Key concepts and principles of the internal quality assurance of assessment in the Level 4 Award in the Internal Quality Assurance of Assessment Processes and Practice

Improving the Level 4 Award in the Internal Quality Assurance of Assessment Processes and Practice

Similar to assessment, the IQA cycle is about improvement. After I have delivered the Level 4 Award in the Internal Quality Assurance of Assessment Processes and Practice, I need to evaluate the whole assessment process to make sure its effective, it achieves its aim and then find areas for improvement whether that’s in the teaching, assessing or quality assurance areas.

The IQA Cycle in the Level 4 Award in the Internal Quality Assurance of Assessment Processes and Practice

The IQA cycle is split into five areas.

First you need to identify what is being taught, assessed and quality assured. You need to identify any units involved.

The second stage is planning, in the Level 4 Award in the Internal Quality Assurance of Assessment Processes and Practice, we need to plan what is going to be monitored by who and when. This might be monitoring a whole course, a small sample of a course and could be during the course or at the end. You will be planning which teachers and assessors you will be sampling and any units as well.

The next stage is IQA activities, and this might include sampling work, talking to learners or supervisors about their experiences, carrying out standardisation activities and preparing for EQA visits.

Next you will make a judgement as to whether your trainers or assessors has performed their role accordingly. You will give developmental feedback as to what could be improved and follow up with a report. The last stage is to evaluate assessment and IQA process and determine actions to improve the whole process.

Our own accountability in the Level 4 Award in the Internal Quality Assurance of Assessment Processes and Practice

When delivering the Level 4 Award in the Internal Quality Assurance of Assessment Processes and Practice we need to be accountable to the awarding body. We need to follow the assessment strategy which may be dictated by external bodies or our own devised strategy. We need to review potential risks that can affect assessment such as assessor experience, workload when planning our IQA activities. Newly qualified assessors will need more support.

We also need to sample the Level 4 Award in the Internal Quality Assurance of Assessment Processes and Practice to ensure that we cover interim and summative stages so not just always at the end but also the sample delivery and progress so our strategy must cover all aspects of the qualification. We need to have a purpose of why we carry out IQA activities and its generally always because we want to improve the quality of assessments.

Key principles in the Level 4 Award in the Internal Quality Assurance of Assessment Processes and Practice

Key principles related to the Level 4 Award in the Internal Quality Assurance of Assessment Processes and Practice is to ensure that our assessors are competent in their role and that we provide regular communication with our assessors, employers, and learners. Its important that our qualifications embrace the equality and diversity of our learners and that we ensure that we maintain records during the teacher, learning and assessment.

We also need to ensure that we comply with ethics so that the assessment and IQA process is honest and moral. Lastly CPD is a key principle to ensure IQAs develop, and our trainers and assessors improve their competency to deliver better qualifications.