Ofqual has issued a short consultation on assessment opportunities for vocational and technical qualifications (VTQs) in autumn 2021

Following previous consultations, Ofqual has decided that a very similar approach to autumn 2020 should be adopted for VTQs in autumn 2021. The current consultation covers the regulatory arrangements to enable that policy decision to take effect.

The approach for autumn 2021 requires awarding organisations (AOs):

• who normally provide assessment opportunities between September and January of an academic year, to make those assessments available to learners who were eligible to receive a result through a teacher assessed grade as well as those who would ordinarily take an assessment at that time
• who do not normally provide assessment opportunities between September and January to provide those opportunities where it reasonably considers there is sufficient demand and would be manageable to both the AO and centres.

Some changes have been proposed to the drafting used for last year to reflect the context of 2021. These include permitting AOs to make adaptations to assessments offered in the autumn and to revert to the arrangements for appeals that have been disapplied in the summer 2021 regulatory conditions.

The consultation proposals will allow AOs to make appropriate decisions on qualification design and approach to enable learners to improve on their summer 2021 result where it is based on a teacher assessed grade.