These are extraordinary times for young people who have
recently taken exams and we want to reassure learners who
have taken vocational and technical qualifications (VTQs)
after yesterday’s decision to revert to centre assessment
grades (CAGs) for GCSEs and A levels. Our priority has
always been to ensure that no student is disadvantaged,
that results issued this year are robust and reliable, and
that as many students as possible get their results this
summer.
It is vital that people understand that the statistical
standardisation approach – the grading algorithm – used in
A levels and GCSEs was not used in most VTQs, including
BTECs.
VTQs are structured differently to A levels and GCSEs, and
so the approach to awarding results has been different.
Many VTQs were able to use evidence of work completed
during the course and use this as a basis for calculating
results. Indeed, for many qualifications, learners had
taken adapted assessments and so there was no calculation
process needed at all. For those qualifications that did
use calculation, not all used CAGs. Where they did, it was
often at unit level – so the CAGs did not weigh so heavily
in arriving at the final result.
That’s why we have seen little divergence between the
results that schools and colleges thought learners would
get, and the results that have been issued. We haven’t seen
the same downward moderation of results following
statistical standardisation.
In BTECs, for example, students complete modular units and
are assessed at regular stages during their course of
study. This summer, Pearson was able to use those banked
unit grades and CAGs for units that hadn’t been completed -
and all but a fraction of unit-level CAGs were accepted -
after quality assurance checks - to generate the final
overall qualification-level grade.
For the very small number of unit-level CAGs that were
adjusted down (about 0.5%), Pearson will be reviewing those
results with centres on a case-by-case basis, following the
same principles as those announced for A levels.
A small proportion of qualifications did use a statistical
standardisation approach similar the one used for A levels,
and those awarding organisations are reviewing their
approach in light of what was been decided about GCSEs and
A levels yesterday. As a result, we are starting to see
them re-running their awarding processes, to ensure that
learners are not disadvantaged when compared to their peers
taking GCSEs and A levels. We think that a small proportion
of Level 3 VTQ results that were issued last week will be
regraded upwards as a result.
There are a small proportion of results at Level 2 and
below which are due for issue this Thursday that will need
to be recalculated. It is possible that they may not be
available until a few days later than expected and any
awarding organisations in this position will provide
information as soon as possible about when this will be.
The overwhelming majority of VTQ learners have now received
the results they expected last week. Some awarding
organisations did notify us of late results and we
understand the anxiety this causes every single learner who
is still waiting. We are monitoring this very closely and
can confirm that all the awarding organisations are working
as fast as they can with schools and colleges to resolve
the remaining issues so that learners are not being
disadvantaged when it comes to applications to higher
education.
If learners have questions about vocational and technical
qualifications, they should speak to their centre in the
first instance, who may wish to contact the relevant
awarding organisation. There is further information
about the grading of vocational and technical
qualifications on our website.
