Author: Liam Morton

On 9^th April, the UK Government set out how it expects vocational and technical qualifications (VTQs) to be assessed and awarded during the current pandemic, when schools and colleges have been closed to help prevent the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19).

Ofqual asked for awarding organisations to compile a list of qualifications they offer that fall into one of those categories and what their mitigation approach would be, i.e. how they plan to support learners and centres with getting final results. These options include:

• Safely estimate or calculate results to issue to students
• Adapt assessments so that they can be taken in different contexts but still safely and validly measuring the same skills, knowledge and understanding
• Delay/reschedule (only used as a last resort).

On 24^th April Ofqual opened a consultation on its Extraordinary Regulatory Framework, which includes qualifications available for public funding that fall into one of three categories:

• Qualifications where the primary use is to progress to FE/HE
• Qualifications where there is a mixed use to progress to FE, HE or employment
• Qualifications where the primary use is to provide a License to Practise/access to a profession or certificate of occupational competency.

Proposal for ESOL Skills for Life centres:

Pending the final list of qualifications in scope, which will be published after the consultation ends on 8^th May, ESB International is proposing to calculate the results for our ESOL Skills for Life learners. After the Government’s position is finalised following the consultation, we will commence to contact centres that had cancelled assessments in March 2020 and commence the process for centres to calculate grades based on published trusted evidence criteria and subject to quality assurance checks by ESB International. Next, ESB International will move to call for bookings and registration of learners for the summer term assessments.

We will send you detailed evidence criteria that may include use of evidence to calculate results such as:

• Banked component marks and grades
  – Class work/homework, Initial assessments and diagnostic assessments

• Internal assessment marks and grades not yet subject to Centre Assessment Standards scrutiny
  – Previous achievement of Skills for Life Awards by the learner, Individual Learning Plans, Formative  assessments

• Information provided by centres in relation to likely performance
  – Predicted grades, Prior attainment data – Mock exam results, Teacher profiles of individual learners

ESB International for quality assurance purposes will use evidence such as:

• Historical centre data

Current Action required of centres

1. Please read the consultation document to understand the extraordinary framework – do please participate in the consultation
2. Commence internal planning for calculated grades for the cancelled March assessments and review the potential sources of trusted evidence that you hold
3. Commence planning for Summer Term cohorts and plan to gather learner registration data in readiness for booking

Once the framework is enacted ESB International will commence communicating with you to implement calculated results for your learners.

Any questions should be sent to product@esbuk.org

Please note that we are running on a skeleton staff due to furloughing and will respond to any queries as quickly as we can.

An Ofqual consultation has commenced relating to the awarding of Vocational and Technical qualifications for spring/summer 2020. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ofqual-consultation-on-awarding-vocational-and-technical-qualifications-in-summer-2020

An Ofqual consultation has commenced relating to the awarding of Vocational and Technical qualifications for spring /summer 2020https://t.co/AeRhrcIZoO

— EnglishSpeakingBoard (@ESBUK) April 24, 2020

We encourage centres to engage with the consultation which closes on the 8th May.

ESB International will aim to communicate our proposals by 1st May for our ESOL Skills for Life qualifications, subject to final confirmation from Ofqual. We will subsequently communicate proposals for other ESB qualifications.

Our proposals will be communicated on our website and notifications sent to centre organisers by email.

Dear colleagues,

I wanted to update you that ESB International is going to cancel all bookings up to 31st May 2020, that are currently in our system. No cancellation fees will be charged. We will open our booking system after the Easter holidays from the 14th April for bookings commencing from the 1st June, in the hope that the centre closure situation may have changed by that time. Again should the centre closure situation remain past 1st June, no cancellation fees will be charged.

We have been contacted by some centres enquiring as to what might be available currently in light of centre closures. We are still waiting for a final position from Ofqual for our vocational sector and will of course communicate with you once that position has been reached.

With best wishes,
Tina Renshaw 
Chief Executive

Dear colleagues,

ESB International has already moved 95% of its activities to home working and so we continue with our work as we can, during these extraordinary times.

We are currently reviewing our assessments scheduled for next term and will place updated messages for centres on our website and contact our wider ESB team directly.

Central to our ethos is connection – do please continue to email customer@esbuk.org with your questions; let us know if you would like resources or support for your learners and continue to check back in to this website next week for our update.

Thank you to all of you who are continuing to support your learners, we respect your hard work and dedication to their development at this time.

Tina Renshaw,
Chief Executive