Level 4 Award in The Internal Quality Assurance of Assessment Processes and Practice

The qualification is designed to provide candidates with the necessary knowledge and skills to internally quality-assure assessment decisions. It is aimed at those who are already qualified assessors and have responsibility for internal quality assurance within an assessment centre/organisation.

Its primary purpose is to confirm the learner's occupational competence as an internal quality-assurer of work-based qualifications.  As a work-related, competence-based qualification, it provides confirmation to employers and industry managers that the learner has the skills and knowledge needed to meet the nationally-recognised standard to carry out the role.

Achieving the qualification demonstrates the learner's competence in monitoring assessment processes and decisions within an organisation in addition to helping to maintain and improve the quality of assessment within the work environment.

The qualification is competence-based and is assessed, primarily, by observation of the learner's performance when carrying out monitoring activities; inspection of related work products; and professional discussion to confirm the learner's knowledge and understanding of the principles. Other supporting methods of assessment may also be used.

Learners may find a portfolio of evidence helpful for retention and access purposes. This would detail what they have completed at work — through a variety of evidence such as observation, professional discussion, and witness testimony — and supporting documentary evidence. This can be in hard copy or electronic format. 

Learners who achieve this qualification can use it to gain employment and to progress in the industry or to demonstrate formal recognition of their knowledge and skills if already employed.

Objectives 

The qualification is designed to meet the following objectives:

• To confirm the learner's occupational competence as an internal quality-assurer of regulated work-based qualifications.
• The knowledge required to plan and carry out the quality assurance of monitoring activities defined in their organisation's quality assurance procedures and in accordance with appropriate external quality assurance requirements.
• The opportunity to demonstrate that their performance in quality assurance of assessment within an organisation or assessment centre meets the National Occupational Standards for planning and carrying out the quality assurance monitoring activities defined in their organisation's quality assurance procedures and appropriate external quality assurance requirements and the relevant sector skills council's assessment strategy.

As this is a knowledge- and competence-based qualification, candidates will be acquiring the knowledge and skills required through on-the-job experience or in a learning environment.

To achieve the whole qualification verifier-candidates need to complete two mandatory units (12 credits):

• FD4A 63: Understanding the Principles and Practices of Internally Assuring the    Quality of Assessment
• FD4C 63: Internally Assure the Quality of Assessment

This qualification is suitable for:

• Practitioners who require formal recognition of their occupational competence for the role of IQA to meet the Assessment Strategies of Sector Skills Councils/ regulatory requirements.

Entry

Entry to the qualification is at the discretion of the centre. While there are no specific skills, knowledge, understanding or any other qualifications that must be achieved to start this qualification, IQA-candidates must have the potential and opportunity to gain this qualification successfully. Therefore, IQA-candidates must have access to learners who are undertaking work-based regulated qualifications.

This qualification is mainly taken by individuals employed as:

• Internal Quality Assurers requiring formal recognition of their knowledge and skills for Regulatory requirement purposes.
• Assessors wishing to augment their existing assessment/internal quality assurance knowledge and skills.

Progression

The Internal Quality Assurance of Assessment Processes and Practice Award can lead to employment within the training, learning and development sector as an internal quality assurer of RQF and CQFW qualifications.

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