BTEC | Schools Week

The impact of vocational education at KS4 and beyond

Everyone reading this article of Schools Week shares a common purpose: we all want to create the brightest possible picture of learner success. One of the many ways we can achieve this is through the powerful impact of vocational education, offering learners a diverse range of opportunities to reach their full potential. Engaging our young […]

Perseverance and dedication of The Bourne Academy staff and learners are recognised at the BTEC Awards

Bournemouth’s Bourne Academy were the worthy winners last June as they were awarded the prestigious BTEC Award for School of the Year 2021. With specialisms in Engineering & Design, the school encouraged creativity across all aspects of learning – and the pandemic didn’t stop that creativity from flourishing. This dedicated teaching team and learners streamed six lockdown concerts as well as a two-hour Performing […]

2022 exams: Labour wants ‘standardised’ teacher grades as plan B

Labour has called for a “standardised” version of teacher-assessed grades as a plan B in case Covid forces another year of cancelled exams. If exams go ahead, the opposition is calling for grades to be pinned at 2020 levels, despite concerns over “baking in” grade inflation. But, setting out its own proposals for GCSE, BTEC […]

Speed read: Think tank calls for new ‘baccalaureate’ to replace A-levels

A three-year ‘baccalaureate’ should be introduced to replace A-levels, BTECs, T-Levels and apprenticeships, a think tank has said. A new report from EDSK, released today, claims the dominance of A-levels has had a detrimental impact on the prestige of other options, while limiting the breadth of curriculum. It is the second instalment in a two-part […]

Schools cry foul over missing BTEC results

Schools and colleges across England are still awaiting the results of some vocational qualifications, despite a promise from government that all grades would be issued by today. Some pupils have been told they may have to wait until next week to receive grades for BTECs and other vocational qualifications. The Department for Education and Pearson, […]

Study suggests BTECs are scored too generously

Pupils studying BTEC qualifications score on average the equivalent of a grade higher than they do in GCSE English and maths, a new analysis has found. The study, by Education Datalab, analysed the average progress 8 points scores of pupils across both GCSE and technical qualifications compared to their English and maths scores. It found […]