Procedure for ensuring that there is access to individuals with expertise and awarding for the units offered
Procedure for ensuring staff and associates have access to relevant training and guidance in assessment.
Aim: The training programme for Account Managers is to provide the Account Managers with the professional knowledge and skills to adequately support Centres that are using the Learning Machine certificates.
This programme provides an overview of the expectation of the recruit in becoming a productive member of the company. It covers the fundamental concepts and principles of the certificates, setting the level of expectation for the Assessors and making judgements about the levels assessed. It also provides details of the procedures for dealing with Centres and Academies in terms of the company policies on customer care and associated issues.
Programme Goals and Objectives:
Trainees should
Recruits will be given a tour of the building and introduced to colleagues, they will be assigned a desk and workstation and the Technical Manager will go through the basic workings of their station, the available software and the company ICT systems. The Accounts Director will provide a general overview of the work and this outline of the induction programme and subsequent training and support. The recruit will be provided with a copy of the latest version of the handbook [2]. The recruit will then be given time to read the handbook to fully familiarise themselves with its content. The Accounts Director will then lead a dialogue with the recruit to ascertain the level of understanding. Further discussion will be conducted and focused attention to any weak areas until the Accounts Director is sure that the recruit is in a position to support the content and procedures in the handbook.
Entry Level Qualifications - 2 days
The recruit will re-visit the handbook and study the criteria for the Entry Level Qualifications referred to as the Bronze INGOT in the handbook. This has a full title of Entry Level certificate in Open Systems and Office Applications but is referred to as Bronze INGOT for convenience. The recruit will read through the tutorial and confirm their understanding of the levels expected. When this work is complete, the recruit will visit a practising centre or academy to meet a Principal Assessor and to observe assessment by an experienced assessor including inspection of samples of student work. On returning to base there will be a debrief with the Chief Executive.
Level 1 Qualifications - 2 days
This will be a repeat of the procedure for the Entry Level qualification but with the Level 1 criteria. The Level 1 qualification is referred to as Silver INGOT for convenience.
Level 2 Qualifications - 3 days
This will be a repeat of the procedure for the Level 1 qualification but with the Level 2 criteria. The Level 2 qualification is referred to as Gold INGOT for convenience.
There will be a detailed discussion of the community service requirements with the Accounts Director and a Principal Assessor at one of the Centres or Academies. On returning to base there will be a debrief with the Chief Executive.
Moderation/verification techniques - 1 day
The Principal Moderator will explain the purpose of moderation and explain how moderation works in different examination settings. The recruit will therefore be able to contextualise the moderation procedures for The Learning Machine certificates with those employed in different subjects and circumstances. The emphasis will be on thresholds. Does the evidence match the minimum reasonable interpretation of the criteria?
The recruit will shadow an experienced moderator to visit at least 5 more centres and academies working towards a position where they are confident to take over and conduct the moderation with only supervision.
Initial assignments The recruit will be provided with 5 "prospective" Centres/Academies that have expressed an interest in taking part. Under the guidance of the Accounts Director they will be expected to take these organisations through the procedures for registration and ensure that they understand the requirements of a Centre, filling out the on-line agreement. When this procedure has been complete the recruit will become responsible for these accounts and organising the appropriate moderation visits. The Accounts Director will continue to monitor the work of the recruit and assign further Centres to them as confidence and experience grows.
Guidance for moderators on sampling
If the sample is less than 10 all work should be reviewed. If the sample is greater than 10 at least 10 samples should be taken until 10 samples constitute 10% of the full work available. Beyond this 10% is sufficient. The moderator should decide on which learners' work to sample focussing on candidates at the borderlines of grade boundaries where appropriate ensuring the full range of grades is represented. All assessors' work should be sampled and feedback given where there are inconsistencies. Priority should be given to new assessors or any that have shown inconsistencies in the past. The aim should be to make the process formative so that assessors become more consistent over time and that resources are targeted oon greatest need.
At the end of 3 months the Accounts Director will conduct an appraisal of the recruit's progress using the checklist below and providing feedback to the recruit and an opportunity for dialogue. The recruit will then set 3 key targets for self-improvement with annual review of progress.
Check list item |
Achieved |
Familiarity with office and general working procedures | |
Familiarity with the web site | |
Familiarity with the handbook | |
Confidence when dealing with assessors | |
Understanding of procedures for disputes and enquiries | |
General support and responding to queries | |
Contacting centres to check if they need anything | |
Following up interest for prospective centres | |
Familiarity with Entry Level Certificate criteria and assessors guide | |
Familiarity with Level 1 Certificate criteria and assessors guide | |
Familiarity with Level 2 Certificate criteria and assessors guide | |
Flexibility and willingness to take responsibility |
The training of assessor trainers will ensure that all trained assessors can demonstrate the professional knowledge and skills to assess at the specified level to the criteria presented in the INGOTs.org handbook.
All assessor trainers must
Assessor trainers should
Procedures for ensuring assessor competence
There is no definitive method since the circumstances will vary considerably. What matters is that the assessor has the ability and credibility to make sound judgements at the level at which they are assessing. A suitable approach would be to ask the potential assessor to demonstrate that they possessed relevant skills to match the criteria in the handbook. Carry out some joint assessment work with the potential assessor and check that they make sound judgements. Examine the evidence that the potential assessor has professional experience in relevant similar fields such as assessing National Curriculum levels or assessing course work in similar examination work.
Example training course for assessors
There is an on-line course to support assessor training here [3]
Demonstration of making awards and using the management facilities on the certification web site (30 minutes)
Security issues and professional responsibility
Question and answer session on the importance of password security and sensible measures to reduce the chances of passwords being misused. Guidance on the procedures for communicating with the Awarding Body, making reasonable adjustments, appeals and authenticating certificates. (1 hour)
Item to be checked
|
Achieved |
Familiarity with the handbook |
|
Personal competence against the assessment criteria |
|
Confidence in making judgements against the criteria |
|
Understanding of procedures for disputes and enquiries |
|
Understanding the process of moderation and standardisation |
|
Understanding how to contact the Account Manager |
|
Understanding the principles of assessment to promote learning |
The Principal Assessor in the Centre will:
Assessors and Assessor Trainers will keep examples of student work to demonstrate their understanding of the criteria and to discuss this at visits by the Account Manager.
Procedure for ensuring expertise is used appropriately
Links
[1] https://theingots.org/community/ofqual_policies
[2] https://theingots.org/community/sites/default/files/uploads/user2256/Staff%20Handbook%202nd%20Draft%20230217.doc
[3] https://theingots.org/community/train