The internal quality assurance plan of the Level 4 Award in the Internal Quality Assurance of Assessment Processes and Practice

What influences the plan of the Level 4 Award in the Internal Quality Assurance of Assessment Processes and Practice

In the Level 4 Award in the Internal Quality Assurance of Assessment Processes and Practice, our plan is a result of our assessors, learners, units, methods and types. Many factors influence our plan so let’s look into more detail.

How assessors affect the Level 4 Award in the Internal Quality Assurance of Assessment Processes and Practice

With assessors, we consider their experience, qualifications, workloads and even locations. This is important as less experienced assessors for the Level 4 Award in the Internal Quality Assurance of Assessment Processes and Practice need more support than experienced assessors and assessors new to our organisation need more support than someone whose worked with us for several years. If assessors have a high workload, then the likelihood of them making mistakes is higher but again other assessors could be working elsewhere and may be stretch for time.

We would also consider our learners completing the Level 4 Award in the Internal Quality Assurance of Assessment Processes and Practice as they may have their own individual requirements such as learning difficulties and learning styles to ensure they are not being disadvantaged and we can also look at age, gender and ethnic origins to ensure that we are discriminating against individuals. We also need to consider location as well as we shouldn’t always assess learners completing the Level 4 Award in the Internal Quality Assurance of Assessment Processes and Practice online but also go out and see our learners in person.

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

You might consider any particular units or problem areas so for the Level 4 Award in the Internal Quality Assurance of Assessment Processes and Practice the practical unit is more problematic than unit 1 which is theory based so we are likely to sample a higher ratio of these units. And like new qualifications that you start to deliver, you’re going to want to quality assure these qualifications more than ones that are already established and familiar as there is greater risk.

Lastly you need to consider the types of assessment records to ensure validity and reliability. Again, some pose greater risk than others.  

Please remember IQA is not solely about sampling assessed work but should include observing practice, talking to learners and others involved. It must cover the whole programme and not just one aspect. Don’t always IQA at the end as if there is a problem, its going to be too late to rectify it so make some effort to be proactive rather than reactive.

You need to have several plans when you IQA, as a minimum you need an observation plan for observing delivery and assessing, a meeting and standardisation plan and lastly a sampling plan and tracking sheet for each cohort. It is likely that your organisation will have their own, if not, we’re happy to share ours. Just like the IQA cycle, evaluating your plan will allow you to tweak your IQA plan over time and make improvements. It’s not something that you will be expected to get right, right away and tiny regular improvements will make a large difference and you can consult with your assessors during standardisation to ensure that the plan improves over time.