General Qualifications Bulletin - UK - Issue 62
Dear Colleague,
Welcome to the October qualifications bulletin.
This month we bring you news that the Department of Education has confirmed that students will not need to memorise formulae and equations for GCSE maths, physics and combined science for summer 2025, 2026 and 2027. Ofqual are consulting on the provision of support materials for this. Read more below and have your say.
We’re still running a number of live online subject insight events, providing feedback on the GCSE and A level summer series. Find out more about these and other training events we offer through our Professional Development Academy below, including our Assessment Services pre-exam and post-exam qualification support webinars being held on 21 and 23 October.
I’m also delighted to announce that last week we launched our newly enhanced Qualifications Customer Support Portal, designed to make getting help quicker and easier than ever. You can read further details in the bulletin and explore the new portal.
Don’t forget to follow us on our new Pearson Edexcel Facebook page where we’ll be providing educators with information and support to help with the teaching and delivery of our UK and International qualifications. Plus, we’ve launched our new Art and Design Facebook group, specifically created for Art and Design teachers. Find out more below and follow us for updates.
As ever, if you need any more information or want to share any feedback with us, you can always get in touch via our support portal. We will always do our best to get you the answers as quickly as possible.
With best wishes,
Hayley White
Vice President, Assessment, Standards and Services
The Department for Education has confirmed that students will not need to memorise formulae and equations for GCSE maths, physics and combined science for summer 2025, 2026 and 2027. This includes the GCSE maths November resit in each of those years.
Ofqual are now consulting on the proposal to carry forward from summer 2024 the provision of support materials, in the form of formulae and revised equation sheets, in the exams for these subjects. The consultation closes at 11.45pm on Thursday 17 October and we’ll let you know the outcome when it is released.
Ofqual has also published:
- A letter to schools and colleges about grading arrangements for 2025, the provision of support materials in the form of formulae and equation sheets, predicted grades, resilience arrangements and cyber security
- A letter to higher education admissions officers on grading arrangements for 2025
- A letter to governors and trustees about qualification results from 2024
- A press release reminding schools and colleges of the importance of cyber security
Please do share this information with your colleagues.
Our Professional Development Academy supports teaching professionals in their continuous professional development, from sessions designed to inform on specification changes to learning strategies and everything in between.
Assessment Services pre-exam and post-exam qualification support events
Next week we’re hosting two new webinars focusing specifically on pre-exam support and post-exam support.
Whether you’re a seasoned teacher, new to teaching, new to teaching Pearson Edexcel, or a recent switcher to one of our qualifications, these webinars are for you.
In these webinars we'll cover our full range of support, products, and services available to enhance your teaching journey and better support you and your students.
Just like our Spotlight on Assessment series for Senior Leaders, these sessions zoom in on the resources and guidance you need for effective teaching and continuous professional development (CPD).
Don’t miss this opportunity to learn about all the support available to you, engage directly with us, and share your ideas on how we can better support you.
Sign up now.
Assessment Services Pre-Exam Qualifications Support21 October 2024 at 4pm - 5pm GMT
Assessment Services Post-Exam Qualifications Support23 October 2024 at 4pm - 5pm GMT
Subject-specific exam insight events
As part of our post-results support, we’ve been running online summer 2024 subject-specific exam insight events where we present key themes on how students performed in the 2024 summer series and give teachers the opportunity to explore this feedback. We’re also sharing ideas on how to make the most of the post-results support available and how this can be used to help prepare students for future exam series.
There are also many other courses available across a wide range of subjects. Visit the PD Academy and search for your subject to find out more about the events, dates and how to sign up.
We launched our new Pearson Edexcel Facebook page last month. Designed to help and support you with the teaching and delivery of our UK and International qualifications. We’ll be sharing the latest news, updates and information about our support services across subjects. From our own news to updates from Ofqual and JCQ, follow us on @PearsonEdexcel on Facebook to stay up to date.
Join our Art and Design Facebook Group
We’re excited to announce that we’ve launched a new teacher group for those teaching our GCSE, International GCSE and A level Art and Design qualifications. Created to give Art and Design teachers a private, professional space to discuss teaching and learning ideas and ask general questions, the community will be run by your Art and Design Subject Advisor, Jaclyn Wiid.
With the GCSE maths and English November 2024 resits coming up, we’d like to wish your students well.
Please take a look at the exam timetable for the November resit dates
You can also access the resit rules for GCSE English Language
This autumn sees the second sitting of the International GCSE November series, we wish your students well.
Please take a look at the International GCSE November series exam timetable
We’re excited to introduce our enhanced Qualifications Customer Support Portal, designed to make getting help quicker and easier than ever. Created with our customers in mind, new or enhanced features include:
- A new streamlined contact-us journey enables you to connect quickly with our support teams in the way that suits you; via live-chat for real-time assistance, our new webform, as well as traditional phone or email routes.
- You can use your Pearson Portal (Edexcel Online) credentials to access secure personalised support even faster, and view your existing cases.
- Our comprehensive support article library has also been restructured with sections specific to teachers, exams officers and quality nominees, as well as stronger search functions, to resolve your own queries quickly and easily.
Read our getting started support article here: Customer Support Portal: Getting Started, and remember to bookmark the portal in Chrome, Edge, Safari or other web browser for quick access.
Take a look at EO Support: New Academic Year Essential Information covering important topics, including:
It covers important topics, including:
- Deadlines and support for post-results services and appeals
- November exam series
- Timetables and JCQ guidance
- Entry deadlines and key dates
- And much more!
Autumn exam series
You can view the full November series timetable on our timetables page.
The stationery and materials spreadsheet for the autumn series is available to download.
Cyber Security
Whether you’re a new or experienced Edexcel Online user its important that everyone is aware of the possible threats to our collective data. We would encourage all exams staff, new and old to visit our cyber security webpage and watch our short training video.
Visit our Cyber Security web page
Ofqual has also published a press release reminding schools and colleges of the importance of cyber security, please do take a look.
The government’s Curriculum and Assessment Review is a great opportunity for us and others in the sector to share ideas on how the curriculum can bring together a love of learning with fundamental knowledge and skills. To support this, we’re sharing insights, and recommendations on key topics with the education community over the coming months.
We’ve just launched the first of our viewpoints: ‘Cultivating a creative curriculum’. Fuelled by our research and inspired by our work with students, teachers and partners, we’ve set out three key recommendations to enhance creativity in education.
Science and Maths
The DfE has confirmed that students will not need to memorise formulae and equations for GCSE maths, physics and combined science for summer 2025, 2026 and 2027. This includes the GCSE maths November resit in each of those years.
Ofqual are now consulting on the proposal to carry forward from summer 2024 the provision of support materials, in the form of formulae and revised equation sheets, in the exams for these subjects.
We’ll let you know the outcome of the consultation when it has been published. For reference the formulae and equation sheets used in 2024 are provided below.
GCSE Maths Foundation Tier formulae sheet
GCSE Maths Higher Tier formulae sheet
GCSE Physics and Combined Science equation sheet
International GCSE Sciences
For our International GCSE physics, science double and science single awards (physics papers) we will follow the same approach as for UK GCSE physics and combined science qualifications and will send out further communications once we have the outcome from the Ofqual consultation. For reference, the equation sheets used in 2024 are provided below.
International GCSE Sciences equation sheet
International GCSE Science (Single Award) equation sheet
History GCSE History mock papers based on Summer 2024 now available
We have created some new GCSE History mock papers by adapting the summer 2024 papers to reflect the amended assessment model that comes into effect in summer 2025. They have been padlocked so that teachers can use them as secure mocks in advance of the summer 2025 exam series. The papers are available to download now via our qualification page.
We will also be using these adapted Summer 2024 GCSE History papers for our Mocks Service this year.
Art and Design GCSE and A level Art and Design training
Check out our free face-to-face coursework marking training for GCSE and A level Art and Design.
You will have the opportunity to mark actual Component 1 and Component 2 portfolios across a range of titles and levels from the most recent exam series, with senior members of the examining team guiding you through assessment decisions.
There will be opportunities to network with colleagues from other schools and discuss best practices in assessment.
The events will conclude with a Q&A where you will have the opportunity to ask our trainers any questions about the course.
Book free face-to-face coursework marking training for GCSE Art and Design
Book free face-to-face coursework marking training for A Level Art and Design
If you are unable to attend our free face-to-face training events or you just want a refresher, check out our free online training and network events for GCSE and A level Art and Design. This training includes our Art and Design Network Events focused on teaching and learning as well as Coursework Marking training. We have live virtual events available to book as well as on demand training.
View and book our free online training for GCSE and A level Art and Design
Subject Advisor support
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.
Our Key Dates Finder enables you to find all of the key dates for Pearson general qualifications and subjects in one place. Here are those taking place during September and early in the Autumn term.
Date |
Qualification |
Exam |
Description |
|---|---|---|---|
14 Oct 24 |
International GCSE |
Nov 24 |
Last day that withdrawn entries will be refunded |
14 Oct 24 |
International GCSE |
Nov 24 |
High late entry fees and amendment fees will be charged from this date |
18 Oct 24 |
Edexcel Award and Project |
Jan 25 |
Entry deadline |
19 Oct 24 |
Edexcel Award and Project |
Jan 25 |
Late entry fees will be charged from this date |
21 Oct 24 |
Edexcel Award and Project |
Jan 25 |
Deadline to submit applications for access arrangements |
1 Nov 24 |
GCSE English Language and Maths, International GCSE |
Nov 24 |
Deadline to submit access arrangements applications |
1 Nov 24 |
International GCSE English as a Second Language, Chinese and French |
Nov 24 |
End of window for speaking tests |
2 Nov 24 |
GCSE English Language and Maths |
Nov 24 |
High late entry fees will be charged from this date |
2 Nov 24 |
GCSE English Language and Maths |
Nov 24 |
Amendment fees will be charged from this date |
3 Nov 24 |
Edexcel Award and Project |
Jan 25 |
Deadline to submit transferred candidate arrangements |
4 Nov 24 |
GCSE English Language and Maths |
Nov 24 |
First date for submitting special consideration requests to awarding bodies |
4 Nov 24 |
GCSE English Language and Maths |
Nov 24 |
Date of first examination on common timetable |
5 Nov 24 |
GCSE English Language and Maths |
Nov 24 |
Final date for submitting GCSE English Language, Spoken Language Endorsement Grades |
5 Nov 24 |
International GCSE |
Nov 24 |
Coursework submission Deadline |
13 Nov 24 |
GCSE English Language and Maths |
Nov 24 |
Date of final examination on common timetable |
16 Nov 24 |
Edexcel Award and Project |
Jan 25 |
High late entry fees will be charged from this date |
16 Nov 24 |
Edexcel Award and Project |
Jan 25 |
Amendment fees will be charged from this date |
20 Nov 24 |
GCSE English Language and Maths |
Nov 24 |
Final date for submitting special consideration requests to awarding bodies |
21 Nov 24 |
All general qualifications |
Jun 25 |
Basedata issued |
22 Nov 24 |
International GCSE |
Nov 24 |
Deadline to submit special consideration requests |
For more information on key dates for post results services please visit our Post-results services key dates page.
Multi-factor authentication was successfully rolled out to nearly a quarter of a million Pearson Portal users last year. Although it has now become a standard way of accessing our systems, that we should all be familiar with, it can sometimes present challenges if a smart device is lost or replaced. You can read more information, see a quick start guide and access FAQs and troubleshooting for our authenticator app in our Pearson Portal Authenticator support article.