June 2024 BTEC Business update

The key dates for the Component 1 and 2 PSAs are in the Key Dates Schedule.  Please note that the deadline for mark submission and upload of work of sampled learners for internal assessments has been moved from 1 May to 15 May.

The 2022 Tech Awards FAQs page is now live.

Go to the FAQ page

BTEC Tech Award training page

Our new BTEC Tech Award training and resources page is where you can find all the live and on-demand training resources for Tech Awards.

The BTEC Bitesize BTEC Tech Award in Enterprise videos

These videos cover Components 1 and 2, breaking each component down into the five tasks required in the PSA with suggestions to help prepare learners for each task.

Once your moderator has reviewed your submitted learner sample, they will provide feedback through a draft moderator report. To ensure you receive your draft moderator feedback report without delay, it’s important that you ensure your exams officer and quality nominee contact details are up to date on Edexcel Online.

All draft moderator feedback reports will be shared by 17 June and will be emailed to your exams officer and quality nominee directly from your moderator. If you haven't received your draft moderator report by 17 June, please first check with your exams officer and quality nominee then, if necessary, contact the moderator directly. You can find their details on Edexcel Online.

You should only contact your moderator about not receiving a draft moderator report after 17 June.

Once you’ve received your draft moderator feedback report, you should ensure this has been shared with any relevant teaching staff. Once reviewed you will have the opportunity to amend your original marks and on Edexcel Online if you wish to, although this is optional. You can amend any marks on Edexcel Online until 28 June.

If you’re not happy with the outcome of your moderation, you can apply for a review of moderation as a post-results service in August once the final report has been released.

The terminal assessment rule requires learners to take the external assessment at the end of their qualification (when the learner is due to certificate). This means that learners must sit internal component assessments either prior to or in the same series as the external assessment to fulfil this terminal rule.

If a learner chooses to retake an internal assessment in a series after they sat the terminal external assessment, they will also need to resit the external component to satisfy the terminal rule.

Learners are allowed one resit of the external assessment within the programme.

If you have learners expecting a qualification result in August, you need to claim certification by submitting a cash-in code by 5 July. If you don’t submit a cash-in code, then learners won’t receive an overall qualification result in summer.

The cash-in code for Enterprise is CEN01.

Starting from the January series, you will upload learner work for BTEC set tasks using our Learner Work Transfer (LWT) portal. This will offer increased data protection and security for your learners’ work. We will be in touch with all customers who will need to use learner work transfer to ensure you have access to the system and receive support from us to upload your learner work successfully.

To prepare for the transition to LWT, all colleagues in your school or college who are involved in the upload of learner work should have an Edexcel Online account.

The BTEC Works site can help with recruitment of learners.

You must make all BTEC certification claims for learners expecting to receive a result in August 2024 by 5 July. This includes BTEC Tech Awards where you should make a certification claim by submitting a cash-in by the 5 July.

If claims are made after the 5 July, we can’t guarantee that learners will receive results on time. For any late claims made for BTEC Level 3, where learners are still expecting a result in August, you may be liable for a £100 administration fee per learner registration that misses the claiming deadline.

The post-16 Level 2 vocational qualifications landscape in England is undergoing a significant reform.

To keep you informed, we have created a dedicated webpage providing an overview of the reforms, detailing what we know so far, and explaining the implications for you and your post-16 Level 2 curriculum.

In light of the BTEC Business and other VQ Business, Enterprise, Marketing qualifications being withdrawn in 2026, we would like to understand what your portfolio of curriculum may look like and would appreciate your feedback in order to steer our thinking and development. Many thanks for taking the time to complete this.

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.

Although too early for Business-related qualifications we do have two new pages where new AAQ and technical qualifications will be featured.

All learner work required for digital submission for both general and vocational qualifications will be uploaded via the Learner Work Transfer platform (accessed via Edexcel Online). This will include samples for non examined assessment moderation, BTEC moderated components and standards verification, plus BTEC external assessments.

For further information on submitting learner work digitally, please see our range of support articles.

This letter from the Chief Regulator includes a section on grading arrangements for this summer.

Our new on-demand CPD offer is available on our Quality Assurance Events & Support webpage, applicable to BTEC Entry Level/Level 1 Introductory through to Level 3 qualifications.

Each package includes a short video, an activity to consolidate understanding, the answers, and a PDF copy of the video presentation.

A summary of what’s changed:

• real-life candidate malpractice examples involving AI that has not been referenced appropriately (see new appendix A)
•  new information on how to authenticate private candidate work
•  a new section, AI use and marking, to give clearer guidance on the impact on marking of student use of AI tools and on the use of AI tools by assessors when marking, with real-life examples (see new appendix B)
• an expanded list of AI tools and AI detection tools.

The Special Consideration Service is a new online tool to submit and track special consideration requests for BTEC First and National qualifications. This service opened in early January, which means your Exams Officer will no longer complete any paper JCQ Form 10 applications.

Your Exams Officer will be able to track the receipt and processing of special consideration applications for BTEC Firsts and Nationals. All special consideration requests for general and vocational qualifications in summer 2024 will be processed through the Special Consideration Service.

There is an updated version of the Assessment Record template for BTEC Entry – Level 3, these can be accessed on the BTEC forms and guides webpage.

This template now includes an updated authenticity declaration to include acknowledgement of any use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools. This form is provided for immediate use.

If you design and use your own Assessment Record, please ensure this is updated to replicate the authenticity statement in our template/s.

This could be a useful page to bookmark to stay up to date.

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.