Wednesday Oct 08 2008
Services for Centres : Training Providers

Verification

Support for New and Existing Customers

Once your candidates are registered, as an approved centre, you will receive ongoing support from our External Verifiers (EVs). EVs visit you twice annually to ensure and maintain the highest standards.

Verification of NVQs - Some Frequently Asked Questions

What are the  Assessor and Verifier roles in an NVQ Assessment Centre?

Each NVQ assessment centre requires Assessor and Internal Verifiers. The Assessor monitors and measures the performance of the candidates against the standards, details plans for improvement where necessary, and feeds back to the candidate. The Internal Verifier verifies the assessment process, is central to the development of the assessors, and monitors the quality of the NVQ delivery.


What are the Requirements for Assessors and Verifiers?

There is a requirement for a minimum of 2 Assessors and 2 Internal Verifiers for each NVQ.  These can either be centre staff or associates of the assessment centre. The Assessor must have current occupational competence of the subject area and knowledge of the standards.  The Internal Verifier should have occupational knowledge of the subject area and will therefore have the relevant experience.

For new or re-accredited NVQs, the requirements for occupational competence of Assessors and Internal Verifiers are printed within the Assessment Strategy for that particular qualification.  It is therefore helpful to refer to this document if one is available.  Assessors and Internal Verifiers should have, or be working towards, the relevant assessment and/or verification qualification.  The most current are the Assessor (A) and Verifier (V) units.

It may be helpful to refer to the National Occupational Standards within the NVQ to ascertain the competencies being assessed within it.  Also, the Sector Skills Councils (which came into operation in April 2002), may issue specific requirements concerning assessment.


How Does a Trainee Assessor Acquire the Assessor and Verifier Units?

The Assessor and Verifier units can be achieved in the following ways :-

a. A local experienced existing Edexcel assessment centre may offer a service, whereby the trainee assessor is allowed access to the candidates so that they can obtain their units.  This is a private contractual arrangement between the two parties, and is often the preferred option as it is usually the fastest route to the qualification, and subsequent centre approval.

b. A local company that has qualified internal assessors may agree to support the trainee assessor, by allowing access to their own candidates and/or combining resources in order to collaborate and achieve centre approval as a single assessment centre.

c. The Learning & Skills Councils may have an Approved Provider List.


Is there a Publication that Outlines the Roles and Responsibilities of the Internal Verifier and Assessor?

The Joint Awarding Body Guidance on Internal Verification of NVQs, endorsed by the QCA is a useful publication.  The document is available from the DFES.  However, this publication, along with other guidance, can be downloaded from the DFES’s NVQ website.


Who is an External Verifier and What is Their Role?

The External Verifier (EV) is an Edexcel appointed objective expert.  They will be suitably qualified and experienced for the role, and will ensure that the national standards are being met.


How Long does the Approval Process Take?

This largely depends upon the time it takes for the intended centre to complete the requirements of our approval documentation.  Centres may need to develop the necessary systems and procedures before they can make an application to become an approved centre. 


What is Accelerated Approval?

The NVQ Code of Practice, to which all awarding bodies subscribe, enables centres approved by one to seek accelerated approval from another.  The centre is required to demonstrate approval by the other awarding body, and to show that the relevant systems and procedures are in place.  The procedure normally takes 4-6 weeks.

For those organisations who already hold approval and have a good track record, an accelerated approval process is available.  This process can be used to transfer qualifications already offered.  However, if the centre wishes to add further qualifications to its portfolio, an approval application has to be made in the normal way.


What is Direct Claim Status?

Once the External Verifier has carried out the verification procedures and confirmed that the Assessment and Internal Verification process is satisfactory, he/she may grant Direct Claim Status to the approved centre.  This means that the centre will be able to claim certification direct from Edexcel.


Is there any Funding Available?

Funding is available from the local Learning & Skills Council, for training organisations or employers involved in the delivery of Modern Apprenticeships.  Details of the frameworks for these Apprenticeships can be obtained from the relevant Sector Skills Council. 

Local Learning and Skills Councils may offer funding for local initiatives aimed at the under-25’s or for the training of assessors. 

Verification of BTEC Qualifications

Edexcel's qualification specifications clearly set out the standard to be achieved by each learner in order to achieve the award of a qualification. This is contained in the statement of outcomes and assessment criteria in each unit.

Edexcel operates a quality assurance process that is designed to ensure that these standards are maintained by all assessors, verifiers and markers. It achieves this through the following activities:

Internal Verification

Centres are required to have in place processes to review each assessors decisions to ensure that they are correctly interpreting and applying the standards set out in the specifications. This also ensures consistency across assessment decisions within the centre. The system chosen for this is a left to the centre to decide, and Edexcel fully supports the use of a centre's own quality assurance systems where this ensures robust internal standardisation.

External Verification

  • Non NQF Qualification

Edexcel will sample assessors' decisions using subject specialist External Verifiers. For non NQF Nationals the External Verifiers undertake visits to centres to carry out this sampling activity. The number of visits will vary depending on the quality profile of the individual programme and the centre's experience in running the particular qualifications.

External Verifiers discuss their findings with the programme teams at the end of their visit and prepare a feedback report for the centre and Edexcel.

  • NQF Qualifications

Edexcel will sample assessors' decisions using subject special External Verifiers. This process will follow the National Standards Sampling (NSS) protocol. Edexcel will identify to centres in the autumn those units that will be sampled by verification in the NSS window - normally in the spring term of each academic year. There will be four units identified from 2 year National Certificate and Diploma programmes and two units from 1 year First Diploma and National Award programmes. Centres are required to make available, in the NSS window, eight pieces of student work against two of the identified units (from two year programmes) and four pieces of student work against one of the identified units (for 1 year programmes).
This  student work :

  • Must have been internally assessed and given an interim grade
  • Will normally be expected to reflect grading at Pass Merit and Distinction level
  • Will include at least half the sample that has been internally verified.

Edexcel reserves the right to require centres to provide samples of student work against an additional unit to the above where that unit is determined to be of major importance to the industry or service to which the qualification relates.



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