Schools ITQ Level 1 - Assessor Training part 2

The Schools ITQ - Silver INGOT

The Schools ITQ at QCF Level 1 has the official name TLM Certificate in IT User Skills in Open Systems and Enterprise (ITQ) in the UK register of accredited qualifications. 

Under this name it is the UK National Vocational Qualification for ICT Users at Level 1, referred to as the ITQ. It is a Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF) qualification which is at Level 2 in the European Qualifications Framework (EQF). We refer to it as the Silver INGOT as it is more convenient and easier to remember. There are two INGOTs at Silver Level:

An Award that can be achieved from 9 credits with at least 6 from QCF Level 1.

A certificate made up of 1 mandatory unit and other units chosen from the ITQ bank of units in the ITQ framework.

UK schools are advised that either spreadsheets or specialist software is chosen in order to best support the National Curriculum, please advise your Account Manager if you are considering choosing other units so they can provide additional guidance.

 The Mandatory Unit is IPU - Improving Productivity Using ICT. 

Here is an example of the mandatory unit and other units making a certificate with a focus on internet related skills. 

In the Qualifications and Credit Framework, each unit has a credit value and this value is identical in the EQF. At Level 1 IPU, WS, UCT each have a value of 3 credits and ITS a value of 1 credit. The total credit value of the mandatory units is therefore 10 credits. EQF and QCF credits will normally take an average learner at the level, 10 hours of learning. However, learners come with a range of backgrounds and so the time allocation is a guide rather than a requirement. The credit value tells us approximately the size of the qualification.

Choosing an additional unit or units

To make a full certificate at level 1 in the QCF requires 13 credits so 3 more credits are needed from other units. The Spreadsheet unit provides 3 credits and is recommended for schools that need to satisfy National Curriculum requirements. Higher attaining learners could choose a unit from Level 2 eg Spreadsheets or Specialist Software to provide more challenge and support accelerated progression to that level. Credit can be carried forward from Entry level to a maximum of 3 credits.

School league tables

In England, school league tables are based on points and "thresholds".  At Level 1 the Silver INGOT provides 20% of the threshold value and 25 points. Typically this is the same contribution as a GCSE midway between grades E and F. This in turn is Level 4 to 5 in the National Curriculum. It is important for professional teachers and assessors to know these equivalencies because it helps ensure that assessment criteria are interpreted at the right level. 

Assessing the Silver INGOT

The mandatory units and selected additional units are documented on the INGOT web site with guidance for assessors in how to interpret the criteria. The criteria for these units are set up in the INGOT mark book on the certification/awards site. On the main web site the units are provided in tables with links from the assessment criteria to an assessors' guide. In turn there are links from the assessors' guide to the assessment criteria for  Key Stage 3 of the English National Curriculum. Th‎is means that if the learner is following the National Curriculum and can achieve Level 5, they can demonstrate competence against the Silver INGOT criteria and achieve the National Vocational Qualification at Level 1 concurrently. Another way to look at it is to cover the Silver INGOT criteria with the assessor guidance and use that as evidence of meeting the requirement for the National Curriculum at Level 5. There are no statutory requirements to assess in any particular way. What matters is providing convincing evidence that the criteria have been met.

A specific example

Here is one of the criteria for IPU.

2.2 I can use automated routines to improve productivity

Here is the assessor guidance

Candidates should be able to demonstrate the use of automated routines as identified in the context of well-defined tasks and subject to direction and guidance. They should demonstrate that they can create precise and accurate sequences of instructions to automate a routine, for example drawing a shape or controlling a device. This could be in the logo programming language, Scratch, Greenfoot, a macro in a spreadsheet or a control programme in design and technology. Evidence will be from inspection of pages they have created to document their work, eg an e-portfolio page identifying an automated sequence that they have used or a Blog entry.

There is a link from "Can create precise and accurate sequences of instructions" to Assessment Focus 2 at level 5 in the UK National IT strategy. There is a degree of discrepancy in the level of expectation with the National Curriculum at Level 4/5 being more demanding than QCF Level 1. In principle, if the candidate is a secure Level 5 in the National Curriculum in the domain of this Silver INGOT criterion, it is safe to assume that they are performing securely at that level with the skills in the ITQ. In order to be sure that the National Curriculum level is secure the assessor guidance needs to be observed and there are links to work exemplifying the National Curriculum levels linked from the web site. For those not constrained by the UK National Curriculum the first sentence in the guidance about using automated routines is sufficient and the links from the assessor guidance can be ignored.

The general guidance for Level 1 qualifications is 

 "..to use relevant knowledge, skills and procedures to complete routine tasks subject to direction or guidance, being aware of information relevant to the area of study or work, completing well-defined routine tasks, selecting and using relevant information and identifying whether actions have been effective"

Assessors should interpret the criteria and guidance in this vein. The difference between Level 1 and level 2 work in the QCF (Level 2 and 3 in the EQF) is mainly in the degree of autonomy and complexity required. Looking at the assessed work at NC level 5 and Level 7 linked to the web site should provide a good idea of the  expected difference. In general, QCF level 1 learners follow instructions and complete tasks that are simple and straightforward whereas QCF level 2 learners can engage with more complexity and engage more directly in problem solving.  Level 2 learners will be able to carry out well-defined tasks from general broad instructions whereas level 1 will need much more precise and exact details spelling out what they need to do. 

Providing Evidence

In most cases evidence is provided through web pages created by the learner to document their work. A level 1 learner will need regular support in organising their work whereas a level 2 learner, while still needing some direction and support at times, will take some initiative to determine the way they present their work and how to make it more interesting and relevant to the audience.

Projects

In order to make the context realistic candidates should be provided with the opportunity to work on small scale projects with an enterprising aspect. eg to provide useful information to the community or other people. At least one project is mandatory and this should represent several hours work drawing from across units. In particular the unit IPU requires evidence from at least one self-contained project. We encourage the use of more than one project and support of e-portfolios but we want to provide flexibility so there is no set number. Where possible contexts of work should be motivating to the individual, practical and realistic.

Web Site software unit

http://theingots.org/community/how_to_build_website_using_Google_sites

The link above provides a comprehensive set of instructions about how to set up a web site using Google sites. This can be used to cover the requirements for the level 1 and level 2 units depending on how much support and guidance is required. 

In general, although the criteria are grouped in units to organise the assessment credit there is no need for learning to take place in units and a project approach will make learning more relevant while providing assessment opportunities across the units. Using the forums on the INGOT learners' site and sharing ideas on a shared web page about building their Google Site will contribute to Collaborative Technologies and the overall planning and management to Improving Productivity Using IT. Please share your ideas for projects. There is a publicly editable page here. You can put ideas here and link to more details where relevant.  

All that is required is that there should be a clear link between the assessment criteria and the work produced as evidence. This might be accompanied by assessor comments attached to pages (The learner site has facilities to do this on each page) or learners can make links to the appropriate criteria on the INGOT web site. (There is no requirement to use the INGOT web site environment for learner work but if other systems are used TLM must have access to the pages for moderation and quality assurance purposes. Learners can link work between web pages in different applications) Other evidence that assessors might provide includes file attachments, results of internally set tests and witness by direct observation. Assessors might also use oral techniques by asking questions to establish what the candidate knows. In all cases there is one golden rule. "Does the evidence give reasonable grounds to make the judgement that the candidate is secure in meeting the criteria". There are no time constraints in meeting the criteria but it is expected that at the time of certification the candidate should be able to demonstrate overall capacity consistent with the criteria overall.

Summary of assessment for the Silver INGOT (QCF Level 1, EQF Level 2, UK NC Level 5)

The link above provides a summary of the assessment requirements.

Moderation

Assessors should record outcomes in the on-line markbook and keep reasonable samples of evidence to back up their judgements. When the criteria in a unit are all judged to be "Secure" or "High" the assessor requests the award and the Account Manager will ask to see samples of evidence on which the judgement is based. If this is convincing, the Account Manager will authorise the Award. If it is not, the assessor will have to provide more evidence or defer awarding the certificate until the candidate provides more evidence. At the annual visit, tthe Account Manager will further check procedures and general evidence available. Note that there is no set assessment date so if evidence is lacking it could simply be a matter of providing more of it. equally, it might be necessary for the learner to spend some more time on a particular aspect of the work. 

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