Childcare update - September 2021

Mitigations update for Heath and Social Care and Childcare qualifications in Wales and NI 

As a result of the ongoing concerns related to the risks associated with COVID-19 and the possibilities of public health restrictions to continue locally and nationally, there may be instances wherein normal assessment is not possible for a prolonged period of time or where this interruption relates to COVID-19. These alternative assessment arrangements will continue through the academic year 2021/22 and will be available to both ‘mid-flight’ and new learners, only.   

The Joint Awarding Body guidance for the Health & Social Care and Childcare qualifications in Wales, and Northern Ireland has been updated for 2021-22:

Assessment mitigation centre guidance Wales and NI (PDF, 355 KB)

Mitigations update for England qualifications

Early Years Educator and Early Years Practitioner qualifications - 2021/22 Adaptations

We are pleased to share with you that the DfE as confirmed that existing adaptations for Early Years Vocational and Technical Qualifications (VTQ’s) will continue to apply in the 2021/22 academic year to be in line with the early year’s qualifications on league tables.

The DfE has further clarified that ‘all content for VTQs' should be taught, as far as is feasible, so that students are as well-prepared as possible for progression to the next stage of their education, training or employment. These adaptations are for the academic year 2021-2022 only and it should not be assumed that adaptations to assessments approved for 2020-2021 or for 2021-2022 will continue into the academic year 2022-2023. It is our (DfE’s) firm intention that exams and assessments will return to normal in the academic year 2022-2023’.

The Joint Awarding Body guidance has been updated and can be found here: 

Assessment mitigation centre guidance communication (PDF, 230 KB)

All associated Pearson guidance documents are being updated in line with the Joint AO guidance and will be available soon but, in the meantime, wanted to share this great news with you to enable you to plan and deliver within this academic year and to provide continued support to your learners.

What this means for BTEC learners is that in addition to these adaptations for work placement hours and risk-based assessment of skills through alternative assessment methods, all streamlined assessments can be applied as per the guidance and all external assessments for mandatory units for BTEC Nationals and Technicals will take place and must be completed. Reduction for mandatory units is no longer applicable for learners certificating in August 2022

Early Education partnership

Following on from last month’s great news about the relaunch of our Early Education partnership and the offer of discounted membership available for Pearson centres, we are pleased to share news of our first podcast, developed in partnership with Birth to 5 matters. This podcast focuses on the observation assessment and planning to support the early learning goals. Learners can use this podcast to support their learning independently or teachers can use this as part of their lesson. Podcast coming soon.

Visit the Birth to 5 Matters website

We are also soon to be hosting a joint webinar with Birth to 5 matters expert Donna Gaywood. Watch this space for more details.