Qualification Focus: First Aid Qualifications
At LASER we transform people’s lives by the recognition of their learning and achievement....
Assessment involves establishing how much an individual learner or group has learnt, and will involve both learners and tutors/assessors. In some cases the process begins before the course starts and continues until after it has finished. Assessment is the judgement of evidence showing that learning has taken place (an act of measurement) and confirms that a learning outcome, or part of a learning outcome, has been achieved.
Learning is a change in skill and/or attitude and/or knowledge and measuring these changes are the steps in the assessment process.
What is internal quality assurance?
Internal quality assurance is a process where assessment practices and decisions are sampled and evaluated by a different member of the centres staff from the person who carried out the assessments, and the findings are acted upon to ensure consistency and fairness. It also helps to develop assessors and identify training/CPD needs, and/or changes necessary to policies and procedures.
When does internal quality assurance take place?
Internal quality assurance is not a one-off event but a continuous process, and specific activities should take place:
Before a learning programme is delivered, to ensure all assessment criteria will be covered by appropriate assessment methods and activities
During a learning programme, to sample assessment decisions and feedback (formative sampling), and enable any necessary changes to be made before the learners complete the programme in order not to disadvantage the learners
At the end of a learning programme to sample assessment decisions and feedback (summative sampling).
What assessment decisions does an internal quality assurer (IQA) sample?
An IQA samples and makes judgements on assessment decisions made by all assessors against the:
learning outcomes
assessment criteria
prescribed/mandatory assessment methods (if relevant).
How much assessed work should an IQA sample?
As a general guide, an IQA should sample at least 10% of completed portfolios, or five portfolios, whichever is the most, per course run.
However, the experience of the assessors must be taken into account, with new/inexperienced assessor decisions being sampled more often than those made my experienced assessors. It is also important to consider other aspects which may increase risk factors, such as whether the unit is new to the centre or established, when selecting the sample size.
What does currency mean and how is it relevant to an IQA?
Currency relates to the content and information provided to learners being up to date, for example ensuring that where legislation is taught, this is always the latest version. One of the IQA's responsibilities is to check that this remains the case.
Does LASER insist centres use standard forms when designing, planning and undertaking internal quality assurance?
No, LASER is flexible in allowing centres to design their own documents. However, there are a number of guideline templates which centres can use if they wish.
Across the qualification, centres should adopt a standard approach and be consistent in the types of internal quality assurance forms and templates they use.
What types of internal quality assurance templates are there?
The internal quality assurance templates are available on the LASER Quartz web portal. These are:
IQA01 Record Keeping to Evidence Internal Quality Assurance
IQA02 Internal Quality Assurance Report on a Single Learner Portfolio
IQA03 Internal Quality Assurance Sampling Record
IQA04 Report on Internal Quality Assurance Visit to Learners
IQA05 Internal Quality Assurer Feedback to Assessor Report
IQA06 Standardisation Record
IQA07 Sampling Record – Sample 1
IQA07 Sampling Record – Sample 2
IQA08 Internal Quality Assurance Quality Checklist
IQA09 Pre Course Verification
IQA10 Standardisation Meeting Agenda Template
IQA13 Summary Report Template.
Why do we need them?
Tracking learners’ progress, mapping their achievements and recording these for scrutiny by the Internal and External Quality Assurers is an essential part of quality assurance in LASER accreditation. We believe that this system will support you in making your record keeping activities as easy as possible, by planning and integrating the documents into the whole learning, assessing and evidencing process.
The templates support tutors and Internal Quality Assurers in setting up a workable and coherent planning, tracking and recording system for learners’ achievements and verification.
Can LASER’s internal quality assurance templates be adapted by the centre?
Yes. The templates can be adapted to meet the needs of the centre. This should be consistent across the qualification and cover the key internal quality assurance activities.
Can we devise our own recording documents?
The templates are intended to support centres, but where existing documents are working well, we do not insist that the LASER ones are used. They may, however, be used to fill gaps or to provide ideas for customising existing documents.
Do we need to use all of them?
Only two are essential, namely, the assessment planning document and the individual learner record for unit achievement. The others can be used as appropriate.
The assessor and internal quality assurance planning and tracking templates are available on the Quartz web portal.
