QUALITY ASSURANCE FOR EXPRESS APPRENTICESHIPS

New quality assurance arrangements for apprenticeships in England have been introduced by the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IFATE).

Most external quality assurance (EQA) is now carried out by Ofqual, England’s statutory regulator for qualifications, with EQA for degree level apprenticeships carried out by the Office for Students (OFS).

To ensure that all EQA activity is guided by sector expertise, IFATE has set up a new group of professional and employer-led organisations. This is called the Employer Directory, enabling Ofqual and OfS to draw on industry expertise.

In November 2021, IOC was approved as a member of the Employer Directory. This means that IOC is providing courier sector insights to both Ofqual and OFS. We do this through the IOC staff, through IOC Fellows and others in our network.

The tasks we can be asked to carry out as a member of the Employer Directory include:

• Give advice on developments within our sector germane to the delivery of the apprenticeship, for example, changes to workplace practices that may impact upon the standard, end-point assessment plan or end-point assessment materials.

• Commenting on assessment material developed by end point assessment organisations to ensure that they provide a relevant and up-to-date assessment of occupational competence from an employer perspective.

• Where EQA activity by Ofqual or the OfS has identified that an end-point assessment organisation is failing to deliver a particular assessment activity, or the end-point assessment of a particular apprenticeship standard to the appropriate level, we may be asked to work with the EPAO in question to help them to improve.

To guide us in that work, we’ve developed a Conflict of Interest policy to ensure that the individuals we nominate for EQA work have no conflict of interest, such as the direct provision of training to apprentices covered by EQA activity.