August 2023 BTEC Business update

On 19 June 2023 we wrote to all registered Edexcel Online account holders, advising that we had introduced Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) as an additional layer of security to help protect your centre and learner data. While a lot of users have now accessed Edexcel Online (EOL) and successfully gone through the MFA process, we are aware that other roles may not use EOL and other related systems on a regular basis, and the next time to try and log in is on a learner results day.

To make your results days as easy as possible, if you are a user that will need to access any of the following systems during the summer results period, please log into these now to check you can access them successfully:

• Edexcel Online (EOL)
• ResultsPlus
• myBTEC
• Exam Viewer

Additional support for Multi-Factor Authentication can be found in our customer support article Accessing Pearson Services Using Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA). We also have these trouble shooting steps.
 

Results files and their contents are confidential to the Head of Centre, examinations office staff and senior members of the teaching staff at the centre. Therefore, the Edexcel Online ‘Results’ profile is only granted to these roles, as it allows access to results files before results days.

You can get access to view results from externally assessed units in ResultsPlus.  You should make sure that your Edexcel Online account user profile has given you ResultsPlus access. This is designed to meet the needs of teachers to view and analyse the results for their own students. Results are available through ResultsPlus for teachers on the Thursday results days.

Raw mark to grade point conversions for externally assessed units

Where to find the raw marks and grade points?

The conversions for your students are available in Edexcel Online following this route:

1. BTEC
2. External Assessment
3. View Results by Assessment Booking
4. Choose June 2023 series.
5. If you leave the programme and unit fields blank the search will return all bookings for the series.
6. Select the unit you are interested in (tick in the left-hand column)
7. Choose Export results

You will get a csv file with the information you want.
The raw mark is in the column headed 'Score'
The grade point is in the column headed UMS.

Please note that in order to access this you will need the ‘Results’ box ticked in your Edexcel Online user profile. It is not the policy of all centres to make this available so you may have to ask your Exams Officer to print out the spreadsheet for you.  

For BTECs grade boundaries are set for external units at each exam series. They are set by a group of subject and assessment experts reviewing a range of evidence, both qualitative and quantitative, to ensure that there is fairness, validity and robustness in the grade boundaries. The grade boundaries for the Summer exam series will be available on the link below.

The raw mark grade boundaries change from series to series. We provide raw marks to points calculators for each exam series to confirm how the raw marks are converted to points. They are updated soon after the results are published.

Access To Scripts

You can use our free Access to Scripts service to view your candidates’ marked exam scripts online or download as a PDF. (This service is not available for set tasks and on-demand tests).

It is available from results day until the 15 December 2023.

Providing a rich source of information, you can use this service to help make decisions about requesting a review of marking, but it can also help inform future teaching and learning and gives insights and visibility that performance data alone cannot provide.

If scripts have been marked ‘traditionally’ (ie not online), you will need to request them, free of charge, via the Post Results section of Edexcel Online as in previous exam series.

Please note, you will need 'Exam viewer' in your Edexcel Online profile if you want to download candidate scripts from results day. Please ask your Exams Officer if you need this adding to your profile.

Discover more about Access to Scripts, along with FAQs and a step-by-step User Guide.

Please note, candidate consent is required before requesting script copies, as per section 4.2 of the JCQ's Post-results services guide. Candidate consent can only be obtained after results have been published.

Review of marking of externally assessed components (Service 2)

This is a check that our examiners have marked externally assessed components correctly and includes:

• a clerical check (Service 1)
• a review of marking of units/components by a senior examiner

You can ask us to review the marking of exam papers for individual candidates and the results for each candidate will be reported separately. This service isn't available for internally assessed/externally moderated coursework components.

Candidates’ marks or grades can go up, down or stay the same.

The deadline for completion is within 20 calendar days of receiving the request.

The deadline for us to receive your request for a review of marking is 28 September.

Centres must obtain written candidate consent for clerical re-checks and
reviews of marking, as with these services candidates’ marks and subject grades
may be lowered. Candidate consent must be obtained after the publication of results.

Candidates must be informed that their marks and subject grades could go
down as well as up and must provide their written consent before a request is
submitted. (A suggested form for centres to use is included as Appendix A of the JCQ Post-results Guide).  

Appeals

If you are dissatisfied with the outcome of a review of marking, you may wish to appeal against the decision. We will allow the head of centre (or designated member of the centre’s senior management team or examinations manager) 30 calendar days from the receipt of the outcome of the review of marking, during which an appeal may be lodged by sending an email to the following address: edexcelappeals@pearson.com. There is further guidance on appeals on our website.

Applications for appeals may only be accepted from a head of centre (on behalf of a candidate or a group of candidates) or private candidates. See the JCQ appeals booklet, 46 & 47.

If a learner is not eligible for a qualification, having achieved a U, for example, in an externally assessed unit, it may be possible to transfer to a smaller size. Please ask your exams officer to change the registration in Edexcel Online. There is a video for exams officers in Edexcel Online called ‘Transfers’ to explain how this is done.

The grade statistics for BTEC qualifications are published in late October/early November on the grade statistics page of the website.

These statistics can be used for benchmarking purposes. Please note that in line with all qualifications, learner achievement is reported at qualification level and not at unit level.

Ofqual has published a blog to explain the approach to the grading of vocational qualifications this summer.

What to teach?

Here the answer is simple.  Please teach all of the specification content.

What to assess?

The BTEC Centre Guide to Internal Assessment states:

Do Assignment Briefs need to cover all unit/component content?

No. Your assignment brief needs to cover just what is being assessed so no need to include the entire unit content.

All unit/component content needs to be taught, where relevant, to provide learners with the breadth and depth to their studies. There is no formula for how much content needs to be assessed.

The amount of content the learner will need to refer to will depend on the specific requirements of the actual assignment and the requirements of the assessment criteria and associated assessment guidance which can sometimes prescribe which areas of the unit/component content needs to be assessed.

Section 6 of the BTEC National specifications includes the following:

As assignments provide a final assessment, they will draw on the specified range of teaching content for the learning aims. The specified content is compulsory. The evidence for assessment need not cover every aspect of the teaching content as learners will normally be given particular examples, case studies or contexts in their assignments. For example, if a learner is carrying out one practical performance, or an investigation of one organisation, then they will address all the relevant range of content that applies in that instance.

On 28 March, JCQ released a document which provides teachers and assessors with the information they need to manage use of AI in assessments. This guidance applies to all our qualifications including vocational qualifications.

Important points to note:

• centres should explain the importance of students submitting their own independent work
  
• centres should ensure that teachers and assessors are familiar with AI tools and their risks
  
• centres should consider communications with parents/carers to make them aware of AI
  
• students must acknowledge use of AI when used
  
• misuse of AI tools is malpractice.
  

Within the document, there is a list of potential indicators of AI use that may help identify work where students have misused AI.

Please do take a look at this guidance.

The BTEC Bitesize BTEC Tech Award in Enterprise videos

• How to select appropriate ​enterprises Component 1
• How to prepare learners to use their time effectively Component 1
• Component 1 Task 1 best practice
• Component 1 Task 2 best practice
• Component 1 Task 3 best practice
• Alternative evidence requirements for Components 1 and 2
• Exploring enterprise ideas for Component 2
• Best practice for Component 2 Task 1
• Best practice for Component 2 Task 2
• Preparing learners to use time well Component 2 Task 1
• Overlaps in content between Components 1, 2 and 3  

A downloaded csv file can be used to check the final raw mark for each component. For internally assessed components, if your centre marks were accepted in moderation the final raw marks will match your submission. If your centre marks were adjusted through the moderation process, detailed instructions are available for analysis of the difference between your submitted centre mark and the final raw mark awarded.

The Key Dates 2023-2024 document provides all the key dates you need to know when running the PSAs (Pearson Set Assignments).

Following your feedback, we will be releasing all Enterprise Pearson Set Assignments one month earlier within each series. The Key Dates document includes the PSA release dates, entry deadlines and submission deadlines.

The 2022 Tech Awards FAQs page is now live.

Go to the FAQ page

Time2 Resources are offering a component 3 CPD event in September

Find out more

The Component 3 entry code is BEN03.

The BTEC National specifications have been revised for the 2023-2024 academic year.

There is a list at the front of each specification with a notification of the changes.

This page provides an overview of the reforms and will be updated as and when new information becomes available.

The funding checklists below for 16-19 year olds give you a comprehensive view of funding  which takes us up to the cohort starting in 2025.

This will give you clarity on how the recent updates on funding for BTEC Level 3 affect your centre and learners.

As part of the Level 3 Vocational Qualification reforms we would like to invite you to help influence the next generation of BTEC Nationals. We want to ensure we capture the teacher and learner voice in our qualifications and support materials.

This is your opportunity to have your say and get involved.