Registering learners

Before you begin making the initial registrations (individual or bulk), you need to enter the information below that will apply to a whole group of learners on a particular programme or unit.

After selecting the information that applies to all learners in a group, you're now ready to enter the individual learner details or, for large groups of registrations, register learners by spreadsheet.

The information required is the same, regardless of whether you enter learners individually or by spreadsheet. Therefore, if you download the spreadsheet to complete offline, you shouldn't change the format of the spreadsheet as this may prevent data from uploading correctly.

Remember to check all details carefully, as this information will be used for certification.

The information you'll need to enter is: 

Centre reference

This field allows you to enter a reference of up to 10 alphanumeric characters for your own administrative convenience. 

First names

The first names must be no more than 20 characters including spaces.

Last names

The last names should be no more than 30 characters, including spaces. 

Sex

Select either ‘M’ for male, or ‘F’ for female. 

Date of birth

This is a required field and should be in the format dd/mm/yyyy. 

Combination (not NVQ programmes) 

Every programme should include a combination, which will be a single letter. For most programmes there is only one combination, which will usually be A. If you're not sure, please check the programme definition for combinations, which can be found in the ‘Qualifications’ menu under the ‘Reports’ option.  

Completing bulk registrations

Once you've completed and uploaded your registrations, the registration numbers of the learners will be listed in the right-hand column and you will be able to access the confirmation report for your records if you wish. 

Individual registrations

Any errors relating to the data you've entered will be displayed with instructions in red to tell you what the problem is – for instance, invalid characters in the name field, or a completion date in the past. You'll have a chance to correct the data before uploading it again.

The registration will also be rejected if it's found that a registration already exists for that learner and programme. If this is the case, the learner will be highlighted in green and their existing registration number will be displayed. You'll need to remove this learner from the list to be registered before continuing.

Where a record is highlighted in green you can view the specific error message by hovering the mouse pointer over the highlighted record.  

Bulk registrations

Any errors in the data you've entered will be displayed with instructions in red advising you of the problem - for instance, invalid characters in the name field, or a completion date in the past. You will have an opportunity to correct the data before uploading the spreadsheet again.

Possible reasons for errors are:

• column added or deleted from spreadsheet
• column headings deleted or amended (must be in bold font)
• required field not completed
• DOB or completion date not in dd/mm/yyyy format
• sex entered as Male or Female, rather then a single letter M or F
• study mode not entered as code (e.g. FT for full time instead of A)
• LSC code entered when course is not LSC funded.

If you can't make a registration electronically, due to special circumstances, you'll need to email your Account Specialist.

Registrations that you won't be able to make online include:

• special registrations (S type)
• learners with an enrolment date before September of the current academic year.

If you make any mistakes whilst registering learners, it's important you correct them as soon as possible and before claiming certification.

The learner details screen can be found through the ‘Candidate’ menu, using either the ‘Search by Candidate’ option or ‘Search by Course’. Select detauls to get the candidate's specific information.

By clicking the ‘Edit’ button at the bottom of the screen, you can amend all of the fields shown above, as well as claim certification.

If the learner has a ULN, you will need to update their details on the LRS database before updating Edexcel Online.

To prevent one learner being substituted for another, you can only change one of the first name, last name or date of birth fields, and then only once. If you have any further amendments, please contact your Account Specialist.

Once your changes have been saved, any certificates issued will reflect the details on our database.

You can make changes to a learner's registered programme using the 'Transfer within Centre' screen, found within the ‘Candidate’ menu of the BTEC section.

This screen allows you to transfer groups of learners or individual learners to any of your currently approved BTEC programmes. A new completion date is mandatory when transferring.

Groups of 20 or more learners will be transferred overnight. All other transfers should take place almost immediately, although a learner can only be transferred once within a 24 hour period.

If you can't transfer a particular learner, please contact your Account Specialist.

You'll find the 'Transfer from another Centre' screen, within the ‘Candidate’ menu of the BTEC section.

To validate the identity of a learner transferring into your centre, you'll need to provide their date of birth along with their registration number. If these details match, you'll be able to choose which currently approved BTEC programme you wish the learner to be transferred to.

Before transferring a learner to your centre, it's important to ensure that any units completed at the previous centre have been reported. The receiving centre should confirm the units completed by the learner by checking the unit certificate gained at the previous centre. 

When you've selected the programme to be transferred to, just click ‘Transfer’.