Guidance

VTQ PTQ Standardisation and awarding dates: guide to the data submission process

Published 29 October 2024

Applies to England

Introduction

In order to fulfil our regulatory and accreditation functions as set out in the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009, we require awarding organisations to provide exams delivery data for regulated qualifications.

What data will be collected?

Standardisation and awarding dates for timetabled assessments (this does not include NEAs) in VTQ level 1/2, level 2 and level 3 performance table qualifications (not including T-levels).   Data should relate only to vocational and technical qualifications (VTQs) that are included in the Department for Education’s performance tables (PTQs) for the academic year being submitted. More specifically, these are: Technical Awards, Applied Generals, Technical Certificates and Technical Levels.

Updates to formats and guidance

This guidance document will be updated regularly. Any changes to procedure will be incorporated into the guidance document.

When will data be collected?

Data will be collected according to the reporting schedule which is agreed and maintained by Ofqual’s data services team.

How to submit your data

Your data should be submitted to us in CSV format. Please refer to the Connecting to Ofqual’s data portal and uploading data document on our web page to help you submit your files to us. If you need to ask us about a data submission please contact the Data Services team. Please do not send your data files via email to Data Services or to any other Ofqual email address, or via Contact the Regulator in the Portal.

File format

The file must be CSV format and the first row must be headers as displayed in the ‘Name’ column of the table below. The subsequent rows must have the values of the data to be reported which must match the format and validation rules below.

Uploaded data

Once files have been successfully uploaded, the data will be validated against a set of validation rules. These are detailed in the sections below. If validation is successful, the data is automatically transferred into our systems and you will receive email confirmation. If the file is unsuccessful at any stage of validation you will receive an email with details of the validation failure. Please correct your file and resubmit it.

Amendments to data

Ofqual staff will not alter data once it has been submitted. If you find an error or omission after you’ve had a successful upload, please notify us by email. We need to reject the existing submission before you can upload a new file.

How your data will be used

This data will be used to undertake our regulatory activities and, where required, to produce Official Statistics to fulfil our responsibility as a government department.

General completion guidelines

• this data collection is for the pre-standardisation, standardisation and awarding dates for the qualifications in scope, as defined above 

• pre-standardisation refers to observable meetings (remote or face to face) that take place between Chief Examiners and Team Leaders to discuss understanding and application of the mark scheme, for example, when marking and standardisation by examiners takes place electronically and is therefore not observable 

• standardisation refers to observable meetings (remote or face to face) where teams leaders discuss application and understanding of the mark scheme with examiners 

• awarding refers to observable meetings (remote or face to face) where grade boundaries are discussed and determined using a variety of evidence 

• if there are no timetabled assessments in particular series, please submit nil return

Column headers must be an exact match.

Name	Description	Position	Validation Regular Expression	Description of Regular Expression / Accepted values
ReportingDate	Date the file was due to be submitted regardless of when it was actually uploaded. This date to be provided by Ofqual. Format accepted 120 ODBC canonical yyyy-mm-dd	A	^(20)\d\d[-](0[1-9]|1[012])[-](0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01])$	The date in the following format: year (4 digits), a dash, month (2 digits), a dash, day (2 digits)
ExamSeries	The series the assessment is taking place in	B	^(Autumn|Winter|Spring|Summer)([ ][0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9])$	Exam series and year. For example, “Winter 2024”, “Spring 2025”, “Summer 2025”, “Autumn 2025”
AwardingOrganisation	Awarding organisation name	C	^.{1,100}$	1 to 100 characters accepted
QualificationNumber	Qualification Number, as recorded in the Register, for example, 123/1234/1	D	^.{1,10}$	1 to 10 characters accepted
QualificationUnitTitle	The AOs title of the individual unit	E	^.{1,255}$	Up to 255 characters
QualificationUnitCode	The AOs code of the individual unit	F	^.{1,25}$	Up to 25 characters
AssessmentType	Internally or externally assessed	G	^(Internal|External)$	Accepted values: * Internal * External
AssessmentMethod	The method used in the assessment	H	^(Written exam|Task-based project|Written exam window)$	Accepted values: * Written exam * Task-based project * Written exam window
Pre-Standardisation	Pre-standardisation refers to observable meetings (remote or face to face) that take place between Chief Examiners and Team Leaders to discuss understanding and application of the mark scheme, for example, when marking and standardisation by examiners takes place electronically and is therefore not observable. Yes (Y) a meeting is taking place. No (N) meeting is not taking place	I	^(Y|N)$	Accepted values: * Y * N
Pre-StandardisationFormat	Pre-Standardisation Format refers to meeting face to face, remote (for example, Teams), hybrid (for example, both in person and remote) or other	J	^(Remote|Face-to-face|Hybrid|Other|-2)$	Accepted values: * Remote * Face to face * Hybrid * Other If this meeting is not taking place then -2 is acceptable
Pre-StandardisationStartDate	Date the first meeting for this unit takes place, for example, 2025-02-18	K	^(20)\d\d[-](0[1-9]|1[012])[-](0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01]|-2)$	The date in the following format: year (4 digits), a dash, month (2 digits), a dash, day (2 digits). If this meeting is not taking place then -2 is acceptable
Pre-StandardisationEndDate	Date for the final meeting for this unit (can be the same as start date), for example. 2025-02-18	L	^(20)\d\d[-](0[1-9]|1[012])[-](0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01]|-2)$	The date in the following format: year (4 digits), a dash, month (2 digits), a dash, day (2 digits). If this meeting is not taking place then -2 is acceptable
Standardisation	Standardisation refers to observable meetings (remote or face to face) where teams leaders discuss application and understanding of the mark scheme with examiners. Yes (Y) a meeting is taking place No (N) meeting is not taking place	M	^(Y|N)$	Accepted values: * Y * N
StandardisationFormat	Standardisation Format refers to meeting face to face, remote (for example, Teams), hybrid (for example, both in person and remote) or other	N	^(Remote|Face-to-face|Hybrid|Other|-2)$	Accepted values: * Remote * Face to face * Hybrid * Other If this meeting is not taking place then -2 is acceptable
StandardisationStartDate	Date the first meeting for this unit takes place, for example, 2025-02-18	O	^(20)\d\d[-](0[1-9]|1[012])[-](0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01]|-2)$	The date in the following format: year (4 digits), a dash, month (2 digits), a dash, day (2 digits). If this meeting is not taking place then -2 is acceptable
StandardisationEndDate	Date for the final meeting for this unit (can be the same as start date), for example, 2025-02-18	P	^(20)\d\d[-](0[1-9]|1[012])[-](0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01]|-2)$	The date in the following format: year (4 digits), a dash, month (2 digits), a dash, day (2 digits). If this meeting is not taking place then -2 is acceptable
Awarding	Awarding refers to observable meetings (remote or face to face) where grade boundaries are discussed and determined using a variety of evidence. Yes (Y) a meeting is taking place No (N) meeting is not taking place	Q	^(Y|N)$	Accepted values: * Y * N
AwardingFormat	Awarding Format refers to meeting face to face, remote (for example, Teams), hybrid (for example, both in person and remote) or other	R	^(Remote|Face-to-face|Hybrid|Other|-2)$	Accepted values: * Remote * Face to face * Hybrid * Other If this meeting is not taking place then -2 is acceptable
AwardingStartDate	Date the first meeting for this unit takes place, for example, 2025-02-18	S	^(20)\d\d[-](0[1-9]|1[012])[-](0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01]\|-2)$	The date in the following format: year (4 digits), a dash, month (2 digits), a dash, day (2 digits). If this meeting is not taking place then -2 is acceptable
AwardingEndDate	Date for the final meeting for this unit (can be the same as start date), for example, 2025-02-18	T	^(20)\d\d[-](0[1-9]|1[012])[-](0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01]|-2)$	The date in the following format: year (4 digits), a dash, month (2 digits), a dash, day (2 digits). If this meeting is not taking place then -2 is acceptable
AdditionalInformation	Any useful or pertinent additional information	U	^.{0,255|-2}$	Up to 255 characters

Contacts

For all queries relating to the data collection process, amendments to data previously provided, or for general guidance. please contact:

Data services

Ofqual
2nd floor, 1 Friargate
Station Square
Coventry
CV1 2GN

Email Data.Services@ofqual.gov.uk