We are always working on improving the efficiency and effectiveness of our processes to improve the service we can provide to yourselves and your apprentices. We will be making the following changes and will send full details for each change over the coming weeks to help you better understand them. There are changes to Gateway requirements, MCQ bookings and the introduction of an Apprentice survey.
Gateway Changes
Required Information on Verve at Gateway
From Monday 10th February, we will be putting all Apprentices on hold who do not have the ‘Apprentice Profile’ page fully completed on Verve EPA. This is to assist us in:
- Fully informing End-Point Assessors of significant Apprentice information vital to the assessment.
- Implementing internal processes including assessment bookings and certificate claims.
When we do not have all the information we require for the entire EPA journey, it can lead to the journey stalling or becoming disjointed as we put apprentices on hold at Gateway or delaying assessment components due to having to request information. With this new change, we will have all the information we require at Gateway to enable a smoother process. Full details of this will be communicated prior to this change coming into place.
Assessment Preference
We are currently working on reviewing and updating all our assessment documents across all 36 standards that we offer. As part of this change, we will be updating all Gateway meeting documents to require an assessment preference for all components. In the meantime, whilst we work our way through these, we have put together an Assessment Preference document that must be completed from Monday 10th February before the Apprentice can pass through Gateway. We would suggest that this is completed during the Gateway meeting. Please note, if the assessment preference document is not completed, the Apprentice will not be able to pass through Gateway. The completion of this document will be key to us being able to allocate End-Point Assessors to apprentices within our agreed SLA and understand the requirements of the assessment.
Portfolios required at Gateway
To allow our End-Point Assessors to be suitably prepared for the EPA process and to improve the experience for apprentices along their journey, from Monday 10th February any standard with a component that is to be completed prior to gateway, whether assessed or not, will require this component to be uploaded to Verve EPA or provide an E-Portfolio link and password before the Apprentice can pass through Gateway. We will send a full list of components where this is required prior to this change coming into place. This allows the End-Point Assessor to familiarise themselves with the portfolio and prepare relevant questions for the assessment component. This will also apply to standards where these components are not graded by the End-Point Assessor but are instead used as a support tool as it still provides important context to the End-Point Assessor when preparing for the assessment components.
Other
MCQ booking process moving in-house
The booking of MCQs onto our Verve EPA system will be managed internally from Monday 10th February, taking the responsibility off our EPA assessors and thus freeing up their time to focus on the rest of the End-Point Assessment. This will require MCQ dates to be agreed prior to the Apprentice being submitted through Gateway (we suggest the dates to be arranged at the Gateway meeting) and added to the meeting record or assessment preference document. The date agreed for the MCQ must not be within five working days of the Apprentice coming through Gateway and may be subject to change if Gateway requirements are not met. We require this five day minimum lead-time to ensure the booking is included on our report that the Assessment team use to send out MCQ links. When the Apprentice is then submitted through Gateway on Verve EPA, our EPA team will complete their usual Gateway review and update the system with the dates submitted, before informing the End-Point Assessor so they are aware of dates in preparation of the assessment planning meeting.
Apprentice Surveys
We will be introducing an Apprentice Survey that will be sent to apprentices after their assessment components have been completed. It will be a short 10 question survey that will provide us with some invaluable feedback to assist us in our continual strive for improvement. We would really appreciate any support you can offer in asking the apprentices to complete this.
A final note, the Verve EPA system has gone through an update and the system operators have made some changes that will come into effect from week commencing 20th January. We will communicate these changes closer to the time to help you better understand them.
If you have any questions please email epa@tquk.org. |
