Guidance

Action Plan: Vocational and Technical Qualification results 2023

Updated 31 January 2023

Applies to England

Everyone wants students to get their results when they expect to. Following the issues with vocational and technical qualification (VTQ) results delivery in 2022 Ofqual, the regulator, is setting out the following actions to support the safe and timely delivery of awarding organisations’ (AOs’) results.

A new results deadline, by which point all eligible candidate results will be issued to schools and colleges

Ofqual will introduce a new results deadline by which awarding organisations must issue results, for qualifications that are used for progression to further or higher education, to schools and colleges and other centre types for eligible students. Awarding organisations would be permitted to issue results in advance of this deadline, so that the flexibilities which are a valued aspect of VTQs are not undermined.

Ofqual currently requires awarding organisations to decide and publish any dates or timescales for the issue of their results. Awarding organisations publish on their websites information on when results will be available. They must take all reasonable steps to meet those dates or timescales.

Ofqual will consult on the timing and further details of the results deadline in the new year. To enable the delivery of this deadline, we also plan to introduce the following requirements.

AOs to introduce term-time certification checks with schools and colleges

Awarding organisations need to have better visibility of which students are taking their assessments, when they are taking them and when they are intending to complete. On this basis we plan to require awarding organisations to introduce a series of checkpoints, throughout the year, so that they, and schools, colleges and other centre types, can be sure that they have a common understanding of each student’s intention and can track that they are making sufficient progress to achieve a result. We have heard from centre staff how important it is that this process is undertaken during term-time so that exams officers have access to the students, academic staff and evidence they need.

Data sharing between AOs and UCAS to enable better tracking

It is important that the data used to support the delivery of results is consistent, current and of high quality. Additionally, the way in which awarding organisation and centre data is used by UCAS to support the higher education application process has a direct impact on students on results day.

Not all students who apply to UCAS take up their places and not all students complete their qualifications. Awarding organisations must work more closely with UCAS to reconcile data about students using qualifications for admission to higher education to track the results needed for progression.

VTQ information hub

Schools, colleges and other centre types typically work with a wide range of awarding organisations. For VTQs, the differences between qualifications (for example in terms of structure and purpose) offered by AOs means that there is relatively little alignment in processes and systems between AOs. As a result, schools and colleges and other centre types need to keep track of a wide range of deadlines and requirements, as well as interact with a range of different portals and software systems, which can be very challenging. Ofqual recognises that the different arrangements put in place by individual awarding organisations can mean that schools and colleges must deal with a number of different deadlines and information requests.

Ofqual will launch and host a new VTQ information hub that brings together all the key information in to one central location. Awarding organisations will provide information so we can collate their individual timescales, deadlines and arrangements. We will require awarding organisations to keep this information up to date.

New training and better support for exams office staff and exams officers

School, college and other centre types’ exams offices and exams officers play a vital role in the successful delivery of exams, formal assessments and results.

We expect awarding organisations to provide the necessary training to support exams officers in their role, to improve their ability to manage the administration of VTQ assessments and understand specific awarding organisations’ processes. They should provide materials and qualification-specific training to support subject teachers to understand how their qualifications are structured and what information is required to support results delivery.

Ofqual will update and add to our resources for exams officers. Over the next year, Ofqual will work with the National Association of Examinations Officers and the wider sector to promote and support the role of the exams officer.

2023 VTQ results taskforce

One of the arrangements that worked well during the pandemic was a frequent meeting of key stakeholders to share and act on intelligence and information. We propose to build on such arrangements and to convene a taskforce of senior leaders from key organisations to actively monitor the safe delivery of results, for England, in 2023. It will meet throughout the year and ensure the new arrangements as summarised here are implemented and effective.

The taskforce will be chaired by the Chief Regulator and include senior leaders from:

• Association of Colleges (Catherine Sezen, Interim Director of Education Policy)
• Association of School and College Leaders (Dr Anne Murdoch, Senior Adviser, College Leadership)
• Confederation of School Trusts (Steve Rollett, Deputy Chief Executive)
• Department for Education (Directors, Qualifications) (Observers)
• Federation of Awarding Bodies (Tom Bewick, CEO)
• Joint Council for Qualifications (Ian Morgan, Chairman)
• NAHT (Sarah Hannafin, Senior Policy Advisor)
• National Association of Examinations Officers (Jugjit Chima, CEO)
• OCR (Jill Duffy, CEO)
• Office for Students (John Blake, Director for Fair Access and Participation)
• Pearson (Freya Thomas-Monk, SVP Vocational Qualifications & Training)
• Sixth Form Colleges Association (Bill Watkin, Chief Executive)
• UCAS (Clare Marchant, Chief Executive)

High quality communications

Ofqual will bring awarding organisations together so they can explore ways in which they can streamline their communications and introduce consistent ways of targeting and signalling which communications are urgent or which are general updates.

While awarding organisations are already required to ensure that schools and colleges are clear about the information they must provide to ensure that results can be processed and schools, colleges and other centre types must provide it according to the AO’s clear timescales, there are steps awarding organisations need to take to improve the quality, content, timing and targeting of their communications with centres.

A senior designated contact in schools and colleges responsible for exam delivery

The timing of the issue of results means that staff need to be available outside of term time. Awarding organisations need to have contact details for a senior leader in the school who has the authority to access information and progress decisions swiftly. We propose to require awarding organisations to collect, and to keep up to date, contact details for that individual from every school and college and other centre types, so that, should escalation be necessary, it can be done efficiently and effectively.

Consultation

Ofqual recognises that a number of these actions will have implications for schools, colleges and other centre types, and awarding organisations. We will consult, therefore, on the detail of these actions in the new year. Following initial engagement with the new taskforce, Ofqual will seek the views of the sector on:

• the scope and timing of the new results deadline and associated checkpoints, including whether this should be limited to level 3 qualifications for 2023 or rolled out to other qualifications
• whether or not those results should be issued under embargo
• how and when awarding organisations should provide and update the information on the new VTQ information hub
• guidance on how awarding organisations could strengthen their support for, and arrangements with, schools, colleges and other centre types