Hello, this is a short introduction to the redeveloped
Tech awarding Construction and the Built Environment.
My name is Gabriel Staples.
I'm the Sector Manager for Construction
for Pearson BTEC and Apprenticeships
and I've helped to develop the new Tech Awards.
I'll update you briefly on each component that
makes up the qualification and what changes
have taken place in terms of content and
assessment from the existing tech award.
So in terms of an overview,
the new tech award in construction has
a three component structure. Component
One is 48 guided learning hours worth 40%
of the qualification grade and is
externally assessed by Pearson.
It's a written exam lasting an hour and 20 minutes,
available twice a year in the January,
February, and May June assessment series.
Components two and three are each 36
guided learning hours and worth 30%
to the qualification grade. They're assessed using the
new Pearson Set Assignments marked internally by you,
the teacher, assessor, and moderated by us Pearson.
The PSA is released in January of each year
and assessed in May and June from 2023,
so you'll have plenty of flexibility
within your program to prepare for,
administer and mark the assessments.
Each assessment in the qualification
is marked out of 60 available marks.
In terms of content updates,
construction and the built environment
is a new tech award for 2022 and
it's developed out of our popular BTEC
First suite at the same title.
The qualification will therefore be familiar.
The content will be familiar if you've previously
taught the current BTech first.
Through the development of this tech award,
we've taken the opportunity to make some minor adjustments
to content areas such as sustainability.
We've also removed maths and science
as a separate unit instead,
embedding concepts throughout which
we will believe make it more
engaging for learners and better
encourage learning context.
The changes we've made have been done following
feedback and through consultation with teachers
and should increase clarity and ease of
delivery over the current first award.
Because we know that learners at 14
to 16 value a broad introduction to
the sector and they may not yet know
where they want to specialize
after, we've kept both the design activities
and practical hand skills
for the most common craft trades
in components two and three.
We've streamlined the options to ensure consistent,
high quality application of assessment criteria for
these most common of trades and learners
can still choose between developing their practical
skills in their bricklaying or in a carpentry
context depending on their interests.
A central health and safety understanding and practice
is included in component two to help learners
start to appreciate the importance of health
and safety and carrying out risk assessments,
Designing and the ability to respond with
solutions to a client brief remain
a very important feature of the new
tech award. With this component
Being designated the Synoptic Unit during upon understanding
of material properties and technologies available,
which are implicit in the other components too.
Understanding the industry is now contained
in Component one, the external exam,
as it is fundamental knowledge and understanding
which can be best assessed by this method.
Calculations have been removed, but there's
a greater emphasis on sketching techniques
from the construction drawing techniques
BTEC first unit for example,
and project timescales and environmental
e.g flooding climate.
They are also now includes considerations
under the constraints on design,
heading. Budget constraints now include considerations
such as the size of the building floor,
area analysis and contingency allowances.
We've designed this all to make it easy
as possible for you to transition
from your current delivery of the
first award with confidence.
Or if you're delivering tech awards for the first time,
you'll find the content clear and easy to interpret.
The units increased from 30 hours to 36 to reflect
the change in the qualification structure.
Going down to three units.
Under the new requirements, all assessments
must be marked through
numerical means using a mark scheme in the new mark scheme,
students getting up to 12 marks across
four bands ranging through limited
adequate good and comprehensive
knowledge and understanding.
A consistent set of descriptors to help you understand
which band fits the quality of evidence.
Overall with three marks available in each band
to give you more scope for differentiation.
While the scenario or context may change every year,
each PSA will assess at the same skill,
so that the mark scheme remains consistent,
making it easier for teachers and assessors to
apply and standardise grading year on year.
Components two and three are assessed
through non exam internal
assessment which had been designed to demonstrate
application of the conceptual knowledge and underpinning
the sector through realistic tasks and
activities and in so doing to deepen learning
by connecting knowledge and practice.
Due to the new technical requirements from the DfE,
there are some changes to the assessment
of these components that will be
quite different to what teachers of
the first award have been used to.
Assignments used for summative assessment.
Must now be set by awarding organisation
so the old authorised assessment
briefs have been replaced by Pearson
set assignments or PSA's.
These will be released in January every year.
Component two will be assessed through
a Pearson Set Assignment
comprised of three tasks over 8 supervised hours.
Learners will choose between a carpentry
and bricklaying task.
As I've mentioned, they will follow set brief
for a specific wall construction or a timber
frame product to stated dimensions and in task
one of this component students are required
to show their awareness of hazard and risk they
required to produce a risk assessment and
we include planning and time management and
quality checking as part of their assessment
In task two, students will demonstrate
practical planning and
time management skills to respond to a brief and in task
three students will show understanding of quality checking.
This aims to reflect the wider skills and practices
learners will be expect to display in the workplace.
There is also a small amount of applied maths
in the measuring and setting out activities,
for example. Finally, component three
is also assessed through the PSA,
and this time it's comprised of two
tasks to be completed over 8 hours.
That's two hours for preparation
and six for task completion.
This component is actually designated
to be synoptic in its assessment,
so there's opportunity to apply knowledge
and skills to respond to that
brief from across the qualification
centers will need to assess,
therefore, towards the end of the qualification,
but may choose to teach elements of the
component alongside other other units.
This will depend on the timetabling and
Resourcing requirements. Students will be required
to respond to a design brief using
knowledge and understanding gate throughout
course to present to a client,
alongside sketches of their design. In this unit
Understanding the construction
industry is no longer assessed
here as it was in the first as it moves to component one.
The number of sketched designs is no longer
a criterion to determine grades.
Instead, the emphasis is on quality and their ability
to meet the brief and to mitigate the constraints.
In terms of the externally assessed component
one, the content for this unit has been
largely taken from the first award
Unit 1 construction technology with
which will already be familiar.
It's been updated and added to to reflect the
increased unit size from 30 to 48 hours.
Sustainability now has a whole sub topic devoted to it to
reflect increased methods to achieve sustainability,
EG. Alternative energies and wider range of examples.
A greater emphasis on modular construction and you
inclusion at steel frame construction is included.
And greater detail of content now provided for
the pre construction topic is also there.
Substructure groundworks now includes
consideration of utility services.
There's a new requirement to sketch detail
and annotate different substructures.
And the addition of the understanding the construction
industry topic to this unit,
which was previously covered in
Unit 3 construction and design,
is a new feature. So for the externally assessed component,
this component one it's assessed
by an external exam set marked
by Pearson and completed under supervised conditions.
The assessment availability is January,
February and May, June. The first assessment is January,
February 2024. Although exams must be assessed towards
the end of the course as per DfE requirements,
centers will likely want to start teaching this
underpinning knowledge from the start.
However, as learners will put this knowledge
into practice throughout the
program and apply their learning synoptically
in the design component two,
it's also likely that learners will not have to spend large
amounts of time in revision before the actual exam itself.
We've retained the essence of the BTEC
First unit construction technology.
In this exam, the duration has been increased
over the First from 75 to 90
minutes to reflect the increase in content
and the guided learning hours.
Wider understanding of the industry
is now covered in this unit.
For example, different areas of technology
and the real life application
of these technologies in the UK and around the world.
It covers the understanding of basic scientific
principles of material properties,
technologies, and structural requirements,
but no longer includes the
requirement for associated calculations
as previously required.
For both units, one and two in the First.
So to reiterate, the exam must be
taken termly at the end,
though this was typically the case with BTEC First,
as well as those entered into the June.
For those incidents of the June window.
So in terms of support,
well, first of all, we encourage you to
look through the draft specification.
The Pearson Set Assignments, and a sample assessment material
which are all available on the Pearson website.
And if you have any further questions or preparing
to deliver need further support,
please don't hesitate to get in touch with us.
You can contact the Subject Advisor Evren here by
emailing teaching construction at pearson.com.
You can also attend one of the upcoming Getting
Started events early next year where we'll
be covering the qualification assessments in
more depth and answering further questions.
You can book by visiting the Training from
Pearson page on the Pearson website.
Thank you very much and I hope to see you
in one of our upcoming live events.