When national qualifications travel: Curriculum fairness after the 2024 Pearson Edexcel A‐Level Chinese reform

National qualifications do not always stay national. Once offered internationally, a reform designed around one education system may reach students with very different linguistic histories. This article examines that problem through Pearson Edexcel A‐Level Chinese, an England‐regulated subject qualification offered in the UK and internationally. From 2026, candidates will read the listening and reading questions in English and answer them in English. The change responds to evidence that earlier papers disadvantaged students learning Chinese as an additional language. It also changes how every candidate must show Chinese comprehension to receive credit. The study draws on entry statistics, policy and specification documents, and Pearson's sample paper. Ofqual reported approximately 5150 Pearson entries in 2023, while the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) recorded 1449 UK Chinese A‐Level entries across all awarding organisations. The difference gives a conservative estimate of at least 3701 Pearson entries outside the UK, or 71.9% of Pearson's total. Yet public records tell us little about these candidates: where they study, which languages they use, or why they take the qualification. The sample paper asks for little extended English writing, but English remains compulsory. I do not claim that the reform has already caused disadvantage. The narrower argument is that international delivery creates a further duty of validation. Providers need evidence about the learners they actually reach and about the language through which subject knowledge must be shown.