July 2026 Design and Technology update
6 July 2026
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Welcome to the July 2026 update from your Subject Advisor
In this update:
- Key dates
- 2026 Assessment Survey
- GCSE D&T Contextual Challenges
- Understanding your students' results - a guide to post-results services
- Support for students ahead of Results Days
- Training events
- Self-paced training: A Level Design and Technology: Making Marking Training
- New OFQUAL podcast for teachers and school leaders
| Date | Activity |
|---|---|
| 13 August 2026 | A level results day |
| 20 August 2026 | GCSE results day |
Have your say on our 2026 Dresign and Technology assessments!
If your students took our qualifications in the May/June 2026 series, we'd love to hear about your experience. Share your views on assessment themes, internal assessment processes, moderation, external assessments, and the support and resources available.
Your feedback goes directly to our senior moderators, examiners and subject teams, helping to inform future developments.
Summer 2027 Contextual challenges
From the below link you can access the contextual challenges for summer 2027 certification.
In the document, there are 3 themes. Each theme has 2 contextual challenges. Learners must read through these and select one of the 6 contextual challenges to respond to in their NEA project.
Getting ready for results day?
Our post-results support guide can help you:
- navigate students’ results,
- understand the available data,
- find the right support if you have queries about grading or marking.
Waiting for exam results can be nerve-wracking for many students. Our guide for students, parents and carers on Understanding results and grades contains helpful information about what to expect on results day and where to find further support.
The guide includes information on:
- dates for results days
- receiving and understanding results
- grades and grade boundaries
- what steps to take if they are not happy with their results
- university applications
- certificates
- where to find further support.
Please pass this information on to your students.
Event |
Date |
|---|---|
16 July 2026 at 9:30 – 16:00 BST |
|
15 September 2026 at 16:00 - 17:00 GMT |
|
| GCSE Design and Technology: Assessment Insights Summer 2026 | 16 September 2026 at 16:00 – 17:00 BST |
17 September 2026 at 16:00 - 17:00 GMT |
|
12 October 2026 at 16:00 - 17:00 GMT |
|
| GCSE Design and Technology: NEA Delivery Support - October 2026 | 14 October 2026 at 16:00 – 17:30 BST |
Design and Technology Network: Integrating CAD into the Curriculum |
19 October 2026 at 16:00 - 17:00 GMT |
| GCSE Design and Technology: NEA Delivery Support - November 2026 | 12 November 2026 at 16:00 – 17:30 GMT |
| GCSE Design and Technology: NEA Delivery Support - December 2026 | 3 December 2026 at 16:00 – 17:30 GMT |
Self-paced training: A Level Design and Technology: Making Marking Training
Our new self-paced training courses allow you to work through the training in your own time. You can also pick and choose certain elements to explore rather than working your way through the whole course; the choice is yours!
This self-paced training course is designed to support teachers of the Pearson Edexcel A Level Design and Technology qualification with the process of centre-based moderation, which is carried out prior to submitting candidate marks. The course focuses on assessment grid application for the Manufacturing element of product design.
Ofqual is launching a podcast for teachers and school leaders.
'Can I Just Qualify That?' will be built around conversations that matter and advice you can use.
Episode one drops on Thursday 4 June on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon Music.
The first few episodes will cover everything from qualification reform and how GCSE and A level grading works, to helpful tips for exam season, results days, and cyber security.
Subject advisor
Evren Alibaba
Design and Technology
Facebook :
Phone :
+44 (0) 344 463 2535
(Teaching Services team | Mon - Fri, 9am - 5pm GMT)
