URGENT - if your DC are awaiting BTEC Tech results on Thursday please read

[cricketballs3]

Just to let you know that Pearson have made a very sudden change to the points calculations for the final grade awarded to the BTEC Tech L1/2 that are being certified Thursday.

This means that the previous points calculator that was published (and Pearson promised to not change for current cohorts) and all teachers/students worked to has suddenly changed. Your DC may have not undertaken the resit in June as they and their teacher had calculated that they had achieved their target grade and will now face a lower grade. This link show the letter that students are being given on Thursday.

There is a petition that is quickly gathering pace link is here that I implore all of you to sign as this affects thousands of students across the country

I agree that if it had been GCSE, there'd have been more of a fuss. But I also remember the English Controlled Assessment change mid year (was it 2012??) and that went ahead anyway.

Absolutely awful news for lots of students and schools. I agree that if this was a GCSE qualification there would be outrage. Btecs are seen as an easy route compared to GCSE because they still include coursework.

Fallenmadonna you are right re P8 too. Schools that offer btecs are usually schools with a more fragile P8 figure due to their intake. This will unfairly impact on schools in more deprived areas.

UPDATE:
This grovelling article apologising for teachers thinking that the grade boundaries wouldn’t change (because Edexcel said they wouldn’t) appears to contain the information that some students who sat the exam in February and were statistically likely to have improved their grade by resitting in June will be issued with the higher grade. That’s not all students who sat in Feb, just some of them.

schoolsweek.co.uk/pearson-we-apologise-for-not-being-clear-on-btec-changes-but-its-the-right-call/

"We should have been clearer"
By not stating something that wasn't true in fact.

It just seems there is the Boards don’t feel accountable or responsible for the impact of their ‘logical’ decisions on real students. Where is the government in all this? Where is the attention and investment that should be spent on giving children a fair chance at success? They’ll probably wake up to it when their own children are affected, but until then we’re just creating a growing sense of injustice among children who have done what was asked of them only to see the goalposts move. And they wonder why the younger generation dont vote Tory!

I don’t teach them any more but I had a year 10 Performing Arts Group last year and this will have had an impact. The biggest kick in the teeth is those who might have got merits in the coursework units and a low merit in the external unit but come out with a Pass overall. How is that fair? That’s like getting 6s in everything but an overall 4.

I don’t disagree with the idea that they need to be wary of too many kids getting D grades. I’ve taught BTEC at Level 2 and Level 3 for years and it used to be that anyone could get a Distinction. Things do* need to change but not like this.

Ive only just caught up with this today having seen the spreadsheet with my amended results on. I could have cried.
I have no D*s awarded now and a good chunk that thought they were getting a distinction, now only getting merit...

I agree with pp comments about tightening things up but this is an horrendous way to do it. My girls will be gutted. I have about 4 who will remain on the grade i calculated for them. (Using the bloody btec calculator)

The way Pearson have conducted the changes on this course have been ridiculous. Trying to change the exam, providing no exemplar material, being unable to explain how to get into higher banding on the exam.
And now this...
My kids worked so hard, as did I despite teaching the new exam esentially from scratch with nothing to support and they did so well, now its been changed just like that...