July 2026 Esports update
Thu Jul 02 23:00:00 UTC 2026
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Welcome to the July Esports subject update.
As this is the last newsletter for the academic year, please take a look at what training events with have in place to support new procedures for the new academic year, as well as checking out the winners of this years, British Student Champs!
Highlights of this month's newsletter look
- Upcoming quality assurance training
- Qualification and feedback survey
- Changes to the uploading of learner work from September 2026
- Upcoming training event dates for International Centres
- New Digital Assessment Plans for UK Centres only
| Date | Activity |
| 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
|
| 04 August 2026 at 09:00 - 11:30 BST | Introduction to Teaching the International BTEC Level 3 in Esports |
If you deliver BTEC qualifications, a range of training and support is available to help you prepare for the year ahead, including:
- Digital Assessment Plan training
- Digital Assessment Plan drop-in sessions
- Roles and Responsibilities training for Quality Nominees and Lead Internal Verifiers
- Quality Nominee Network events
Now is a great time to explore the available support and plan for the upcoming year.
To enable us to improve the experience of teachers using our qualifications and students sitting our exams, we gather feedback after each exam series. If you're a teacher, and your students have taken any of our GCSE, International GCSE, A level or International A level exams in the May/June 2026 series, or studied for any of our BTEC qualifications, we're eager to hear your thoughts.
Your feedback will play a vital role in shaping the future of our qualifications and assessments. Your input will be shared with our senior examiners and across our subject teams to help us continuously improve future assessments and enhance the exam experience for students. Please complete our short surveys below. Thank you.
The British Esports Student Champs 2025/26 grand finals have come to their thrilling conclusion this week, with four teams announced as winners in their respective games!
The UK’s best collegiate esports teams with students aged 12+ once again competed in the finals, this time taking place at the University of Staffordshire on Tuesday June 23rd and Wednesday June 24th 2026, following bootcamp practice sessions and content days at our National Esports Performance Campus in Sunderland.
We look back on what happened at this year’s grand finals in League of Legends, VALORANT, Overwatch 2 and Rocket League, with photos by Tom Platinum Morley and the broadcasts run by esports students from Sunderland College and the University of Staffordshire.
The recent government announcement has reignited widespread debate around how best to protect young people online, including proposals to ban social media access for under 16s.
Reminder and new guidance for you and your students!
Your students can receive a digital credential alongside their vocational qualification this summer. We’re getting in touch with a quick reminder and some new guidance to help you make sure eligible students at your centre receive theirs.
A digital credential gives them a verified, shareable record of their achievement that they can use when applying for jobs, apprenticeships or further study.
How to make sure your students receive their digital credentials
To make sure everything runs smoothly at results time and eligible students receive their digital credential, you need to upload student email addresses in Edexcel Online.
We recommend using each student’s centre email address. Once their digital credential has been issued, students should change this to a personal email address in Credly.
If a student’s email address hasn’t been added, we won’t be able to issue their digital credential.
For students who are eligible to certificate before August results day, their digital credential will still be issued in August, as long as their email address is added before they are certificated.
NEW | guidance to support you and your students
We’ve added new, practical guidance to help you understand digital credentials and to make it easier to explain them to students.
For you
- Digital Credentials for Vocational Qualifications: FAQs
- Digital Credential Overview and Issuing Guide (Centres)
- Digital Credentials Learner Email Address Bulk Upload / Update Guide
- Digital Credentials Communications Guide (Centres)
For your students
We’d encourage you to share guidance directly with students so they know what to expect, how to access their credential and how they can use it.
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.
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.
Episode one drops on Thursday 4 June on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Amazon Music. Subscribe to Ofqual's YouTube channel now so you don't miss it:
On the 9th of June Pearson are hosting a live training session, with our Senior Standards Verifier, Sean Chambers. Please sign up today using the details outlines above in the training section.
We are also looking to create a NEW Esports Bitesize playlist based on all the questions and queries our centres want answering or resources they want to access.
Please use this form to submit questions for your Senior Standards Verifier, so we can get the most frequently asked questions or wants to you in the most efficient and easily accessible way.
Now we have had the outcome of the CAR report and the subsequent findings following the consultation period, the roadmap is becoming clearer for Level 3 pathways.
What we do know is that Esports will be very much on the curriculum for 'first teach' until 27/28 and fully funded through to successful certification (see table below)
However, it will be June when we should hear further regarding the longer term future for this qualfication, at this level.
In the meantime we have a variety of pages devoted to keeping you informed about the reforms and what the current state of play is across the whole curriculum.
Level 2
Our Level 2 Esports qualifications have been extended for delivery in England, Northern Ireland and Wales.
The last registration date is 31 July 2027.
The last certification date is 31 July 2029.
Level 3
Ofqual has published a new blog highlighting the importance of open, honest conversations with students about the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in coursework.
AI tools are now part of everyday life for many young people. But it’s important that students understand where the boundaries are. Using AI to generate coursework without proper disclosure is cheating, and the consequences can be serious - including the loss of a qualification.
The blog is designed to help you start those conversations with confidence. It includes:
- A ready‑to‑use lesson plan to support classroom discussion about AI and assessed work.
- A senior leadership team briefing pack to help schools and colleges develop a clear, whole‑school approach to AI in coursework.
Together, these resources can help ensure students are informed, supported and clear about expectations - before assessment pressures begin.
Whether you’re ready to start, scale or strengthen your esports vision, British Esports are here to help.
They provide tailored end-to-end solutions for organisations across education, community, commercial sectors and beyond in the following 10 areas:
- Esports facility development, procurement services and project management – a turnkey solution
- Funding advice, bid and grant writing services for esports projectsCurriculum support, planning & student pathways (covering BTECs, V-Levels, degrees and more)
- Business case development, feasibility studies and revenue modellingStaff and teacher CPD (Continuing Professional Development), training and certificationEsports and gaming strategy development
- National and regional esports policy developmentEsports business advice, acceleration and incubation programmes
- Education day trips, residentials and workshopsTeam apparel, student and staff esports uniform and kit design
Join our upcoming Digital Assessment Plan (DAP) training session, designed specifically for UK BTEC centre staff including Quality Nominees, Lead Internal Verifiers and Assessors.
This session will provide a clear and practical overview of the DAP, including its purpose and the benefits it brings to centres.
Participants will explore which qualifications are in scope, learn how to access and navigate the DAP, and gain hands-on insight into key features of the centre dashboard through a guided walkthrough.
We will also outline key deadlines and milestones to support effective planning and submission, alongside dedicated time to address common questions and signpost available support and resources.
The live events below will be held online via our 'Zoom' training platform.
To reserve your place, please follow the session link to complete the registration form.
An email will be sent to confirm your booking and will include a link for you to add the meeting to your calendar.
When you upload learner work to Learner Work Transfer, Progress or SharePoint for marking, verification or moderation, you need to make sure your files meet a few basic requirements. This helps uploads run smoothly and avoids delay.
These changes will happen from September 2026.
The latest information page from the JCQ includes
- guidance for teachers on malpractice
- presentations for teachers and learners
- an information sheet for teachers
- a poster for learners
Please scroll down the page linked to below to find a map with details of schools and colleges delivering esports.
For help with:
- delivery
- the Esports learner and teacher
For help with:
- assessment
- grade statistics
Level 2 Esport is an available qualification to our international centres. Currently, we do not have a dedicated Level 2 International webpage - however the UK qualification can be taught in international centres.
These qualifications are for learners who want to develop a range of skills within the esports and related industries. They are designed for learners at post-16 but are suitable qualifications for 14-16 where appropriate, as part of their wider study programme. They are ideal qualifications for learners intending to progress to further education at level 3 or to an apprenticeship within esports and related industries.
We have a variety of pages devoted to keeping you updated with the specifications, teaching resources, sample assignment materials as well as all authorised assignment briefs and Pearson Set Assignments.
Multi factor authentication was 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, 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.
Based on feedback received this graphic was created to answer some common questions.
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.
Subject advisor
Sarah Mark
BTEC Business, Enterprise, Marketing, Esports
Phone :
+44 (0) 344 463 2535
(Teaching Services team | Mon-Fri, 8am - 5pm GMT)
