December 2025 Construction update
Welcome to your December 2025 update for Construction qualifications.
In this update:
- Key dates
- Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper
- BTEC Key dates and term time check points
- BTEC Nationals in Construction and the Buiilt Environment (AAQ)
- NEW! Updated grading information
- Centre Standardisation Material (CSM)
- Live training events
- Teaching, learning and assessment support page
- NEW! Updated grading information
- BTEC Tech Award in Construction and the Built Environment PSAs
- New sample size for moderated components
- January 2026 Component 3 exam date
- T level updates, including for Design, surveying and Planning
- Updates to Higher Nationals in Construction for England
| Date | Activity |
|---|---|
| 12 December 2025 | Access to Scripts deadline |
| 20 March 2026 | Entry deadline for BTEC Nationals Summer 2026 exam series |
| 15 May 2026 | Standards verification first sampling deadline |
| 15 June 2026 | Second sampling deadline (if required) |
| 5 July 2026 | Deadline to report internally assessed unit grades on edexcel online for time release of results in summer. |
Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper
On 20 October, the government published its Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper, setting out significant reforms to vocational education in England. We know you'll have questions about what this means for you and your students, and we want to provide you with clear information and reassurance.
What it means for you
You should continue to register students and deliver your programmes as planned in 2025/26. There are no immediate changes to your current provision, and BTECs continue to provide excellent outcomes for the thousands of students who choose vocational pathways each year.
As soon as we have full details about the funding arrangements for 2026/27, we’ll share them with you straight away, so you can plan with confidence.
What does the White Paper propose?
The government has announced plans to introduce "V Levels" as a new vocational qualification pathway at level 3, sitting alongside A levels and T Levels. These qualifications aim to simplify the current vocational landscape and will be designed to be similar in size to A levels, allowing students to combine vocational and academic study more flexibly.
The government has opened the consultation to test the key design principles of V Levels, and new qualifications at level 2 that sit alongside GCSEs. It invites views on size and subject areas, information advice and guidance, new T Levels, level 2 qualifications and pathways, non qualification activities, the transition plan, the co-design approach to setting content, and qualification branding. The deadline for responses in 12 January 2026.
BTEC key dates and term-time checkpoints
We recently published the BTEC key dates and term-time checkpoints for 2025/26. While your exams officers will take the lead on most of these activities, your support will be important to help meet these deadlines, so it’s useful to be aware of what is required and when
Grading information updated to remove requirement for students to achieve a Near Pass (N) or above in external units to achieve the qualification.
Centre Standardisation Materials for Unit 3 are now available. These resources are ready to support teachers delivering BTEC Nationals in Construction and the Built Environment (AAQ), helping ensure assessments align with national standards and expectations.
Alongside the recorded sessions, we’re running a series of live events to help you get started with teaching BTEC Nationals in Construction and the Built Environment (AAQ). These interactive sessions offer practical guidance, updates, and the chance to ask questions directly to our subject experts.
To book on to one of these session please go to the training page and use the filters on the left hand side. Select Qualification: BTEC Nationals and Subject: Construction and the Built Environment.
| Event | Date and Time |
|---|---|
| Getting Ready for Internal Assessment: BTEC National (AAQ) in Construction and the Built Environment (2025) | 11 February 2026 at 16:00 - 17:30 GMT |
| Preparing for External Assessment: BTEC National (AAQ) in Construction and the Built Environment (2025) | 25 February 2026 at 16:00 - 17:30 GMT |
| Preparing for External Assessment: BTEC National (AAQ) in Construction and the Built Environment (2025) | 04 March 2026 at 16:00 - 17:30 GMT |
A dedicated support page for the new BTEC Nationals in Construction and the Built Environment (AAQ), with essential guidance, links to downloadable templates, training links, and materials to support qualification delivery.
New sample size for moderated components
From the January 2026 series, we’ll be asking you to submit a slightly larger sample size for moderation in Project qualifications and BTEC Tech Awards.
From June 2026, this approach will also apply to GCSE, International GCSE, A level and Entry Level Certificate qualifications.This change is designed to make moderation smoother and reduce the need for additional sample requests later in the year.
| Component | Exam entry code | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Constrution Technology (Component 1) | BCB03/01 | 16 January 2026 |
Updates to Higher Nationals in Construction for England
Updated specifications (Issue 2) for the following Higher Nationals titles are now available and will be ready for first teaching from September 2026:
Architectural Technology for England
Construction Management for England (Construction Design and Build Technician)
Modern Method of Construction for England
These updated specifications remain Higher Technical Qualification (HTQ) approved and fully aligned with the updated occupational standard.
Key among the updates to these specifications is the introduction of a new mandatory unit: 4001DB Construction Design Project Design and Build (Pearson-set). Make sure you factor this in to your planning for next year.
The existing specifications (Issue 1.1) will still be available under ‘useful documents’ on the specification pages [WL1] [WL2] [TS3] should you need to refer to them during the current academic year.
Subject advisor
Evren Alibaba
Engineering
