Here at Training Qualifications UK, we like to make sure you’re kept aware of all the most important goings-on in the world of End-Point Assessment. With that in mind, this week we provide a reminder about the Children, Young People and Families Manager standard, On-Programme learning and employer invigilation.
Children, Young People and Families Manager
Great news!! As previously communicated, we have been working closely with the IfATE, Ofqual and the Trailblazer Group to support the approval of a dispensation to allow the current Children, Young People and Families Manager Assessment Plan to become deliverable, therefore enabling Apprentices to undertake their End-Point Assessment.
We are now delighted to confirm that the dispensations for this standard have been approved. We are working full steam ahead to get our resources updated and can confirm that we will be Gateway-ready by Monday 1st March.
Full Process Training will be scheduled and delivered ahead of our Gateway Live Date. Training dates will be offered from Monday 22nd February onwards. Full confirmation of all training dates will be confirmed and rolled out shortly.
This document outlines all the approved changes from the current Assessment Plan. The detail within this document will be applied to the information found within the Children, Young People and Families Manager Assessment Plan.
We again want to thank those who have been patiently waiting for these changes for your understanding. We have worked hard behind the scenes to ensure that End-Point Assessment would allow Apprentices to achieve the grade that appropriately represents their competence within their role.
Minimum duration of On-Programme learning
To ensure that the minimum duration of On-Programme learning for an Apprentice has been met, our Verve EPA system will not allow any Apprentice to come through Gateway without meeting the minimum requirement.
Therefore, we advise that you ensure the start date on Verve EPA is correct in order to progress your Apprentices through Gateway.
Should you have any queries or require any support, please reach out to us at epa@tquk.org, or call us on 03333 583 344.
Employer Invigilation and MCQ Bookings
At the beginning of March and during the start of the first UK lockdown, we streamlined our processes and also relaxed certain practices for invigilation in order to support our centres.
However, as previously communicated, now that our newly established remote invigilation process is fully embedded and running smoothly, we have reverted back to business-as-usual. Therefore, we will no longer accept employer invigilation for MCQs and/or short-answer exams, unless this is under extreme circumstances and employer invigilation is the only viable option.
If this is the case, we ask that you please apply for permission by submitting a special consideration form to epa@tquk.org and quality@tquk.org ahead of the expected Gateway date. This document can be found on Verve EPA, under the generic support materials section.
MCQ Bookings for resits and retakes
Our MCQ booking process for any resits or retakes now sits with our Assessment Team. For us to ensure that a smooth and speedy process is followed for all parties, we kindly ask that our Assessment Preference documents are completed and emailed over to assessment@tquk.org. Once the request has been received, we will book the MCQ on Verve EPA. Please note that we ask for 5 working days’ notice for all MCQ Bookings.
When completing the Assessment Preference form with your chosen date and time, we kindly ask that all sections, including the invigilation method, are selected, again to facilitate a smooth process for all parties.
For any and all questions in relation to the process of an MCQ booking, please contact the Assessment Team directly at assessment@tquk.org, and a member of the team will be happy to support.
Team Leader/Supervisor Version 2 reminder
We would like to offer a small reminder that the deadline for transferring Apprentices over to version 2 of the Team Leader/Supervisor standard has arrived. With the exclusion of the exceptional circumstances we have already been made aware of, we are currently in the process of transferring all applicable Apprentices over to version 2.
As a reminder, we kindly ask that the version 2 Team Leader/Supervisor documents are used at Gateway.
Hair Professional
During a recent meeting involving The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) and The Hair Professional Employer Group Chair, the status of the End-Point Assessment for this standard remains as “Delay”. We, therefore, remain unable to conduct any End-Point Assessments for this standard at present.
The national lockdown has forced such closures due to the increased risk of these sectors operating whilst COVID is at a heightened peak. Therefore, we are not in a position to allow EPA to go ahead at this time. This includes Assessments being undertaken within the Training Provider setting, as this does not present a realistic working environment and relies on an independent End-Point Assessor being present, which is not permitted under the current government guidelines.
We fully appreciate the frustration the latest restrictions have caused. However, safety will remain at the heart of all we do.
We encourage you to continue to progress any “EPA ready” Apprentices through Gateway, so we can verify all required Gateway evidence and seek to allocate an EPA Assessor as soon as it is permissible for salons to reopen and it is safe for our Assessors to conduct the assessment.
Should government guidance and/or other updates associated with Close Contact Service emerge, we will, of course, continue to interpret these alongside IfATE and the Employer Group to adapt and respond accordingly.
Once able to allocate an Assessor, we will ask you to complete and submit an Onsite Assessment Declaration Form to confirm that the proposed assessment location meets any current government guidelines.
We are committed to keeping all our Centres updated as we move forward.
