BTEC Professional

BTEC Professional qualifications come from Level 4 to Level 8.  All the BTEC Professional qualifications aim at providing professional work-related qualifications in a wide range of sectors. BTEC Professional qualifications provide learners knowledge, skills, and understanding required to prepare them for employment. Besides, they give learners career development opportunities, especially those already working. As such, BTEC Professional qualifications a course of study for full-time or part-time students in colleges, schools and training centers.

BTEC Professional qualifications offer much of the supporting knowledge and understanding for the National Occupational Standards for the sector where applicable. However, they are supported by the relevant Standards Setting Body (SSB) or Sector Skills Council (SSC). As such, some of the BTEC Professional qualifications are recognized as the knowledge apparatuses of Apprenticeships Frameworks.

After successful completion of a BTEC Professional qualification, learners can advance to, or within the occupation and/or advance their studies in the same or related vocational sector.

Total Qualification Time (TQT)

Pearson has specified the total number of hours required for completion of regulated qualifications as this. These hours are referred to as Total Qualification Time (TQT), and it is estimated that learners will need to complete and demonstrate achievement for Professional qualification within the specified hours.

However, within the TQT, Pearson still identifies the number of Guided Learning Hours (GLH), which is an estimation of hours a center delivering the qualification might need. Guided learning is activities like tutorials, lessons, online instruction, giving feedback on performance, and any supervised study that directly involves instructors and assessors in teaching and supervising learners. Therefore, guided learning includes the time learners need to complete the external assessment under examination or supervised conditions.

Besides guided learning, private study, preparing for assessment, and undertaking the assessment require direct guidance from tutors or assessors. However, preparatory reading, revision, and independent research don’t fall under guided learning.

Total Qualification Time is assigned to Professional qualification after wider consultation with employers and trainers delivering the qualification. The BTEC Professional qualifications are available in the following sizes.

• Award – Qualification with a TQT value of 120 or less
• Certificate – Qualification with a TQT value in the range of 121 – 369
• Diploma – Qualification with a TQT value of 370 or more

Main Features of the BTEC Level 4 Professional Qualifications

Pearson BTEC Level 4 Diploma in Business Administration

Pearson BTEC Level 4 Diploma in Business Administration is designed for learners already in work, or those that aspire to work in Business Administration in roles like the office manager, programme manager, and executive assistant. As such, this professional qualification intends to give the learners the opportunity to:

• Develop special technical knowledge to encourage learners’ competence in the work roles mentioned above. This may include knowledge related to business administration systems, managing information and knowledge, managing self-development, communication in business, and project management.
• Establish a broader business-related and technical knowledge that supports competence in the roles mentioned above. It also provides learners a framework for advancing their working skills to various administrative roles. This may include knowledge related to human resource management, stakeholder engagement, customer service management, marketing, and operational planning.
• Have existing skills acknowledged
• Attain a nationally-acknowledged Level 4 professional qualification.

Pearson BTEC Level 4 Extended Diploma in Business Administration

Pearson BTEC Level 4 Extended Diploma in Business Administration is designed for learners already working or those who want to work in a business administration under the roles of; product manager, stakeholder relationship manager, executive assistant, or business development manager. Therefore, the qualification works to provide the learner with the opportunity to:

• Acquire specific and broader business-related knowledge and understanding to enable progression in job roles across functional sectors and areas.
• Develop specific technical knowledge to encourage competence in learners in the roles mentioned above. This may include ethics and culture in a business, communication in business, principles of quality management, managing information and knowledge, negotiating and influencing in the workplace, and knowledge associated with managing work activities to enhance business performance.
• Have existing skills acknowledged
• Attain a nationally-acknowledged Level 4 professional qualification.

Progression Opportunities for BTEC Professional

On successful attainment of the Pearson BTEC Level 4 Diploma in Business Administration or Pearson BTEC Level 4 Extended Diploma in Business Administration, a learner can progress to the following qualifications.

• Pearson BTEC Level 4 HNC Diploma in Business.
• Edexcel Level 4 NVQ Diploma in Customer Service – proficiencies element for the Higher Apprenticeship in Customer Service
• Edexcel Level 4 NVQ Diploma in Business Administration – proficiencies component for the Higher Apprenticeship in Business and Professional Administration
• Edexcel Level 4 NVQ Diploma in Management – proficiencies component for the Higher Apprenticeship in Management
• Edexcel BTEC Level 4 Diploma in Management and Leadership – knowledge component for the Higher Apprenticeship in Management
• Job roles like Senior Manager, Manager, and Head of Department.

Assessment

All the units for BTEC Professional qualifications are internally-assessed. However, the professional qualifications are criterion-referenced based on the attainment of all the identified learning outcomes.

Qualification Grade

For BTEC professional qualifications, learners attaining the minimum eligible credit value itemized by the rule of the combination will be awarded a qualification grade at Pass. For BTEC Level 4 professional qualification, every unit has a credit value that specifies the number of credits to be awarded to a learner who attains the learning outcomes of the unit. The process is based on:

• One credit for learning outcomes attainable in 10 hours of learning time
• Learning time is defined as the time taken by a learner at the level of the unit (on average) to complete the learning outcomes of the unit to the standard defined by the assessment criteria.
• The credit value of the unit remaining constant notwithstanding the technique of assessment used or the qualification, to which it contributes

Mode of Delivery

Pearson doesn’t specify or define the mode of delivery of BTEC Professional qualifications. So the centers are free to deliver the Professional qualification using any mode. This includes full-time, part-time, distance-learning, or evening only as long as it meets the learners’ needs.

Besides, the centers must ensure that all the learners have unlimited access to resources itemized in the specification and outline by subject specialists delivering the units. This is especially essential for learners pursuing the qualification through open or distance learning.