April 12, 2021

BPEC Centre Guidance documents released – Approach to assessment and awarding vocational and technical qualifications (VTQs) in 2021

BPEC recognises that there has been disruption to teaching and learning throughout the 2020/21 academic year and therefore supports the arrangements put in place by the Qualification Regulators to outline alternative approaches to assessment and the awarding of qualifications. Despite this, it is important that results released for learners during this academic year are valid and reliable to maintain qualification standards, as well as ensuring that results are determined in a way which does not provide an advantage or a disadvantage to any one learner over another.

It is important to note that the starting point for all centres should be to plan, deliver and assess qualifications in line with usual BPEC and qualification requirements, ensuring that government guidelines regarding COVID-19 prevention are adhered to at all times. Only where it is not safe or practicable to do so should centres consider the mitigations put in place by BPEC. Depending on the qualification, mitigation may include adaptation to assessment, delaying assessment until safe to do so, or the awarding of qualification by Teacher Assessed Grade (TAG).

Following the release of Ofquals VTQ Contingency Regulatory Framework (VCRF) BPEC have been working with stakeholders to identify ways in which we can make assessments and qualifications more manageable and flexible, and free up teaching time whilst at the same time maintaining the validity and reliability of qualifications to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on learners. The VCRF permits Awarding Organisations to make adaptions, where appropriate and necessary, to their assessments and qualifications to assist mitigating the impact of the pandemic on teaching, learning and assessment for learners taking vocational and technical qualifications.

Centres can get access to the latest documentation through BPEC’s Secure File Transfer Portal (SFTP) under the following folders:

  • Adaption Centre Guidance 2021
  • Teacher Assessed Grades 2021

Centres must ensure that all relevant staff are familiar with these documents. These may be updated throughout this period so centres must ensure they are using the latest versions when applying adaption and/or teacher assessed grades.