This summer, students have received more than 400,000 results for level 2 and level 1/2 vocational and technical qualifications used for progression to further education. These include 360,000 certificates for new Tech Award qualifications.
New Tech Awards have been awarded for the first time this year. Covering subjects such as construction, and health and social care, these qualifications are typically taken alongside GCSEs and support progression to post-16 education. From this year, there are new rules about the design and structure of the qualifications. These changes have been introduced so that students who take vocational and technical qualifications can be confident their results provide a reliable reflection of their abilities and are valuable in progressing their education and career. In many cases, these changes have led to substantial differences in the design and delivery of the qualifications.
These changes include:
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Students must now take their external assessment at the end of their course. This means that awarding organisations can consider the performance of the whole cohort when setting grade boundaries for these assessments, improving their ability to set and maintain standards.
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The external assessments must now be worth at least 40% of the marks available for the qualification.
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Changes to the design of some units. Now, all units are marked and awarding organisations set grade boundaries after students have taken the assessment. Awarding organisations consider the performance of students on the assessment tasks when setting these grade boundaries. In the past, some assessments were not marked and were graded using pre-set criteria.
Many awarding organisations have taken the opportunity to update and refresh the content of these qualifications, and some have chosen to use a different grading scale for their new qualifications. Taken together, these changes represent a substantial change to the design and structure for many Tech Awards, with some qualifications changing more than others.
The number of Tech Awards available has also changed from 76 in 2023 to 48 in 2024, with some qualifications not being replaced and other new qualifications being introduced. The number of students taking individual qualifications has also changed, as centres have decided whether or not to offer the new Tech Awards, and may have decided to offer different qualifications from the new Tech Awards.
The changes to the design and structure of some qualifications, as well as changes to the number of qualifications available, mean it is not meaningful to make comparisons with results from previous years.
Ofqual asked awarding organisations to take into account the fact that students and teachers may be less familiar with the new assessments when setting grade boundaries, and to consider accepting a slightly lower quality of work than they might otherwise do. We have taken this approach with other new qualifications. However, it is crucial that these new qualifications are robust and so expert examiners have judged that the knowledge, skills and understanding students have demonstrated at each grade is appropriate.
More than 12,000 Technical Certificate results from 55 qualifications have also been issued to students. These are level 2 qualifications that cover a range of subjects such as beauty therapy and accounting, taken by post-16 students. They equip students with specialist knowledge and skills, enabling entry to an apprenticeship, employment or progression to a higher level vocational or technical qualification. In some cases, they provide a ‘licence to practise’ or exemption from professional exams.
Ofqual will publish an equalities analysis of GCSEs, A levels and vocational and technical qualifications, setting out the differences in results between students with different protected characteristics, in the autumn. It is not possible for us to complete this analysis ahead of results being issued, because final data is only available very close to results day.
Sir Ian Bauckham, Ofqual Chief Regulator, said:
Assessments are tough tests for students, but they want the opportunity to demonstrate what they know, understand and can do – and they want their final qualification to accurately reflect this.
The system in England has delivered this, and students, employers and educators can be confident in these results.
Results issued by Subject Sector Area for Tech Awards
| Subject Sector Area | Number of grades issues 2023 | Number of grades issued 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| 01 Health, Public Services and Care | 68,550 | 68,700 |
| 03 Agriculture, Horticulture and Animal Care | 2,150 | 1,850 |
| 04 Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies | 27,250 | 27,100 |
| 05 Construction, Planning and the Built Environment | 8,650 | 9,400 |
| 06 Information and Communication Technology | 22,300 | 22,700 |
| 07 Retail and Commercial Enterprise | 27,600 | 35,150 |
| 08 Leisure, Travel and Tourism | 88,650 | 81,700 |
| 09 Arts, Media and Publishing | 87,850 | 72,400 |
| 15 Business, Administration and Law | 45,250 | 41,200 |
Results issued by Subject Sector Area for Technical Certificates
| Subject Sector area | Number of grades issued 2023 | Number of grades issued 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| 01 Health, Public Services and Care | 400 | 550 |
| 03 Agriculture, Horticulture and Animal Care | 3,700 | 3,750 |
| 04 Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies | 450 | 200 |
| 05 Construction, Planning and the Built Environment | 3,500 | 5,350 |
| 06 Information and Communication Technology | 500 | 600 |
| 07 Retail and Commercial Enterprise | 1,700 | 1,500 |
| 08 Leisure, Travel and Tourism | 150 | 200 |
| 09 Arts, Media and Publishing | 50 | 50 |
| 15 Business, Administration and Law | 1,600 | 600 |
We have also published infographics about this year’s Level 3 vocational and technical qualification results.