First T Level students to receive one-off grading adjustment

The first T Level students will receive a one-off grading adjustment in tomorrow’s results to reflect the impact of Covid.

Awarding organisations have been asked to be “generous” in their awards to the 1,000-odd T Level learners – like the approach being taken for A-levels in the first year that exams have been sat since the pandemic.

T Level students will receive an overall Pass, Merit, Distinction or Distinction*, which is derived from the grades they achieved on the core and the occupational specialism components – those assessed by exams – of the qualification.

A student must also complete the mandatory 45-day industry placement to achieve their T Level – although this requirement has been watered down and allowed to be partially completed virtually to reflect Covid related barriers faced by employers.

The Department for Education told FE Week that senior examiners reviewed the quality of student work for the occupational specialism and the core over a range of marks, before recommending grade boundaries based on all of the available evidence. Awarding organisations were then responsible for setting grade boundaries, overseen by Ofqual.

Grade boundaries will not be released until results are published tomorrow morning.

The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education, which is responsible for the technical qualification element of T Levels, said it agreed with exams regulator Ofqual to “take into account the impact of the pandemic before awarding took place – not in response to having seen any grades”.

“This was to keep T Levels in line with the approach taken by DfE for A Levels. The aim was to help ensure that T Level students were not disadvantaged,” a spokesperson added.

T Levels are the government’s flagship new post-16 qualifications, designed to be the technical equivalent of A-levels.

Tomorrow’s results will be for the first wave of T Level subjects, started in September 2020: education and childcare awarded by NCFE; design, surveying and planning for construction; and digital production, design and development awarded by Pearson.

The DfE previously said that around 1,300 students began the qualifications two years ago, but this week said that only around 1,000 will receive their results tomorrow.

It is unclear what level of detail will be published.

Students who have met all of the requirements of their T Level will receive a certificate with their overall grade and component grades. But students who have not met all of the requirements will receive a “statement of achievement” listing the components and grades they have achieved. It will not include an overall grade but the government said it will still have “value to employers, higher education providers and others”.

T Level results will be published alongside A-level and other vocational and technical qualification results tomorrow morning at 9.30am.