BTEC results: Final grades to be issued by 28 August
BTEC results: Final grades to be issued by 28 August
The DfE, Ofqual and FAB have said students should be reassured that AOs are ‘working as hard as they can’ to make sure learners are reissued their results by Friday
BTEC students will receive their results by 28 August, exam board Pearson has said.
A spokesperson said Pearson was aware the review of all BTEC grades, announced on Wednesday afternoon following the government’s U-turn on GCSE and A level grades, had caused “frustration and additional uncertainty for students and we are truly sorry.”
“We believe this will result in the fairest outcomes for the 2020 cohort of BTEC learners, and ensure they are not disadvantaged in relation to their peers who have taken A level and GCSE qualifications. We have now written to colleges to confirm that all eligible results will be available by August 28.
“Thank you to all the schools and colleges who have been working so collaboratively with us to support their students at this time.”
In a joint statement, the Department for Education, Ofqual and the Federation of Awarding Bodies said students should be reassured that awarding organisations are “working as hard as they can” to make sure learners are reissued their results “by Friday 28 August”.
They stressed their priority had been to make sure every student receives the grade they had worked hard for, “so they can move on to the next stage of their lives”.
They add that while many vocational qualification results were not affected by the change in how grades were awarded, and millions of results were issued on time, their focus was now on supporting those students who will receive reissued results. “. We are meeting with the relevant awarding organisations, [the Association of Colleges], [the Sixth Form Colleges Association] and UCAS daily, and we are committed to working together to ensure that fair results can be issued to those students swiftly. Where qualifications are most similar to GCSEs and A levels, awarding organisations are actively checking that outcomes are fair for all students.”
“We want to reassure students, schools and colleges that awarding organisations are working as hard as they can to make sure affected students are reissued their results by Friday 28 August. Ofqual is monitoring the situation very closely.”
The statement goes on to say that no student will see grades go down as a result of the review process, and universities, colleges and schools are holding places for students awaiting final results.
Universities UK told Tes today that universities would continue to be flexible for all applicants who have just received, or are about to receive, revised results - including those still awaiting BTEC results. The spokesperson added the lifting of the student number cap would help with this.
And the Association of Colleges said many colleges were confirming places for students even where these were still waiting for their grades to be confirmed.
“Confidence has been trampled on”
Gill Burbridge, principal of Leyton Sixth Form College, told Tes that the last-minute announcement was another example of why confidence in awarding bodies and the grading system was falling.
She said: “I had students contacting us and turning up to college because they were so confused about what was happening. Having to explain to them and having them say, ‘Well when will we get the results, and how will we get them and what does that mean, does that mean I can’t progress to level 3?’ - it’s really unhelpful to have that last-minute messaging and decision making.
“It’s another example of how our confidence in awarding bodies and in the system of generating results has been trampled on even further. The more uncertainty, the more anxiety is caused, the greater the loss of confidence.”
Tom Bewick, chief executive of the Federation of Awarding Bodies, said: “To criticise awarding organisations for this crisis falls way off the mark. The fact is staff in the sector have had to work day and night to correct this summer’s botched job that was entirely of the government’s making. Ministers and Ofqual set the conditions for public confidence in our qualifications system. And exam boards respond to them.”
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