and colleges at the moment and that there is lots of information to digest but we are here to support you and your students through it all. You can find more information about the arrangements for 2022 on our summer 2022 support page.
Our team of subject advisors have also been running a series of support sessions and the recordings of these are available on Subject Advisor YouTube channels for anyone wishing to view them. For students, we have also created a short video to help explain the arrangements this year.
This edition also contains some important key dates and events that are coming up.
Have a lovely half term when it arrives for you.
Kind regards,
Hayley White
Assessment Director
The advance information for all relevant GCSE, A level and International GCSE subjects has now been released.
To support progression and students' best possible performance in the exams, they will want to revise the whole of the course, but advance information will help highlight where to focus more specific revision. It is important to note that the advance information will not cover everything that is to be assessed, and to ensure that students have a good understanding of all the specification content. You can find out more about this in the JCQ Frequently Asked Questions for exam centres and for learners.
Advance information is available to access on the summer 2022 support page for all relevant GCSE, AS and A level subjects. Advance information is now also available to access on the summer 2022 support page for all relevant International GCSE subjects. To help schools and colleges access the advance information more easily, we have also grouped all the documents together in zip files by qualification type and added them to our Summer 2022 support page. Simply download each zip file to access the advance information for each subject.
We have also provided these zip files to your Exams Officer via Edexcel Online. Advance information should be read alongside the JCQ advance information teacher guidance, which helps to explain the principles behind it, and how to use it to support exam preparation.
We’ve been listening to feedback from students, parents and carers and we know they are keen to be kept informed of any changes to assessments this year.
We’ve created a new Students, parents and carers support page on our website. Here we provide information and links to additional support to help students, and their parents and carers, understand any changes for the summer exams and to help them prepare for their assessments. You can also watch a video that explains the changes to students.
In addition we have a created a form so students, parents and carers can provide feedback to us or suggest any further support materials they may find useful.
Please do pass this information on to your students.
Subject advisor Q&A sessions
This month your subject advisors have been running subject-specific, question and answer sessions on the June 2022 exam series for Pearson Edexcel qualifications. Recordings of these sessions are available on subject advisor Youtube channels.
Summer 2022 Assessment drop-in sessions
We’re also running a series of drop in webinars over the next few months that are designed to help schools and colleges understand what's being asked of them this year. We’ll cover how to prepare for high-stake exams alongside the contingency preparation and the tools we have available to help minimise the impact on teachers.
For further information and to book your place please visit the Pearson Professional Development Academy.
The Key Dates Finder on our website enables you to find all of the key dates for Pearson general qualifications and subjects in one place.
Here are those taking place in the next few weeks.
17 February 2022 – Reviews of marking deadline for GCSE English and Maths November 21 Series
21 February 2022 – UK Qualifications Entry Deadline for May/June 22 Series
24 February 2022 – Release of GCSE and International GCSE Results to candidates from November 21 Series
1 March 2022 – Moderation window opens for A level and GCSE Physical Education May/June 22 Series
3 March 2022 – Release of Project and International GCSE Results to candidates from January 22 Series
21 March 2022 – Deadline to request transferred candidate arrangements for May/June 22 Series
21 March 2022 – International Qualifications Entry Deadline for May/June 22 Series
31 March 2022 – Reviews of marking deadline for GCSE and International GCSE November 21 Series
31 March 2022 – Deadline to submit applications for access arrangements for May/June 22 Series
More information about key dates for post results services can be found on our website.
21 February 2022 is the entry deadline for summer 2022 UK general qualifications.
21 March 2022 is the entry deadline for summer 2022 International GCSE qualifications.
Please ensure that all entries are made by this date to avoid incurring late fees.
Read full details on UK centre entry deadlines
Reminder: We have made changes to the way we invoice for your qualification entries. Invoices will be sent after the UK entry deadline and not on a weekly basis. This means that you may begin to receive invoices from the week commencing 21 February 2022.
Centres that have made entries for qualifications with visiting components will shortly be contacted by their visiting examiners. If you have not yet made entries for those qualifications, we urge you to do so as early as possible.
UK centres have a choice of assessment in 2022 of either a visiting examiner attending their centre, or digitally via recorded performances (submitted via the Learner Work Transfer (LWT) platform). International centres will not be offered this choice and all work will be assessed digitally.
Please make sure you have read our previous editions of the Pearson Qualifications Bulletin that have shared information about visiting arrangements, plus visited the relevant qualification pages and have read the corresponding guidance.
Our team of subject advisors send out regular important updates about their specific subject areas.
The updates contain important information about assessments, support, events, resources and other key areas of information.
Sign up for your subject advisor updates now
Please visit the Summer 2022 support tab on each qualification page to find out about the specific adaptations which have been put in place for each qualification. The adaptation and optionality information is available on each page.
You will also find advance information guidance for relevant UK and International qualifications that we released in December. These guidance documents outline the approach that will be taken to the advance information that will be released by 7 February.
Read our frequently asked questions that give you more detail about the adaptations
We’ve also created an interactive document that has all the key links that are currently available. This will be kept up to date as and when new information is released. We recommend you sharing this with your colleagues.
Download the key support document now
There is a new FAQ hub and a new Teaching, Learning and assessment page for Vocational and Technical qualifications in 2021/22.
Read vocational and technical qualifications 2021-2022 FAQs
Take a look at the Teaching, learning and assessment 2021-2022 page
You will find the latest information and support for our vocational qualifications on this page, along with links to our regular VQ Bulletin containing all the key updates you need for our vocational qualifications. Please do bookmark this page for future reference.
