BTEC Nationals Health and Social Care Transition Guide - Health and Social Care Transition Guide - From 2025 AAQs Transition Support

Oct 20, 2026

Guide for centres and practitioners transitioning Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Certificate in Health and Social Care to the Pearson Level 3 Alternative Academic Qualification BTEC National (Extended Certificate) from 2025, and transitioning the Level 3 National Certificate to the BTEC National (Certificate) from 2026. Explains what is new, why transitions are easier, and highlights the future focus areas: transferable skills, digital skills, and sustainability. Includes support offers, resources, and assessment and delivery features.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages21

Reading Time53 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction to the AAQs

What is new?

What makes it easy to transition?

Support Offer

Complimentary resources and services

Comprehensive Package of Paid resources

Qualification Structure

Assessment Structure

Mapping Guide

This document is for centres/practitioners moving (transitioning) from: • Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Certificate in Health and Social Care to the Pearson Level 3 Alternative Academic Qualification BTEC National in Health and Social Care (Extended Certificate) from 2025 • Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Certificate in Health and Social Care to the Pearson Level 3 Alternative Academic Qualification BTEC National in Health and Social Care (Certificate) from 2026 Content Introduction to the AAQs 2 o What is new? 3 o What makes it easy to transition? 4 Support Offer 5 Qualification Structure 7 Assessment Structure 9 Mapping Guide 11 Introducing the Level 3 BTEC Nationals from 2025 (AAQs) The Level 3 BTEC Nationals from 2025 qualifications provide students with meaningful and practical learning experiences across a range of career sectors. They equip students with the applied knowledge, skills and personal attributes they need to enter and thrive in higher education and meet the demands of future employment in our fast-changing world. Level 3 BTEC Nationals from 2025 (AAQs) are: • Engaging and future-focused-providing opportunities for students to learn in real, relatable and practical ways and designed to ensure that they develop critical knowledge and transferable skills to navigate the future. • Accessible and fair for students, balanced with the demands of progression to the next stage of learning the use of the N Grade and our holistic approach to designing assessment criteria means that qualifications are attainable for students whilst ensuring that they have a solid foundation of skills and knowledge, and the confidence to progress. • Accepted and supported by universities-developed in collaboration with educators and universities to ensure students have the right combination of skills and knowledge for success in higher education. Over 100 letters of support from universities. • Well supported and straightforward to deliver and administer-simple structure making unit combination more straightforward; uniformed format of external assessment across subjects to streamline administration; Pearson-Set Assignment Briefs (PSABs) removing the need for centres to plan their own assignments, and wide range of training and support. What is new? Preparing students for their future Our new Level 3 BTEC Nationals from 2025 (AAQ) qualifications are designed with a clear focus on the future. Our aim is to ensure that students are given every opportunity to develop the new knowledge, skills, attitudes and values they need to navigate and thrive through the uncertainty and to shape their world. We have identified three critical skill areas for the future – transferable skills, digital skills and sustainability – and have designed our new BTEC qualifications with these areas at the heart. Join us on the journey as we prepare young people to be the best versions of themselves for the future. Read our brochure. Click on the infographic to see further information. What makes it easy to transition to the new BTEC Nationals from 2025 (AAQ)? • Auto approval-if you are currently approved to deliver BTEC Nationals you will receive automatically approval for the new qualification.* • Refreshed and updated content and assessments – to ensure your learners continue to progress to popular progression routes into HEIs and beyond. • Simple, manageable and flexible structure – you can continue to structure your delivery of teaching, learning and assessment when it best suits you and your learners. • Unchanged Quality Assurance process with Standards Verification at the heart. • Assessments-Externally Assessed Exams available twice a year, and Internally Assessed units, Assessments set by Pearson, and taken by learners when they are ready. • Familiar retake and resubmission rules. • Grading, marking and assessment methodologies unchanged-you can continue to teach and assess with confidence.

FAQs

Which Pearson BTEC qualifications are covered by this transition guide?

It covers centres moving from the Level 3 National Extended Certificate in Health and Social Care to the Level 3 Alternative Academic Qualification BTEC National (Extended Certificate) from 2025, and from the Level 3 National Certificate to the BTEC National (Certificate) from 2026.

What is new in the Level 3 BTEC Nationals from 2025 (AAQs)?

The guide highlights a future-focused design, including transferable skills, digital skills, and sustainability, plus refreshed content and assessments aimed at supporting progression.

What support is available to centres and practitioners during the transition?

Support includes a BTEC National Teacher Guide, Sample Assessment Materials, Exam Wizard, Results Plus, training and standardisation events, network events, and a dedicated Subject Advisor. It also lists paid resources such as Student Books and Teacher Packs.

Oct 20, 2026

Uploaded by Jordan Avery