There is therefore a need to maintain consistency and this cannot be left to chance. Quality assurance is incredibly important to what we do here at TQUK. All of our centres require at least one scheduled EQA activity per year. Then it is up to the External Quality Assurer (EQA), who works for the Awarding Organisation (us! The EQA will also gather samples of the reports written by the IQA to see if they agree with everything. works to ensure reliability among assessors within an organisation, so an external quality assurance (EQA) process works to ensure reliability between organisations in relation to consistent application of assessment criteria. The method of checking the assessment decisions made by the assessor and the IQA is done through sampling. This could be investigations into plagiarism, malpractice or complaints, among other things. Extract from City & Guilds Level 3 & 4 Awards & Certificates in Assessment and Quality Assurance Qualification handbook for centres, Evaluate the importance of quality assurance in the assessment process. Today, quality assurance measures the standards that go into a product or service before it goes out to the public. If centres wish to do so, then they must send in their potential assessments to be reviewed and approved by our Quality Team. There are many different processes that go into this. They must be confident that they are being treated fairly and consistently, that they will have what they need to complete their qualification and that their award/qualification will be worth the paper it is written on. External Quality Assurance The Quality Assurance Framework is essentially a structured manifestation of good academic practice. The purpose of quality assurance is to confirm that the work of these learners has been quality assured to the appropriate standard. To further appreciate how assessment practice and quality assurance are inextricably linked, assessors will contribute to accurate record keeping and ensure that they meet legal, equality and good practice requirements in relation to assessment. Regional moderation meetings are also often organised by awarding bodies and these provide opportunities to meet others from different organisations to discuss and reflect on assessment procedures and quality assurance. ), to check the judgement of the IQA to see if they agree with the IQA’s decisions. Their main responsibility is to the awarding body. Just as IQA your own paper. Without quality assurance, there would be nothing guaranteeing the validity of our qualifications. Evaluation can fulfil a variety of roles in the quality assurance process, including acting as part of the quality assessment process or as a structure for devising quality enhancement plans (Oliver and Conole, 2000). The development of a sampling strategy and plan must be drawn up and implemented by those undertaking the IQA role. Samples of candidates’ marked work are circulated, leading to helpful discussions regarding interpretation of criteria as well as the various assessment processes, procedures and strategies used. Some of our qualifications allow our centres to devise their own assessments. These activities are also an opportunity for centres to ask EQAs any questions they may have. For City & Guilds External Quality Assurance involves: The purpose of quality assurance is to confirm that the work of these learners has been quality assured to the appropriate standard. Discussing and sharing ideas about assessment strategies with others in the team as well as the interpretation and implementation of assessment criteria and associated guidelines as presented in course documentation. This is known as the validation or approval process. If a learner has already completed that unit, then they will not need to complete it again for the Level 4 Certificate. Monitoring of learning delivery We hope this blog gave you a little glimpse into the hard work our Quality Team complete every day here at TQUK. Internal Quality Assurance (IQA) Assessors This means appointing appropriate member(s) of staff as internal quality assurer(s)/verifier(s) to check that processes and procedures are applied consistently and to provide feedback to both the team concerned and to the awarding body.