Thousands more students face results delays, warns exam board Pearson

Thousands of students could miss out on being issued results on Thursday as an exam board continues to deal with delays to grades being issued last week.

Some 7,000 BTec (Business and Technology Education Council) students are “currently ineligible to receive their grade as they do not meet the qualification criteria at this time”, Pearson said.

Students across the country are awaiting GCSE grades on Thursday, as well as BTec results.

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

The latest update follows almost a week-long delay for other BTec students, who were not issued their results as planned last Thursday when A-levels were published.

A spokesperson for Pearson said on Wednesday: “Today we sent 235,000 BTec Firsts, Technicals and Tech Awards grades to schools and colleges to be shared with students tomorrow.  As of 9am today, there are 7,000 students that are currently ineligible to receive their grade as they do not meet the qualification criteria at this time.

“We have a dedicated team in place to work with schools and colleges to obtain and validate any outstanding information.

“Our focus is on running those eligibility checks and providing any results as quickly as possible to students. As always, we are grateful to the partnership of schools and colleges who are tirelessly supporting us in this work.”

Pearson said that 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 they are unable to award students their results.

The organisation added that not all of the 7,000 students would necessarily be expecting a grade on Thursday due to not having completed all the modules, and stressed the flexibility that is built into the modular courses.

The situation has been described as “unacceptable”, by Sarah Hannafin, senior policy adviser for school leaders’ union NAHT.

She said: “Despite the differences in the arrangements for unit assessments due to the pandemic and the complexity this has created, the exam boards have a responsibility to ensure that results are issued on time for all students, whose next steps may depend on their result.

“It is an unacceptable situation for potentially 7000 students to be without their BTEC results this week. This will cause unnecessary anxiety and stress as young people seek to confirm their places with sixth forms, colleges and training providers. And with no result, how can they celebrate their achievements with family and friends?”

In relation to last week’s delays, Pearson said that as of Tuesday, there were about 1,100 outstanding claims for BTec Level 3 qualification results required for students’ Ucas applications.

Parents and students have been advised to speak to their school or college if they do not get a result on Thursday, or contact Pearson on 0345 618 0440.

Delays have also been experienced by students awaiting Cambridge Technical results, with exam board OCR saying on Wednesday morning that 692 pupils remained affected almost a week on.

Ramandeep Johal, 18, from Rowley Regis in the West Midlands, said he was one of those still waiting confirmation of his overall grade and described the situation as “demoralising”.

The student, who has chosen Birmingham City University as his first choice and the University of Wolverhampton as his second choice to study video games design, told PA: “(It’s) stressful and I’m not quite happy with it either.”

He said he felt it was as if two years of hard work had “gone down the drain basically”, adding: “It’s like saying those two years weren’t worth it at all if the results don’t come out.”

He said both universities have told him that he still has his place and that they would assist him through clearing if he did not meet the grade requirements.