Do you have excellent knowledge and competence of your industry? Would you like to become an Independent Assessor (IA) for your industry Apprenticeship Standard?
We at Nurture Training have a course accredited by Highfield designed to prepare you to undertake End Point Assessment
Highfield Level 3 Award Undertaking End-Point Assessment (RQF) Unit 1 – The Principles and Practices of End Point Assessment.
By the end of this qualification you will be able to:
- Understand the principles and practices of end-point assessment as part of an apprenticeship standard.
- Understand different types and methods of end-point assessment.
- Know how to plan end-point assessments in line with the apprenticeship standard and assessment plan.
- Be able to make end-point assessment decisions.
- Understand quality assurance of the end-point assessment process.
The role of an Independent Assessor (IA) is to Undertake End Point Assessment EPA).
The role is independent and the options available to you is to remain independent or to work as part of an organisation, or both. The term independent assessor is used as part of the role when conducting EPA which is to remain independent in your practices and requirements.
For further information, see terms and conditions at www.nurture-epa.co.uk
The EPA assignments that the IA applies for or is hired for must be relevant to their own area of expertise and competences. This should be displayed in your individual profile for Nurture or relevant partners to quality check, prior to any assessments taking place.
The IA must conduct an EPA following the approved standards that contain robust informative guidance for each individual standard. Each standard can be found on Institute for Apprenticeships & Technical Education (IfATE)
The IA must use the approved assessment templates tools and methods as stated by the End point Assessment Organisation (EPAO) as this has been prior approved by a robust government scrutinisation process.
The IA will be required to access & read the policies and procedures from within the apprentices workplace prior to conducting EPA. This is to ensure fair assessment against the apprentices practice and policies from their own organisation.
The IA will be required to provide feedback, justifications and graded results in a report format. Written in an evaluative and descriptive language.
An IA, must have a deep and knowledgeable understanding of the standards and templates with the ability to provide fair, valid judgements with the skill to write reports that are reflective of this, demonstrating congruent, accurate and informative tactics.
Must understand the grading functionality and have the diversity to evaluate one standards difference to others and furthermore applying this to practice.
The IA will be required to feedback findings to the EPAO within the timeframe as stated in the assessment template.
Must have the understanding to sign post any professional involved to the official complaints procedures.
Record and Maintain Continuous Professional Development (CPD)
- To have occupational knowledge & competence
- Ability to manage own diary, planning and deliveries
- To display evidence to demonstrate certification of the standard requirement
- Ensure ALL dates/times/plans are recorded electronically to confirm commitments & preparation
- Confirm any Reasonable Adjustments &/or Special Considerations adapting practice accordingly
- The ability to use evaluative language in situational & other assessment methods with a further ability to reflect this in a language that is appropriate to the level of apprentice.
- Read & Understand the Policy & Procedure of the Employers to ensure fair assessment for the Apprentice within their own organisation
- Remain impartial at all times
- Accept the conflict of interest policy & enforce this
- Maintain Continuous Professional Development
- Lead by example by being well prepared
- Ability to provide grading & Justifications for grading against a Pass, Merit or Distinction model
- Ability to demonstrate evaluative language within reports
- Know where to direct for complaints/appeals at the request of Employer/Apprentice/End point Assessment Organisation (EPAO)
- Prior use of assessment platforms.
- Carried out End point Assessment
To use Nurture EPA Hub, full compliance and fairness to the rules and to the best interest of the apprentice must be upheld and applied at all times.
You MUST be qualified as an IA or you will be removed from the system. If you wish to upskill to be an IA contact Debbie Richards drichards@nurturetraining.org to discuss options and cost.
The feedback and review process in place within the assessment platform, will be at the choice of the EPAO in terms of performance and fairness, however, if unfairly graded an investigation to the review can be conducted by Ofqual.