The Business And Technology Education Council (BTEC) was a qualification awarding body in the United Kingdom until 1996, when its functions were transferred to Edexcel. The council offered further and higher education awards, particularly to polytechnics, and in particular the BTEC Nationals and BTEC Higher Nationals qualifications.

BTEC qualifications are undertaken in vocational subjects ranging from Business studies to Engineering and even Animal Care. They are equivalent to other qualifications such as the GCSE (levels 1 to 2), A Level (level 3) and university degrees (levels 4 to 6) but one difference is that they tend to be based on practical work or coursework rather than timed examinations.

BTEC was formed in 1984 from the Business Education Council (BEC) and the Technician Education Council (TEC).^[1] In 1996, University of London Examinations & Assessment Council (ULEAC) and BTEC merged to form Edexcel.

Examples of BTEC courses include: Business Studies, Engineering, Science, Information Technology, Media Studies, Travel & Tourism and Performing Arts.

Contents 1 Awards system 2 See also 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Awards system

• BTEC Introductory Certificate - Level 1 qualification, roughly equivalent to 2 GCSEs at D-E grades.
• BTEC Introductory Diploma - Level 1 qualification, roughly equivalent to 4 GCSEs at D-F grades or a Foundation GNVQ.
• BTEC First Certificate - Level 2 qualification, roughly equivalent to 2 GCSEs at A* - C grades
• BTEC First Diploma - Level 2 qualification, roughly equivalent to 4 GCSEs at A* - C grades or an Intermediate GNVQ.
• BTEC National Award - Level 3 qualification, roughly equivalent to 1 A level.
• BTEC National Certificate - Level 3 qualification, roughly equivalent to 2 A levels.
• BTEC National Diploma - Level 3 qualification, roughly equivalent to 3 A levels.
• BTEC Foundation Diploma in Art and Design
• BTEC Higher National Certificate
• BTEC Higher National Diploma

[edit] See also

• Council for National Academic Awards
• Scottish Qualifications Authority - the equivalent body in Scotland

[edit] References

1. ^ Richard Aldrich, A century of education, p. 220, http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=1CdIpJdhBp4C&pg=PA220 

[edit] External links

• Edexcel history
• Directgov: BTECs, OCR Nationals and other vocational qualifications
• GMSA Pathways - tool that lets Greater Manchester BTEC learners search for higher education courses

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