BTec students begin receiving revised grades - BBC News
Students awaiting grades for university entry are the first to learn their results.
BTec students are beginning to receive their revised grades after the results were delayed by exam board, Pearson.

The results have been reassessed in line with A-level and GCSE grades which rose after a government U-turn.

Pearson said students who needed their grades for university entry were being prioritised but all results would be available by Friday.

BTec teacher Jenny Cameron said her students were finally receiving results they should have had two weeks ago.

Ms Cameron, who teaches BTec performing arts in Cheltenham, told the Press Association almost all her students' original results had been two grades lower than they should have been.

"They are overjoyed today and got the results they should have had two weeks ago... because Pearson actually looked at them as individuals and not data."

She said the delay had put them in a difficult position as they waited to discover whether they could go to university or drama school.

"The students have been treated really shoddily.

"It's been two weeks of unnecessary stress and worry."

Pearson has apologised for the frustration and additional uncertainty caused by the delay and promised that no grades would go down as a result of the review.

About 450,000 students were affected when Pearson pulled some of its BTec results on the eve of releasing them.

It followed the government's last-minute U-turn on A-levels and GCSEs, which saw students awarded the exact grades that had been estimated by their teachers rather than having them adjusted by an algorithm.

That had been put in place to counter the effect of any teachers or schools inflating their grades but there was an outcry over how many A-level results ended up being downgraded, in some cases by more than one grade.

Pearson initially said that because BTec students do far more graded assessments throughout the year, their predicted grades were more similar to previous years.

However, it later decided to withdraw grades to ensure that no students had been downgraded, which might unfairly disadvantage them against A-level and GCSE students.

BTecs are vocational qualifications in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, which provide work-based skills across areas including business, healthcare and engineering.

They are assessed over the course of the qualification through exams, practical coursework and, in many cases, workplace-based placements.

Around 200,000 BTec Firsts, which are equivalent to one or more GCSEs, were due to be awarded on Thursday last week - the same day as GCSE results.

Some 250,000 BTec Nationals, which are studied over one or two years and are similar to A-levels, were awarded the week before - but have also been part of the grade reassessment.