BTEC students will be given their results by the end of next week as last minute delay causes ‘frustration and uncertainty’ for 850,000 students – with officials promising no grades will go down.
Pearson, the awarding organisation, has apologised to pupils following its decision to pull the results despite previously being aware of problems with the algorithm.
Students awaiting grades for university entry are being prioritised and will receive their results from Tuesday onwards, the exam board said, and all the remaining results will be available by Friday next week.
Meanwhile some BTEC students have been left feeling like second-class students after GCSE pupils were handed their results this week.
The clarification on timings from the exam boards comes after students and teachers protested in Westminster over the BTEC and A-level results chaos.
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Pearson, the provider of BTECs, told schools and colleges not to publish level 1 and 2 results in the vocational qualifications to give them time to re-grade them in line with A-levels and GCSEs – which are being graded via teacher assessments (stock)
On Wednesday, just hours before results day, hundreds of thousands of BTEC students were told they would not receive their results following a U-turn.
Pearson said it needed to review the grades of its level one to three BTEC qualifications after Ofqual’s decision to allow A-level and GCSE students to use grades based on their teachers’ estimates.
Around 200,000 level one and two entries were due to receive grades on Thursday this week, while 250,000 level three grades were already awarded last week.
A spokeswoman for Pearson said: ‘We know this has caused frustration and additional uncertainty for students and we are truly sorry.
‘No grades will go down as part of this review.
Exam board Pearson pulled its BTEC results less than 24 hours before releasing them, sparking a fresh round of results chaos for nearly half a million pupils (stock)
‘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.’
Dozens of people attended a protest over exam results outside Downing Street on Friday where they demanded the immediate sacking of Education Secretary Gavin Williamson.
A UCAS spokesman said: ‘The vast majority of students applying this year with BTECs have secured their place at University, with 45,000 students already placed with their first choice university.
‘Approximately 5,800 students were not placed at their original firm choice university and we expect some of those students will, when revised grades are issued, meet the conditions of their original firm offer.
‘UCAS will work closely with Pearson to process these results to ensure they can make decisions as soon as possible.’
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said the situation was ‘frustrating’.
Meanwhile some BTEC students have been left feeling like second-class students after GCSE pupils were handed their results this week. Pictured, students getting their GCSE results at Hazelwood College in Belfast
He added: ‘We hope that no student misses out on the university place they had their heart set on as a result of this delay.
‘Pearson is doing the right thing in reviewing BTEC grades, but it is a pity that it wasn’t quicker off the mark.
‘We are pleased there is now the reassurance of knowing when the results will be available, and that students will soon be able to move on to the next stage of their lives.’
On Friday morning, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps became the latest minister to defend Mr Williamson over the exam results chaos.
He said: ‘Let’s not pretend that the choices facing the Education Secretary were unique to England or straightforward, because they were not.’
The 11th hour move came despite Pearson being warned a week ago about a ‘systemic issue’ with grading, it was claimed.
The parent of one BTEC student said the decision to withhold final grades has left his son feeling like a ‘second-class student’.
Caleb Taylor, 19, is waiting for the results of his level three BTEC in computing and business.
His father, Richard, said he has been unable to enrol at his college in Gwent for next year without knowing his final grades.
He said: ‘I think it’s a disgrace. He feels like he is a second-class student, and BTECs are seen as less important than A-levels because they have been sorted out last.
‘Technical qualifications shouldn’t be seen as less than. My son is really anxious because he doesn’t know what he will be doing next year.
‘He plans to go to university but it is a good thing he didn’t want to go this year because he would have missed out on his space.
Taha Khan, 16, said he hoped his dad would be ‘proud’ after picking up his results, including six top grade 9s, at school in Bolton, Greater Manchester, yesterday
‘There has just been no communication, we just don’t know what is going on.’
This morning, David Hughes, chief executive of the Association of Colleges, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘We’d been talking to Pearson ever since the results came out last Thursday and we knew there were lots and lots of problems, lots of students not getting the results they really should have got, lots of colleges saying to us that actually this just doesn’t look right, and we were saying to Pearson “is this just isolated cases or is it a more systemic issue?”
‘I think what they’ve realised is that both the level three results last week, but perhaps more importantly for the results that were due today, that this was a system issue and they really needed to do a thorough review.’
BBC Radio 4 was told by Bexleyheath Academy in South East London that some results papers give both grades on the same piece of paper – so the principal was giving out BTEC grades because there were on the same piece of paper as the GCSEs.
Schools minister Nick Gibb told Sky News that BTEC results were being reviewed and ‘they’ll be reissuing them hopefully next week’.
The National Education Union’s co-general secretary said the Government now ‘must put an end’ to the ‘incompetence’ around the issuing of the BTEC results.
People took part in a protest outside Downing Street in London on August 21 over the government’s handling of exam results after A-level and GCSE exams were cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak
Dr Mary Bousted said: ‘Teachers know their students better than any model or algorithm and it will be a relief to many that the grades they receive are now a fairer reflection of their achievements.
‘To add to the GCSE and A-level fiasco, the decision by (examiner) Pearson not to issue BTEC results at the eleventh hour compounds the upsetting and chaotic experience for students.
‘Government must put an end to this incompetence and work quickly to ensure every young person gets the grades they deserve to move on to the next stages of their lives.’
The development will also cause even further disruption to students seeking places in higher education, with universities under pressure from thousands of pupils scrambling to get their first choices after the U-turn led to improved grades.
Mr Hughes added: ‘This is a decision that is kind of the result of lots and lots of poor decisions over many weeks.
‘One thing we’ve got to do I think in the fullness of time is a full review, independent review, open and transparent into what went wrong, not to blame people, but really to understand what’s happened, because confidence in the system has been completely blown.
‘Ofqual wanted integrity in the system to be at the heart of all this, and I think that’s the last thing that’s been achieved. So the decision by Pearson last night, really late in the day, 11th hour, almost the 12th, hour was probably the right decision, just a shame it came so late.
‘But sometimes it is better to make the right decision rather than carry on and get very, very unfair outcomes for students.’
Alex Dyer, CEO and Founder of Tutor House, told MailOnline: ‘This delay means that they will not be able to go to Sixth Form, College or apprenticeships as they have to wait for their grades, which could be a few weeks, whilst those who studied GCSE’s are moving on with their lives.
‘The government are ignoring the poorer students as well as the less regarded qualifications.’
Simon Reichwald, Strategic Lead for Talent at MyKindaFuture, commented: ‘This year’s results saga has caused an incredible amount of unnecessary distress and worry for a whole year group of students, particularly those who have studied for BTEC qualifications.
‘The ongoing confusion around the marking system is likely to impact the young people affected for years to come, whether they choose to continue their studies or move into the world of work.
‘Some employers and education providers may unfairly assume that a young person from the class of 2020 had their grade inflated, and therefore interrogate them on their qualifications much more than they would usually.
‘Young people will have to pre-empt this in their interviews and demonstrate additional skills, such as extra-curricular achievements, in order to ensure they are competitive against previous year groups, putting them at an immediate disadvantage.
‘Sadly, this is likely to have the biggest impact on those who already come from disadvantaged backgrounds.
The shock 11th-hour move affects 450,000 pupils in the UK, all due to collect results along with GCSE candidates (pictured: students from Codsall Community High School march to the constituency office of local MP Gavin Williamson, the Education Secretary, as a protest over the continuing issues of last week’s A level results)
‘We know that many talented individuals from underprivileged backgrounds already suffer from a lack of self-belief, and the results saga is likely to have dented their confidence even further.
‘Due to their vocational nature, BTECs are still unfairly considered less credible than A-Levels by many employers and those who have completed their qualifications this year will now have the added worry that they will be judged more harshly than those from previous year groups.’
Labour’s Shadow Education Seccretary Kate Green told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: ‘I think it’s utterly outrageous, it’s chaos after chaos now and at the end of this are young people psyching themselves up to receive their results, wanting to plan their futures for the next step in their studies and being let down again and again by the Government.
‘And now to hear that not only the results that were due today are delayed until we don’t know when but some of the results received last week might have to be reviewed and adjusted, and still don’t know what they should do next. I think it’s absolutely shameful, they are in the middle of a fiasco no way of their making.’
The late decision follows the Government’s botched handling of its A-level results fiasco and comes after Labour and education unions call for Downing Street to explain why BTEC students had been left out of Monday’s grading U-turn.
It is likely to spark fears that delays in the publication of BTEC results could risk pupils taking the vocational qualification being ‘squeezed out’ of higher education.
In a letter to schools, Cindy Rampersaud, Pearson’s senior VP, said: ‘We appreciate this will cause additional uncertainty for students and we are sorry about this.
‘Our priority is to ensure fair outcomes for BTEC students in relation to A levels and GCSEs and that no BTEC student is disadvantaged.’
Pearson apologised for the ‘additional uncertainty for students’ the move will cause, with a spokeswoman saying: ‘Following Ofqual’s announcement that A-level and GCSE students are to receive centre-assessed grades, we will be applying the same principles for students receiving BTEC results this summer.
‘We will be regrading BTECs to address concerns about unfairness in relation to A-levels and GCSEs and ensure no BTEC student is disadvantaged.’
She added: ‘We know this could cause additional uncertainty for students and we are sorry about this. Our priority is to ensure fair outcomes for BTEC students and we will work around the clock to provide revised grades as soon as we can.’
Kate Green, Labour’s shadow education secretary, said: ‘This latest chaos is totally unacceptable. For some young people to find out less than a day in advance that they will not be receiving their grades tomorrow is utterly disgraceful.
‘It’s appalling that thousands of young people should face further confusion and uncertainty because of the Government’s incompetence.
‘This repeated chaos is simply no way to run a country. The Government must urgently set a clear deadline for every young person to receive their grades.’
Liberal Democrat education spokesperson Layla Moran said: ‘This is yet another shambles from the Government.
‘It seems the Conservatives, bumbling from one crisis to the next, simply forgot about a half a million students awaiting their BTEC grades, and had to pull the results at the last minute. Meanwhile, the Education Secretary is still in his job and the Prime Minister is still on holiday.
Gavin Williamson is ‘on his last life’ after his exams fiasco and will be sacked if schools reopening is botched, Cabinet colleagues claim
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson
Gavin Williamson is ‘on his last life’ after his humiliating exams fiasco and will be sacked if Boris Johnson’s schools reopening is botched, ministers claimed on Wednesday.
The under-fire Education Secretary has defied calls to resign from MPs across the board following his disastrously mishandled A-level grading debacle.
Cabinet colleagues now believe that Mr Williamson, who is desperately trying to cling to his job, cannot survive another mishap if he also bungles the PM’s promise to reopen schools in England in time for the new term in September.
‘This summer has been a disaster for the Government, it has left students panicking about their future and colleges in turmoil. Williamson must resign and Boris Johnson must return to deal with this crisis.’
Yesterday exams regulator Ofqual said its algorithm used in A-levels and GCSEs was not used for the majority of vocational and technical qualifications (VTQ) – including BTECs.
But in a statement tonight, England’s exams watchdog said some exam boards, including OCR and Pearson, will ‘need more time’ to recalculate results.
It said: ‘OCR have said that their Cambridge National results will issue next week.
‘Pearson, which initially did not think there would need to be significant changes made, has now decided to revise its arrangements to ensure that students’ qualification-level results better reflect the unit-level results that students have already secured through internally assessed units.’
Ofqual added: ‘Everyone is working as quickly as possible to confirm results as soon as possible, recognising the impact that delays are having on schools, colleges and students. No learner’s result will go down as a consequence of regrading.’
Yesterday, Mr Hughes said: ‘The timing is worrying, because thousands of students were due to get their results in the morning and others have already got results which we know will not go down, but which might improve.
‘So it is vital for students that this is sorted in days rather than weeks so that students have the chance to celebrate and to plan their next steps. It is a stressful time and this delay will extend the uncertainties.’
He added: ‘Those students wanting to move onto further or higher education will be most worried about losing out on places.
‘We are in close communication with DfE, Ofqual and Pearson to particularly make sure that BTEC students applying for universities can still be treated fairly.’
Leora Cruddas, chief executive of the Confederation of School Trusts, said: ‘This late notification will cause very significant challenges for schools, trusts and colleges.
‘It simply is unacceptable that some of the most disadvantaged students will not receive their grades tomorrow and that nothing has been done to correct this over the past few days.’
Dr Greg Walker, chief executive at the MillionPlus group of universities said: ‘We must ensure that other learners and applicants are not forgotten.
‘These include BTEC and other applied generals students whose grades may now be delayed for a significant period to rightly ensure they will be on a par with A-level candidates.
‘Both the Government and universities should ensure that these applicants don’t get squeezed out in these unprecedented circumstances.’
The National Union of Students (NUS) and the University and College Union (UCU) have also voiced concerns.
A spokesman for the Department for Education said: ‘Our priority is to ensure all students are treated fairly, including those who received vocational and technical results last week, such as BTECs and Cambridge Technicals.
‘These subjects are rightly assessed differently to A-levels, and the overwhelming majority of results are in line with centre assessment grades.
‘A minority of vocational and technical qualifications used a statistical model similar to the one Ofqual used for A-levels and GCSEs, and Ofqual has asked these awarding organisations to review their approaches to make sure no student is disadvantaged.’