Nearly 3,000 BTEC students risk not getting their final grades next month as their schools and colleges missed the July 5 deadline to submit learner data.
Exam board Pearson said today it had referred 81 schools and colleges to its regulatory team for “potential maladministration” for not providing the information they need to guarantee grades on time on results day, August 17.
A third of the 2,881 students whose results are at risk are in three schools or colleges.
Pearson would not name the schools and colleges involved, citing confidentiality in the maladministration process, but told Schools Week that 38 were schools, 37 were further education colleges, 3 were sixth form colleges and 3 were university technical colleges.
A Pearson spokeperson said: “In order for us to be able to issue final results to students, we asked schools and colleges to provide crucial student data by the deadline of 5 July – to submit a claim for their students wanting to receive a result in August and provide us with the marks for the coursework assessed by their teachers.
Schools referred for ‘potential maladministration’
“To date, 81 schools and colleges, who offer Level 3 BTEC qualifications in England, have not yet provided us with the majority of information we need to complete eligibility checks for 2,881 learner results.
“We have therefore taken the difficult decision to refer them to our regulatory team for potential maladministration.”
Pearson issued centres with a series of deadlines for data this year, alongside other vocational and technical qualification awarding organisations, following investigations by exams regulator Ofqual into results delays affecting tens of thousands of students last summer.
Sanctions for maladministration can be severe. They range from mandatory action plans and training to removal of centre approval.
Schools and colleges can come out of maladministration proceedings if issues are resolved quickly, Pearson said.
The July 5 deadline was in place so Pearson had teacher assessed coursework marks, which make up around 60 per cent of final grades, in good time. Students with missing data are classed as “ineligible” so risk not receiving their final grades.
“We are highlighting this now, well ahead of results day, as there is still time to resolve the situation,” Pearson said.
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