Thousands more BTec students hit by delays as exam board apologises

Pearson said some 5,700 students registered for the qualification were currently ineligible to receive their grade

More students have faced delays in receiving their BTec results (Fiona Hanson/PA) (PA Archive)

An exam board has apologised to students after thousands were deemed ineligible to be awarded grades on Thursday, a week after other pupils faced delays in getting results from the same awarding body.

Pearson said some 5,700 students were awaiting BTec (Business and Technology Education Council) results on Thursday, on the day hundreds of thousands of pupils were receiving their GCSE grades.

The awarding organisation has previously said changes this year, made in order to take into account disruption to teaching and learning during the pandemic, had “added more complexity to the process” and that without full information it is unable to award students their results.

It confirmed on Wednesday there would likely be delays to thousands of results.

In an update on Thursday, a spokesperson for Pearson said: “Today, around 240,000 students received their results for BTEC Firsts, Technicals and Tech Award qualifications.

“In the last 24 hours, we have issued an additional 5,420 results, which were sent overnight to schools and colleges to be shared with students today. We also received thousands of new claims for student grades from schools and colleges.

“As of 10pm yesterday, there are 5,700 students registered for the qualification who are currently ineligible to receive their grade – meaning we need to work with schools and college to resolve queries, run eligibility checks and confirm if the student still wishes to claim a grade.

“We apologise to any student waiting for a result. We have a dedicated team in place whose focus is to provide any results as quickly as possible to eligible students. As always, we are grateful to the partnership of schools and colleges who are tirelessly supporting us in this work.”

A headteachers’ union said it was “dismayed” to learn of the latest delay.

It is imperative that this situation is resolved swiftly and that this does not happen again

Geoff Barton, ASCL

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said: “This is the last thing these young people need after so much disruption over the past two years.

“It is imperative that this situation is resolved swiftly and that this does not happen again.

“We are pleased that Ofqual has committed to reviewing what has gone wrong. It is clear that lessons must be learned.”

Pearson said the BTec results are entirely separate to GCSE results awarding.

BTecs are described as career–focused qualifications with a focus on skills-based learning.

They are modular qualifications and can be completed in up to five years.

The organisation said the majority – around 60% – are internal modules, assessed by their college or school, while the other 40% are external assessments which Pearson marks and awards a unit grade.

The latest update follows a week-long delay for some other students, who were not issued their BTEC National Level 3 results as planned last week on the day A-levels were published.