Hi I'm Colin Leath and I am the subject advisor for Economics Business and Enterprise.
I am going to talk to you today about the transition from the QCF BTEC Nationals in
Business to the RQF BTEC Nationals in Business.
What are the key differences? There are four key differences, the first
is that unlike the QCF the RQF has different sized units. There are 60, 90 and 120 glh
units. The optional units are all 60 glh and the mandatory are a mixture of 90 and 120.
Another difference is that there is compensation because not all the units have to be passed.
The internally assessed units are set out slightly differently with learning aims rather
than learning outcomes and of course there is externally assessed units which werenít
in the QCF BTEC Nationals and these have a near pass grade which is a new type of grade.
What is the structure? This slide shows the structure of the extended
diploma. Please note that there are now more mandatory and fewer optional units than there
were in the QCF BTEC Nationals. There is also another difference, youíll see that the mandatory
units have to be both completed and achieved whereas the optional units just have to be
completed. This allows for compensation. Iíd like you also to take a look at the units
at the end units 28 and 35 all these have been written with professional bodies like
the charter institute of Marketing for example. And these units will help learners progress
into professional qualifications should they wish.
What about the internally assessed units? The first thing youíll notice about the internally
assessed units is that they are set out in learning aims rather than learning outcomes.
These learning aims grouped together pass merit and distinction criteria often sharing
a distinction criteria between two learning aims. This means that they have to be assessed
together. It is no longer acceptable to use a task per criteria approach. There is also
another section after the assessment criteria grid called essential information. In this
section youíll find statements relating to the distinction, the merit and the pass grades
and the type of evidence which standards verifiers will be looking for.
What about the three types of assessment? There are three types of assessment on the
new RQF BTEC Nationals. The first internal assessment is very similar to the type of
assessment you are use to on the QCF BTEC Nationals, youíll be using assignment briefs
and the work the students produce will be internally verified and made available for
standards verification as before.
Grading? The grading is slightly more complicated than
with the QCF BTEC Nationals partly because the units have different sizes. Each unit
carries grade points and those grade points added together to make a total grade at the
end. However, the grade points reflect the different waitingís of the units. A second
difference is the way in which the grade points are set out for the internal and the externally
assessed units. For the internal units each grade gets a specific number of points. The
points earned in the external units are slightly different form the internal units rather than
having one point score per grade there is a range of points available. For example,
a student achieving a pass on unit 3 may gain a high pass a middling pass or a low pass
and the grade points would reflect that performance. The external units also have a near pass grade,
you will see this as N in the qualification. This N grade is very important because it
allows students to claim a qualification so long as they can achieve compensatory grade
points form other units. Without this N grade a student would be at risk of failing the
qualification as a whole if they only achieved a U grade in an externally assessed unit.
So the N grade allows the students to pick up grade points and to pick up points in other
units to make sure they achieve the grade threshold.
Where can I find out more? If you are interested in finding out more
about the transition from the QCF to the RQF BTEC Nationals I'll be covering these points
in more depth in an upcoming webinar.