General Qualifications Bulletin - UK - Issue 26
Dear Colleague
I hope those of you who have had or are currently on half term have enjoyed a well-earned break.
Tomorrow is results day for the GCSE and International GCSE qualifications that took place in the exceptional November series. I hope that your learners get the results they need for their next steps and that you are able to celebrate those resits with them.
Lastly, I look forward to seeing some of you at the upcoming drop in webinars that are designed to help you understand the arrangements this year. We will have a team of our experts attending to answer any questions you may have and as always, we want to offer you the most support we can.
You can find more information about the arrangements for 2022 on our summer 2022 support page.
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 JCQ Frequently Asked Questions for students.
Since the release of the advance information on 7 February, we have been speaking to teachers across the country to find out what additional support you would like us to provide to help you get the most out of the advance information and to focus your students’ revision time.
You told us that in order to help you prepare your students effectively for the summer 2022 assessments you would like to have topic tests that will provide useful exam practice and highlight areas for intervention.
We are delighted to announce that we are putting together an advance information revision support package that will help you and your students in the run up to the summer 2022 assessments. This includes topic tests for selected subjects, compiled from past papers. Full details will be available from early March and we will let you know when the support is ready for you to access from our website.
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.
May/June 2022 Assessment drop-in sessions
We are also running a series of drop in webinars over the next few months that are designed to help schools and colleges understand what is being asked of them this year. We will 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.
The next drop-in sessions are on:
- UK Qualifications: Wednesday 2 March 2022 at 16:00-17:00 GMT
- International Qualifications: Thursday 3 March 2022 at 07:00-08:00 GMT
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.
24 February 2022 – Release of GCSE and International GCSE Results to candidates from November 2021 series
1 March 2022 – Moderation window opens for A level and GCSE Physical Education May/June 2022 series
3 March 2022 – Release of Project and International GCSE Results to candidates from January 2022 series
21 March 2022 – Deadline to request transferred candidate arrangements for May/June 2022 series
21 March 2022 – International Qualifications Entry Deadline for May/June 2022 series
31 March 2022 – Reviews of marking deadline for GCSE and International GCSE November 2021 series
31 March 2022 – Deadline to submit applications for access arrangements for May/June 2022 series
More information about key dates for post results services can be found on our website.
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.
We have seen some queries specifically related to Art and Design. You can find all the information related to this subject in our Art and Design: International GCSE community hub.
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, advance information and optionality information is available on each page.
Now that the entry deadline has passed for UK qualifications, we are here to support you with what to expect as we build up to the May/June 2022 series.
Any information that you may need to support you with getting ready for examinations can be found on our website. There are also links to the important Joint Council for Qualifications documents that all centres must follow when conducting examinations.
There is a new FAQ hub and 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, 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.
