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, please make selections via the dropdown boxes. 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 results issued for Technical Awards will be shown in the grading structure dropdown.

The time period option allows users to select between qualification grades awarded between 1 March and 31 August in each year (including provisional results) and qualification grades awarded in the academic year (including updated results where applicable). This means that the picture of results might look different at different points in the year. Please note that 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 results being issued, as opposed to specific qualification detail.

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

Number of grades issued across all available grading structures

For any feedback on these graphs 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.

The 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: Displays a graph or table showing 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: Displays a series of bar graphs or table. If you select ‘All sector subject areas’ in sector subject area dropdown, the graphs 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 graph 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: Displays a table showing the overall number of grades issued per grading structure and year for the dropdown combination selected.

Graphs and tables are only plotted for breakdowns relating to 5 or more qualifications and 500 or more total results in the current year as 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 graph or table is not plotted.

Some VTQ assessments are graded directly, using pre-set criteria. For other assessments, awarding organisations set grade boundaries after students have taken the assessment. Awarding organisations have used suitable grading approaches for the VTQs they offer. Strengthened Technical Awards were awarded for the first time in 2024. As with other new qualifications previously, awarding organisations were asked to take into account the fact that teachers and students may be less familiar with new assessments when setting grade boundaries for these qualifications. For further information on the changes made to Technical Awards please see question 4: "How have Technical Awards changed in 2024?". Further information on grading is available in the Ofqual guide for schools and colleges and the Ofqual student guide 2024.

The range of qualifications available to students has changed over time. The impact of the pandemic means that students may be making different decisions about the qualifications they take. This means that outcomes may look different from previous years, even where the approach to grading was similar.

In summer 2020 and 2021, many assessments were adapted, delayed, or replaced by Centre Assessed Grades (CAGs) in summer 2020 or teacher assessed grades (TAGs) in 2021, as part of the measures put in place in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. CAGs and TAGs at assessment level from 2020 and 2021 might have been carried forward and have been used when determining 2022 grades. For more information on how grades were awarded in these years please 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.

In 2021 to 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. Many vocational and technical qualifications allow students to take assessments throughout their course, so results from assessments taken in earlier years may have been used when determining 2023 grades.

New Technical Awards have been awarded for the first time in 2024. From 2024, there are new rules about the design and structure of the qualifications. These changes have been 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 have led to substantial differences in the design and delivery of the qualifications.

These changes include:

  • Students must now 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 now be worth at least 40% of the marks available for the qualification.
  • Changes to the design of some units. Now, 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 have taken the opportunity to update and refresh the content of these qualifications, and some have chosen to use a different grading scale 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 results from previous years.

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 students have demonstrated at each grade is appropriate.

The visualisation allows users 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 results).

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

The 1 March to 31 August data from 2022 onwards is supplied to Ofqual by awarding organisations approximately one week prior to results day. At the point in time that Ofqual receives the data, all grades may not have been fully processed. Additionally, the data does not reflect changes to grades that may occur after results are awarded.

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 results are awarded.

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.

This visualisation reports on PTQ grades awarded from schools and colleges for the time period selected. For more information on the data used for each time period please see question 2.

Cases where a student has failed, was absent, or their grade is pending, are excluded from the visualisation.

Non-cumulative percentages for each grade show the actual percentage of students achieving a particular grade (eg achieving a Pass grade).

Cumulative percentages are the percentage of students achieving that grade and all the grades above it (eg grade Pass and above for qualifications which use a Pass/Merit/Distinction/Distinction* grading scale would include grades Pass, Merit, Distinction and Distinction*).

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

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. Figures stating the number of grades issued are rounded to the nearest 5 and values between 1 to 499 are shown as ‘fewer than 500’. Figures stating the number of qualifications available are not rounded to the nearest 5, however values between 1 to 4 are shown as ‘fewer than 5’. In both instances, 0 represents zero values.

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, please see our published visulisation.

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

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 dropdown.

All regulated qualifications are assigned a level from entry level through to level 8 broadly indicating the relative difficulty of the qualification. Awarding organisations assign a level to regulated qualifications 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 dropdown.

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

Sector subject area is a classification of qualifications into broad business sectors or subject areas maintained by Ofqual. The sector subject area for each qualification is self-selected by the awarding organisation.

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

When you hover over a bar on a graph, a pop-up box will appear. The pop-up box provides information on the grading structure, year, grade, and the number and percentage of students achieving that grade (or that grade and above if ‘cumulative percentages’ are selected) for the dropdown combination selected.

To ensure confidentiality of the data, all figures for the number of grades has 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.

We are publishing this data in the interests of openness and transparency and so that students, schools, policy makers and other stakeholders can access this data in an interactive manner and explore the grade distributions for level 1, level 1/2 and level 2 vocational and technical performance table qualifications.

For any feedback on these graphs 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.