VTQ qualifications in scope for alternative arrangements

• Qualifications where calculated results were made available last year and which are approved for performance tables including Cambridge Nationals and Applied Generals such as Cambridge Technicals.
• Functional Skills and qualifications demonstrating occupational competency.

Key proposals

• Written exams for VTQs that are taken instead of, or alongside, GCSEs and A Levels should not take place in summer 2021 and alternative arrangements will be put in place to award results for these.
• The alternative arrangements will apply to all students expecting to take assessments in 2021.
• Internal assessment should continue remotely, where relevant, for all students where possible.
• Occupational competence assessments (such as CPC) should continue to take place throughout the academic year. They should be delayed where they cannot be delivered safely.
• 'On-demand’ assessments such as Functional Skills should be permitted to proceed. Alternative arrangements should be put in place to issue results for students who cannot take these assessments.

A revised version of the regulatory framework (the Extended ERF) is proposed

• Permitting exam boards to award grades on the basis of incomplete assessment evidence. This applies to where not all internal assessments have been completed as well as where exams did not take place.
• Requiring that for qualifications most similar to GQs, exam boards use similar approaches.
• Exam boards to identify the minimum evidence of knowledge, skills and understanding needed to issue a result. Then to gather additional evidence so a result can be awarded, where the evidence is not enough.

Gathering additional evidence

• Suggested forms of evidence are:
  • a portfolio of student work
  • student achievement of an awarding organisation or centre designed standardised task
  • and, in the case of internal assessment, partially completed units or assessments.

Existing principles of alternative arrangements

• As far as possible an exam boards must ensure that the adaptations it uses help mitigate the impact on teaching, learning or assessments caused by the pandemic.
  • Adaptations must not, as far as possible, advantage or disadvantage students over their peers taking general qualifications
  • Adaptations must ensure the validity and reliability of qualifications is sufficiently maintained.
  • An awarding organisation must seek to maintain standards, as far as possible, within the same qualification in line with previous years, and across similar qualifications made available by other awarding organisations.
  • New principle proposed: awarding organisations must seek to issue results to as many students as possible who are taking that qualification.

Appeals

• For those qualifications most closely aligned to GCSEs and A Levels, we would permit awarding organisations to take similar approaches to appeals.

Private candidates

• Awarding organisations to include private students in their arrangements as far as possible.

Have your say 

The consultations have now closed and we'd like to thank all the teachers and other stakeholders who have given us their views on the consultation proposals and helped to inform our responses. We're expecting to hear the outcome of the consultations in the week beginning 22 February. 

We know you will have lots of unanswered questions about summer 2021 and we're continuing to work closely with the DfE, Ofqual and the other exam boards to give you the clarity you need. 

You can also read the summary of the GCSE, AS and A Level consultation proposals.