Technical Award Performing Arts ends after summer 2023 series

Published: Thursday 11 Feb 2021

The last exams for students taking the current qualification will be in the summer 2023 series, which will also be the final resit opportunity.

We appreciate that this may come as a disappointment and want to explain the reasons behind this difficult decision, which was considered very carefully.

Our aim is to ensure that we offer qualifications that meet the current and future needs of most students, and teachers. As an education charity, we also have to ensure we use our resources most effectively.

Following Ofqual’s consultation about Regulating Performance Table Qualifications, we’ve made the difficult decision not to resubmit our Technical Award in Performing Arts (3745). The original plan was for the new qualifications to count towards the 2023 Key Stage 4 performance tables but, due to the coronavirus situation, this was pushed back to 2024.

We introduced our Technical Award in Performing Arts in 2017 to see whether there was an appetite for it amongst students, schools and colleges. Despite all the support we’ve received from some schools and colleges, take-up has been much lower than we’d hoped.

Such low entries suggest we’re not meeting the needs of students and they also make it more challenging for us to support this qualification, as the additional resource needed is disproportionate to the number of students who take it. Sadly, we can’t justify continuing to invest in this standalone qualification.

We’ll, of course, continue to provide you with any support you need for your students to complete this qualification while it’s still available.

If you have any questions, would like further support or to talk about alternative qualifications, please contact us and our teams will be happy to help.

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