Students are still waiting to receive their Btec results, almost a week on from their scheduled publication on 18 August.
The issue has impacted an unknown number of students whose work had been submitted to Pearson, the UK’s largest awarding body.
“We are very sorry that some of you are still waiting for your Btec National results,” it said in a statement yesterday (22 August).
“We awarded hundreds more results over the weekend and will continue to work around the clock with schools and colleges to obtain and validate any outstanding information.”
Insisting that only a “very small percentage” of its Btec students were affected, the company was nonetheless unable to confirm when the wait for results would end, saying only: “We will continue to issue results during the days ahead as new information becomes available to us.”
In the meantime, students remain in limbo, with their university places thrown into doubt.
Another exam board, OCR, has also had delays issuing Cambridge Technicals results to some students.
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Ucas, the university and college admissions service, is advising that anyone still waiting for their results should contact their university of choice directly and ask them to hold their place.
Meanwhile, Ofqual, the exam regulator, said yesterday that it had “every sympathy” with the students.
“We continue to liaise, on a daily basis, with school and college associations and met this afternoon with college leaders,” it added. “We have also engaged with the representatives of exams officers.
“Our first priority is those students expecting results this year, but it is important that we review what has happened to make sure that students in future years receive results when they expect them.”
NUS vice-president further education, Bernie Savage, was scathing in her assessment of the students’ predicament.
“It’s absolutely unacceptable that these students have been let down like this, and could miss out on a place at college or university through no fault of their own,” she said.
“All stakeholders, including exam boards, Ofqual and education providers, need to act now to ensure these students get their results as soon as possible, and that they can still pursue their preferred option if they get the required grades.”
Toby Perkins, Labour’s shadow skills minister, said that the government “need to get a grip of this fast, and the exam boards need to be honest and open about what is going on. Young people are being failed and the government is in hiding.”
