Thousands of students may not receive their results this week as an exam board continues to deal with delays to the issuing of grades.
Students across the country are set to receive their GCSE and BTEC results on Thursday.
But about 7,000 BTEC (Business and Technology Education Council) students are “currently ineligible” to receive their results, according to exam board Pearson.
The situation has been described as “unacceptable” and “absolutely appalling” amid calls for the government to take action.
Pearson has already been forced to tell some students it is “very sorry” they are still waiting for their results, leaving them unable to confirm university places.
Sarah Hannafin, senior policy adviser for school leaders’ union NAHT, said exam boards “have a responsibility to ensure that results are issued on time” with the “next steps” for students depending on their grades.
She added: “It is an unacceptable situation for potentially 7,000 students to be without their BTEC results this week.
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“This will cause unnecessary anxiety and stress as young people seek to confirm their places with sixth forms, colleges and training providers.”
Labour’s shadow education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, called for the government to deal with the “absolutely unacceptable chaos” around results.
She said: “It’s appalling that students are still waiting on results from last week, and now we’re told some young people won’t get their grades tomorrow.
“Instead of getting a grip on the situation we’ve had virtual silence from the education secretary.
“Our zombie government is content to sit by as our kids’ futures are threatened. We need to know what ministers are doing to resolve this right now.”
‘We have a dedicated team in place’
It follows almost a week-long delay for other BTEC students, who were not issued their results as planned last Thursday when A-levels were published.
A spokesperson for Pearson said: “Today we sent 235,000 BTEC Firsts, Technicals and Tech Awards grades to schools and colleges to be shared with students tomorrow.
“As of 9am today, there are 7,000 students that are currently ineligible to receive their grade as they do not meet the qualification criteria at this time.
“We have a dedicated team in place to work with schools and colleges to obtain and validate any outstanding information.”
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Pearson said changes this year, made to take into account disruption to teaching and learning during the COVID pandemic, had “added more complexity to the process” and that without full information they are unable to award students their results.
The organisation added that not all of the 7,000 students would necessarily be expecting a grade on Thursday due to not having completed all the modules.
In relation to last week’s delays, Pearson said that as of Tuesday, there were about 1,100 outstanding claims for BTEC Level 3 qualification results required for students’ UCAS applications.
Parents and students have been advised to speak to their school or college if they do not get a result on Thursday, or contact Pearson on 0345 618 0440.
