New Training Dates
There are lots of new dates for the new year for all subjects of the new AAQs. There are dates for Health and Social Care, Early Childhood development and Medical Science. Get ready for the new external units.
AAQ December update for HSC, ECD and Medical Science
Mon Dec 01 14:49:00 UTC 2025
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The monthly update for the AAQs in Health and Social Care, Early Childhood Development and Medical Science
Check your registrations
Now is the time to check your registrations
As you make your new student registrations for this academic year, you need to be aware of upcoming changes affecting centres in England who drawn down DfE funding.
Read our sector-by-sector guide to registrations and funding
Some BTEC National qualifications are still available for self-funded programmes, and students outside of England. So when registering students for any of the new AAQ qualifications, look for ‘AAQ’ in the title to make sure students are on the correct programme.
Update to the N grade in Level 3 BTEC Nationals (AAQs)
We have removed the N grade (near-pass) hurdle for externally assessed units in all Level 3 BTEC National AAQs.
This change means students can achieve the qualification with a U grade in external units, as long as they have gained sufficient points to meet the minimum threshold for a Pass at qualification level.
The N grade remains available in externally assessed units, contributing points towards the qualification grade and providing an additional level of differentiation between the Pass and Unclassified grades, but is no longer a hurdle to qualification achievement. The specifications have been updated to reflect this change.
Changes to the PSABs
It is really important to note that there have been changes made to the PSABs. Some is just wording and some have had things added to them.
Please make sure you are using the correct version of the PSAB , the most recently published. If you are using a previous version you will need to change to the new version.
There have been updates made to the Specification. These will be identified in the most recent version of the Specification.
Standards Verification
You can read about the Standards Verification and Quality Assurance process in the Centre Guide to Quality Assurance for the new AAQs. Standards Verifiers will be in touch in the New Year.
External Units
Additional Sample Materials
There will be more samples for the external units released in January. These will give you more idea about what the papers will look like and the type of questions that might be asked.
Subject advisor
Esther Trehearn
Health and Social Care
Phone :
+44 (0) 344 463 2535
(Teaching Services team | Mon - Fri, 9am - 5pm GMT)
