PTQ outcomes dashboard - level 1, level 1/2 and level 2


These interactive graphs and tables show the grade distributions of level 1, level 1/2 and level 2 Vocational and Technical Performance Table Qualifications (PTQs).

The PTQ types included here are:

  • technical awards
  • technical certificates

To use this interactive visualisation, make selections via the dropdown boxes and radio buttons. The options presented within each dropdown are dependent upon selections made in the other boxes. For example, if you select 'technical awards' in the PTQ type, then only grading structures with grades issued for technical awards will be shown in the grading structure dropdown.

The time period option allows you to select between qualification grades awarded between 1 March and 31 August in each year (including provisional grades) and qualification grades awarded in the academic year (including updated grades where applicable). This means that the picture of grades might look different at different points in the year. The whole academic year data is not collected until the autumn and will be included when available.

All data prior to the 2021 to 2022 academic year was collected retrospectively and therefore caution must be used when interpreting these figures.

Comparisons across different qualification types may not be meaningful, as they may have very different purposes, qualification/assessment structures, and different cohorts of learners.

As the regulator of qualifications in England, we are using this visualisation to provide an overall picture of grades being issued, as opposed to specific qualification detail.

If there is slowdown in busy periods try this alternative link.

For data from previous years, select a single sector subject area

For data from previous years, select either male or female from the sex dropdown

Number of grades issued across all available grading structures

For any feedback on these charts or tables, please contact [email protected].

Return to the Ofqual Analytics home page.

If you need an accessible version of this information to meet specific accessibility requirements, please email [email protected] with details of your request.

This visualisation shows the cumulative or non-cumulative grade distributions for level 1, level 1/2, level 2 Vocational and Technical Qualifications (VTQs) included in the Department for Education’s (DfE) performance tables (PTQs) – specifically technical certificates and technical awards. Different qualifications use different grading structures (eg Pass Merit Distinction or A-E). It is not possible to combine results across different grading structures, so the results are reported according to the grading structure. The visualisation can be filtered to select a specific PTQ type and guided learning hour combination. The data shown in each tab is as follows:

  • tab 1 shows a chart or table displaying the overall percentage of grades issued for each grade in the grading structure, PTQ type and guided learning hours selected, for all years available.
  • tab 2 shows a series of bar charts or a table. If you select ‘All sector subject areas’ in sector subject area dropdown, the charts or table show the percentage of grades issued for each grade in the current year for all the available sector subject areas in the grading structure, PTQ type and guided learning hours selected. If you select a specific sector subject area, the chart or table shows the percentage of grades issued for each grade in all available years for the sector subject area, grading structure, PTQ type and guided learning hours selected.
  • tab 3 shows a chart or table displaying the percentage of grades issued by sex for each grade in the grading structure and PTQ type selected. If you select ‘Male and Female’ in the sex dropdown, the charts or table will show data for the current year only for both female and male students seperately. If you select a specific sex, the chart or table will show the percentage of grades issued for each grade in all available years for the selected sex, grading structure and PTQ type.
  • tab 4 shows a table displaying the overall number of grades issued per grading structure and year for the dropdown combination selected.

You can use the menu to change the data shown in the charts and tables. You can also click on an individual year in the legend to make the line in the chart disappear or appear.

Using the display toggle you can switch between viewing the data as a chart or table.

When you hover over the chart, a pop-up box appears. The pop-up box shows information on the grading structure, year, grade, and the number and percentage of grades issued at each particular grade (or that grade and above if ‘cumulative percentages’ are selected) for the dropdown combination selected.

Charts and tables are only plotted for breakdowns relating to 5 or more qualifications and 500 or more total results in the current year. This is because we would normally expect less stability in grade distributions over time for smaller groups. If you select dropdown combinations which do not meet this threshold, the chart or table is not plotted.

Due to potential identification of individuals, age breakdowns are not available for this interactive visualisation whereas they are for the equivilent level 3 visualisation.

This interactive visualisation includes data on level 1, level 1/2, level 2 Vocational and Technical Qualifications (VTQs) included in the Department for Education’s (DfE) performance tables (PTQs) – specifically technical certificates and technical awards.

Schools and colleges in England are included.

Students of all ages from schools and colleges in England who took at least one level 1, level 1/2 or level 2 VTQ PTQ are included.

In this report, some figures compare male and female students. Ofqual does not collect this information directly but instead receives it from awarding organisations, who in turn receive it from schools and colleges. While we understand the majority of this data to relate to students’ legal sex, in some cases it might reflect students’ gender identity instead.

This visualisation reports on all passing qualification-level grades issued during the time period selected. Outcomes representing the absence of a result (Q, X) or Fail grades are also issued to students, but are not included here. The absence of a result can be due to ongoing malpractice investigations, students being absent from the assessment or results being pending.

Grades are different from certificates. Some grades included in this visualisation may be provisional and may be changed, for example following a review or appeal initiated by the student or their school or college. Certificates reflect the final record of achievement and are usually issued some time after grades are issued.

Since 2022, awarding organisations have returned to normal grading arrangements for the assessments taken by students. Awarding organisations have used suitable grading approaches for the VTQs they offer. Further information for 2025 is available in the Ofqual guide for schools and colleges and the Ofqual student guide 2025.

Many vocational and technical qualifications allow students to take assessments throughout their course. In 2022 and 2023, whilst the same grading process was in place, results from assessments taken in earlier years under pandemic related arrangements may have been used when determining grades in 2022 and 2023. Specifically, in 2021 and 2022 Ofqual allowed awarding organisations to adapt their assessments, so that students studying vocational and technical qualifications could get the support they needed as we emerged from the pandemic. Additionally, Centre Assessed Grades (CAGs) from summer 2020 or teacher assessed grades (TAGs) at assessment level from 2020 and 2021 might have been carried forward and have been used when determining 2022 grades. Further information is available in our blog post on grades in 2022 and vocational and technical qualifications grading in 2023.

In summer 2020 and 2021, many assessments were adapted, delayed, or replaced by CAGs in summer 2020 or TAGs in 2021, as part of the measures put in place in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. For more information on how grades were awarded in these years see Ofqual’s publications relating to the awarding of vocational, technical and other general qualifications in the academic years 2019 to 2020 and 2020 to 2021.

New technical awards were awarded for the first time in 2024. From 2024, there were new rules about the design and structure of the qualifications. These changes were introduced so that students who take vocational and technical qualifications can be confident their results provide a reliable reflection of their abilities and are valuable in progressing their education and career. In many cases, these changes led to substantial differences in the design and delivery of the qualifications.

The changes included:

  • students must take their external assessment at the end of their course. This means that awarding organisations can consider the performance of the whole cohort when setting grade boundaries for these assessments, improving their ability to set and maintain standards.
  • the external assessments must be worth at least 40% of the marks available for the qualification.
  • changes to the design of some units. All units are marked and awarding organisations set grade boundaries after students have taken the assessment. Awarding organisations consider the performance of students on the assessment tasks when setting these grade boundaries. In the past, some assessments were not marked and were graded using pre-set criteria.

Many awarding organisations took the opportunity to update and refresh the content of these qualifications, and some chose to use a different grading structure for their new qualifications. Taken together, these changes represent a substantial change to the design and structure for many technical awards, with some qualifications changing more than others.

The changes to the design and structure of some qualifications, as well as changes to the number of qualifications available, mean it is not meaningful to make comparisons with grades from years prior to 2024.

In the first years of the new qualifications, Ofqual asked awarding organisations to take into account the fact that students and teachers may be less familiar with the new assessments when setting grade boundaries, and to consider accepting a slightly lower quality of work than they might otherwise do. We have taken this approach with other new qualifications. However, it is crucial that these new qualifications are robust and so expert examiners have judged that the knowledge, skills and understanding which students demonstrated at each grade was appropriate.

This visualisation allows you to select between the following time periods:

  • 1 March to 31 August
  • academic year

The 1 March to 31 August option reports only on qualification grades being awarded between 1 March and 31 August in each year (including provisional grades).

The academic year option allows you to explore the data from the whole academic year, including updated grades where applicable. Because the academic year data is not collected until later in the year, the grade information from the latest academic year will not be updated until after the summer. This means that the picture of grades might look different at different points in the year.

The academic year runs from 1 September to 31 August.

Non-cumulative percentages show the actual percentage of a particular grade out of all passing grades. For example, 18% of passing grades were a ‘Distinction’ grade.

Cumulative percentages show the percentage of a particular grade and all grades above out of all passing grades. The grades above a particular grade are different between grading structures. For example, a cumulative 18% for ‘M and above’ of in a P/M/D grading structure means that 18% of all passing grades were M or D grades. A cumulative 18% for ‘M and above’ in a P/M/D/D* grading structure means that 18% of all passing grades were M, D or D* grades.

In this visualisation, percentages are calculated from passing grades only and do not include fail, absent or pending grades.

Regulated qualifications are assigned a level from entry level through to level 8 broadly indicating the relative level of demand of the qualification. Levels are assigned by the qualification’s awarding organisation with reference to Ofqual’s published level descriptors. Qualifications at the same level may cover different amounts of the same subject and take different lengths of time to study. Only levels with results issued in the latest year are included in the qualification level dropdown.

This visualisation presents data on level 1, level 1/2 and level 2 PTQs. For data on level 3 PTQs see our level 3 PTQ Outcomes visualisation.

Sector subject area is a classification of qualifications into business sectors or subject areas maintained by Ofqual. There are 15 sector subject areas, which each include several second-tier sector subject areas. Sector subject areas are assigned by the qualification’s awarding organisation with reference to Ofqual’s published list of sector subject areas

Guided learning is when a member of staff is present to give specific guidance to students that contribute towards the qualification aim being studied. ‘Guided learning hours’ in this visualisation refers to the total number of hours of guided learning that a student receives. As such, it gives an indication of the size of a qualification. PTQs have a range of guided learning hours, for the purpose of this visualisation they are split into 3 categories, which are:

  • up to 180
  • 181 to 599
  • 600 and above

Providing a more detailed breakdown would likely lead to a smaller number of students and qualifications in each group, and less data being able to be plotted if the student and qualification thresholds are not met. Only guided learning hour categories with results issued in the latest year are included in the guided learning hours dropdown.

PTQ type in this visualisation refers to the type of performance table qualification and is taken from DfE performance tables. Specifically, the types include:

  • technical awards
  • technical certificates

Other qualifications recognised for use in DfE performance tables are not included in this visualisation. For T Level Technical Qualification (TQ) results, see our published T Level Technical Qualification (TQ) outcomes visualisation.

Only types with results issued in the latest year are included in the PTQ type dropdown.

This is information on the total number of grades issued and the total number of qualifications with grades issued for the dropdown combination selected. The median age of students taking that selection of qualifications is also shown.

The 'download qualifications' button allows you to download a list of the qualifications which are included in the chart presented, based on the filters selected. Qualification lists are not presented if there are fewer than 5 qualifications included.

The 1 March to 31 August data from 2022 onwards is sent to Ofqual by awarding organisations prior to results day. When Ofqual receives the data, some results may not have been fully processed.

Some grades issued between 1 March to 31 August may be provisional and may be changed, for example following a review or appeal initiated by the student or their school or college. Because grades are provisional when this visualisation is published, figures may differ from figures that reflect student’s final records of achievement.

The academic year data from 2021 to 2022 onwards is supplied to Ofqual by awarding organisations later in the year and will be made available as soon as possible. As the data is collected later in the year, where applicable grades may have been updated to reflect changes to grades that occurred after grades are awarded. In a small number of instances (we estimate less than 1,000 across all PTQs each year), late issuing of grades or changes to grades which occur after results are issued may mean that a grade which was expected to be appear in the current academic year’s data will instead appear in the following academic year’s data.

All data prior to the academic year 2021 to 2022 was supplied to Ofqual by awarding organisations retrospectively and therefore caution must be used when interpreting these figures.

Information on qualifications is taken from Ofqual’s Register of Regulated Qualifications.

To ensure confidentiality of the data, all figures for the number of grades have been rounded to the nearest 5. If the value is less than 5 (1 to 4), it is represented as ‘fewer than 5’, and 0 represents zero values. The total number of grades issued has been calculated using unrounded figures. As a result, the sum of rounded figures may slightly differ from the total reported. Figures stating the number of qualifications available are not rounded.

We are publishing this data so that students, schools, policy makers and the public can easily access and explore information on qualifications and outcomes.

For any feedback on these charts or tables, please contact [email protected].

Return to the Ofqual Analytics home page.

If you need an accessible version of this information to meet specific accessibility requirements, please email [email protected] with details of your request.