We hope you are looking forward to the summer term. It is traditionally a stressful time on the lead up to exams/assessment submissions, so we do hope you get the opportunity to take some time for yourself.

Just a reminder we are here at Pearson to support you with any needs you might have when delivering qualifications. We have a large number of new centres this year and we are aware some of you have not taught BTEC qualifications before. Please do reach out to our customer service or sales team if you need any support at all. We are keen to support you with your needs so please do contact us if you need support.

Wales Reform

As a reminder Qualifications Wales is currently consulting with awarding bodies about the new 14-16 education reforms. In terms of Skills for Life and Skills for Work we have attended a series of consultations regarding this and QIW will now consult with some wider stakeholders. Regarding Foundation VCSE and VCSE QIW are just starting workshops with all the awarding organisations. on individual qualifications contained in the report.

If you would like to learn more read the full 14-16 qualifications offer decision report. 

England Reform

Just as a reminder we have put together a webpage to provide you with more information regarding the Post 16 English Reform 

Learn more - The future of post-16 level 1, entry vocational qualifications in England

In England new standards are being developed for post 16 and adult Personal Social and Employability qualifications. These standards are currently open for consultation until 20 May. If you are a centre delivering our Workskills or Personal Growth and Wellbeing qualifications or a centre delivering another type of these qualifications, we would encourage you to read and respond to the consultation in order to ensure your views are listened to as centre views are very important in any reform developments. It should also be pointed out that the DfE intend to remove Level 2 employability and PSHCE qualifications, so if you are currently teaching these, please do let them know your views!

Consultation - National Standards for Personal, Social and Employability Qualifications

New teaching and learning resources 

This month we have been focusing on training. We have just now released a series of on demand training to help centres learn more about teaching our Level 1 and Entry Level programmes. 

The series of videos are intended for both new to teaching our programmes and teachers who need a refresher. In these on demand training videos we cover a variety of topics such as the purpose of our qualifications, how to make an effective programme, teaching and learning good practices and how the internal verification process works and the documents you will need to complete it.

You can access the training videos on YouTube by following the links below. 

Also, as a reminder we have a whole channel dedicated to training and supporting our centres. You can visit the whole of our training offer on YouTube.

BTEC Below Level 1, Workskills and Personal Growth and Wellbeing playlist

As some you will be aware we have recently retired our Level 1 Intro in Transport and Vehicle. To support centres who may still wish to offer this we have produced an excellent hands-on guide to how you can use our very popular Level 1 Intro in Vocational Studies to deliver this. 

The guide was written by one of our experts in the Transport and Vehicle sector.

Download Delivering Transport and Vehicle through L1 Vocational Studies

New Content for May on the Skills Channel

Please save our playlist on YouTube for the latest Teaching and Learning Skills Video.

Pearson Skills playlist

Adaptive Teaching approaches are very inclusive and can really benefit Entry and Level 1 Learners. In this video we provide examples on how you can use this approach to anticipate barriers and plan adaptations to address them in order to secure greater learning gains.

You can watch the skills video if you are interested on YouTube

Adaptive Teaching for Level 1 and Entry Classroom (9:33min)

Monthly Blog

This month’s blog is all about supporting SEND learners when teaching BTEC Workskills. Employability skills are soft skills that are so vital in this level of learner. In this blog we talk about some things to consider when working with SEND learners and how these adaptations can support learners to achieve an employability qualification. 

Read Teaching BTEC Workskills to SEND Students

Monthly Podcast

Finally, do take the opportunity to listen to our Below L2 Workskills and PGW insights blog on Spotify. This month’s episode is on Mindfulnesss and Grounding in the Classroom. In this short podcast Product Manager Kelly and Training and CPD manager Hattie discuss how teachers can use mindfulness and grounding in the classroom to support learners.

Check it out. It is a useful listen.

Spotify - BTEC Below L2 Workskills and PGW insights

Please enjoy the rest of the summer term and please contact Kelly Adams if you need any support.