BTEC results chaos as half a million students have grades delayed

20 August 2020, 08:34 | Updated: 20 August 2020, 08:35

The BTEC exam board Pearson pulled the results at the last minute, telling schools and colleges they need more time to calculate grades.

Schools and colleges in England were told not to distribute BTEC results today, after the exam board did a last minute u-turn on grades.

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Last night, less than 24 hours before the results were due to be released, exam board Pearson has said it needs more time to calculate grades - and schools and colleges were told to hold off on releasing them.

GCSE and A-Level grades were altered this week to reflect teachers' predictions, instead of the controversial 'downgrades', but the same was not applied to BTEC.

However, Pearson said last night that the new rule will be applied to BTEC, and that it will need more time to calculate the grades.

Schools minister Nick Gibb today told Sky News that the results may not be available until next week, saying: "They’re reviewing all the grades and they’ll be reissuing them hopefully next week.

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"As soon as possible is what the exam board has said, and I anticipate that will be next week."

Association of Colleges Chief Executive David 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.

"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."

A spokeswoman for Pearson said, according to the Mirror: "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."

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