Vocational and Technical exams in January 2021

Published: Thursday 7 Jan 2021

The Department for Education (DfE) confirmed on Monday 4 January 2021 that schools and colleges can continue with the January series exams where they judge it right to do so. This means it is up to each Head of Centre to make the decision, with public health being the most important factor.

If schools or colleges decide to go ahead with the January exams

If a school or college plans to run the January exams, and any learners need to self-isolate, they should be marked as ‘self-isolating’ on the attendance list.

We’re waiting for advice on what special consideration might apply in this situation and we recommend that schools and colleges do NOT withdraw the learner, as this would then mean they couldn’t be considered for special consideration. We’ll publish more information as soon as we know more on these next steps.

If schools or colleges decide NOT to go ahead with the January exams

This means learners will NOT receive a unit result for the exam they were due to take. Schools and colleges will need to re-enter them for the unit in the next available series.

We’re waiting for guidance from the DfE and Ofqual about the June 2021 series, and we’ll publish further information as soon as we can. In the meantime we’ve been told that arrangements will be put in place to make sure these learners aren’t disadvantaged.

See all updates