@cdt1 Most recent version of ACTO 021 (v4) has silver space listed as being out in Oct/Nov 2021 and Gold in Summer 2022. Haven’t seen anything since about an updated release date since then but imagine it will be about soon.
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I did a course in March - they covered general training updates which gave October as a date and it will be alongside a Space BTEC
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< TrgOff Geek> Ooh love a BTEC! I really like it when our training lines up with a real life qualification. Also a great selling point to recruit parents. </TrgOff Geek>
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It’s almost like they took the BTEC then made our new syllabus to suit 
Someone actually thought about this one 
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The silver space, and the associated space BTEC will be available from October 2022. The development of the BTEC delayed the implementation of the silver syllabus, but it is being worked on by a larger team now and will be ready for a launch in October.
To meet the requirement of the BTEC, each module will have a small assessment (hosted on the new Bader learn) that cadets will need to complete after each level. These will be self-marked and open book, like the classification subjects, but won’t be multiple choice to prevent ‘guessing’ of the answers.
The specification of the gold syllabus has been approved by Pearson (the exam board) and will be part of a larger suite of subjects for release in 2023. If time and resources allow, they may be released as standalone modules before then 
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That’s exactly what’s happened; the team were keen to get this right and have worked with Pearson from the outset to ensure that the syllabus is something that all parties were happy with.
Every cadet that completes the requirements will be eligible for a free of charge BTEC in Space Studies! More info about the BTEC can be found here: BTEC Specialist | Space Studies (L2) | Pearson qualifications
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That is great news!
Is there anything that can be done about the way the BTEC system only recognise Pass level answers so Cadets can only ever achieve a Pass?
Some of ours have been advised by school to leave the BTEC in Av Studies off applications as adding a Pass lowers their grade averages.
I have just read through the requirement and the Guided Learning Hours (GLH) are rather excessive. 200 Hours from Blue through to Silver (40 Hours per module), meaning 40 hours for Blue, 80 for Bronze and 80 for Silver.
I have easily delivered Blue in 1.5 hrs and Bronze in 4.5 hrs, so how we are going to stretch it out to 40 per module beats me!
Guided learning hours bear no resemblance to actual work required. Was the same at uni
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It’s the same for the other BTECs we offer; I don’t understand it either. Pearson were happy with what we said we were offering. The team have been working with the National Space Centre who have developed some practical, low cost activities that will be packaged and released with the syllabus. 
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Sounds great. We are about to start padding our courses with things not on the syllabus, such as VR ISS Spacewalk and a moon walk. If anyone knows of other space things you can do on VR, please let me know (I wouldn’t mind experiencing a launch)!
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I would love for us to be able to offer merit and distinction across the syllabus, but Pearson have had a change of management and are reluctant about us (CFAVs) assessing those levels, and are thinking about making it a requirement for them to mark the merit and distinction externally, at added cost. The qualification is paid for through subs, and we can’t afford to do that as an organisation.
That’s why CVQO mark all their BTECs as they have the professional, paid staff to do it and get funding from the government to do this.
They are more comfortable with automatic self marking, which can be done easily with the pass questions. This is harder with merit and distinction, but not impossible. I’ll have a chat with the training team.
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Awesome. If you find anything that works well then would be good if you could share. I willarrange to get it added to the syllabus as optional activities.
There are a list of ‘space apps’ on the Training Hub and the list will be getting an update really soon.
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