Catch22 College: Assessment and IQA policy

Catch22 reserves the right to amend this policy, following consultation, where appropriate.

Date of last review: October 2025

Date of next review: August 2026

What is the policy about?

Catch22 Colleges are committed to delivering high quality education that consistently meets the need of its learners, employees and the requirements of all its Awarding Organisation standards. Catch22 Colleges will maintain integrity by adhering to Awarding Organisations’ centre agreements in line with centre approvals, through internal policy and procedure on assessment, and continued quality assurance activity.

The purpose of the Assessment and IQA policy is to deliver guidance for providing all learners access to equal opportunities and fair assessment, whilst outlining roles and responsibilities for different stakeholders.

This document is to be used in conjunction with:

each assessment strategy issued by the Awarding Organisation to meet qualification requirements for each of the qualifications we, as centres, are approved to offer,
each Awarding Organisation’s Quality Strategy,
Catch22 IQA Strategy,
Catch22 Quality Assurance Framework, and
other internal policy and process.

Who does this policy apply to?

This policy applies to all academic, vocational and competence-based programmes, and all learners registered for qualifications under the college’s centre numbers for the duration of their time on programme, as well as all staff involved in the delivery and/or assessment of these qualifications.

Policy requirements

Quality assurance

Awarding organisations must validate that centre assessment judgements accurately reflect learners’ skills, knowledge and understanding. This helps ensure public confidence in learner results and guarantees vocational qualifications can meaningfully support learner progression into employment, further and higher education.

Quality assurance activities include checks and balances put in place to ensure centres deliver assessments in line with published standards and can accurately evidence this when subject to external scrutiny. It also means that awarding organisations can check the accuracy of centre assessment judgements, and provide feedback, improvement actions, or adjustments where necessary.

Consistent and effective quality assurance requires us to work closely with our awarding bodies. As such, our quality assurance model should encompass;

IQA – Internal quality assurance (activities and processes undertaken within our centres) and
EQA – External quality assurance (activities and processes undertaken by awarding bodies).

Our awarding bodies operate a risk-based approach to quality assurance, where the frequency and type of monitoring activities are based upon the type of qualification, the assessment methods, as well as the risks presented at centre and/or qualification level.

Assessment

All assessment processes must be planned and fair in both intent and outcome, conducted in a valid, timely, consistent and reliable manner to provide all learners with an equal opportunity to demonstrate their learning and achievements. All involved in assessment process must do their utmost to ensure that assessments are delivered in a secure and safe way. All planning and assessment activity must be completed and recorded in accordance with requirements of the awarding organisation, so that relevant external quality assurance monitoring can be undertaken.

For all qualifications, all learners must be registered with the Awarding Organisation prior to assessment taking place.

Types of assessment

Formative assessment: should be regular and timely to recognise positive achievement and provide support for areas requiring further development. The outcomes of formative assessment should be used to inform future learning and development and support successful achievement during summative assessment. Formative assessment should link to specific assessment criteria as well as wider employability, maths and English skills.

Summative assessment: should be timely and planned to ensure assessment dates are evenly spread to support and promote opportunities for high achievement. Summative assessment should be included within an assessment plan that includes proposed dates and completion deadlines, which are issued to learners on commencement of their programme. Summative assessment feedback against specific standards or criteria should be completed within 10 working days after learner submission, providing clear and constructive feedback which confirms positive achievement and informs future learning and development where required. Summative assessment should link to specific assessment criteria as well as wider employability, maths and English skills.

Controlled or Synoptic Assessment: requires learners to demonstrate that they can identify and use effectively, in an integrated way, an appropriate selection of skills, techniques, concepts, theories and knowledge; applying learning in realistic contexts using scenarios and activities to draw on and apply learning whilst in a controlled setting under supervision by the centre. Most qualification specifications will formally identify units to be a focus for controlled or synoptic assessment and this should be planned appropriately around any deadlines provided by the Awarding Organisation. Controlled or Synoptic units may be assessed internally or externally and in all cases the Awarding Organisation specification should be reviewed for specific details.

External Assessment: Please refer to the JCQ ICE (instruction for conducting exams) document for any external assessments.

Access to fair assessment, reasonable adjustment

Catch22 Colleges promote equal opportunities in education, training and employment and are committed to supporting learners to gain achievement and qualifications. There are several access arrangements and reasonable adjustments available to eligible learners, which ensure that they are not disadvantaged in any way. Access arrangements are pre-examination adjustments for learners based on evidence of need and normal ways of working. In all cases, the latest awarding organisation guidance on access arrangements and reasonable adjustments should be reviewed and applications made through the Awarding Organisation in a timely manner and in accordance with awarding organisation regulations. For all information regarding access to fair assessment please see Catch22 Colleges Access and Fair Assessment Policy.

Special consideration

The College should negotiate any special arrangements with awarding organisations for learners with specific needs and secure appropriate arrangements for access to, and support in, the assessment process as laid down in awarding organisations procedures prior to assessment taking place. For all information regarding special considerations in assessment please see Catch22 Colleges Access and Fair Assessment Policy.

Recognition of prior learning (RPL)

Recognition of prior learning (RPL) is the process by which individuals can gain credit towards qualifications based on evidence from previous summative assessment and achievements. The process recognises the achievements of an individual by comparing knowledge, skills and competencies against the requirements of a standard. RPL should be used as a method of assessment (leading to the award of credit) that considers whether learners can demonstrate that they can meet the assessment requirements for a unit or parts of a unit through the knowledge, understanding or skills they already possess and so do not need to develop through a course of learning.

The College is committed to ensuring that all learners have access to individual learning programmes which consider prior learning, knowledge and skills. Learners should be supported and encouraged at interview and enrolment to reflect on their experiences and identify their learning achievements. In doing so, a learner’s RPL may:

enable them to access a particular course.
provide evidence of accreditation/formal credit towards nationally recognised qualifications.
exempt them from the normal entry requirements, or from part of a course.

In looking at RPL as a route to accreditation, the Assessor must undertake a range of activities, which may not have the same emphasis as in more traditional practices. Acceptable evidence of RPL includes, but is not limited to:

Learners have successfully completed the assessment criteria for a whole or part of a unit within a qualification.
Learners have evidence of recent prior study within the last two years which meets assessment criteria of the current programme of study being undertaken in full.
RPL must be included on the appropriate sampling plan as an assessment method and is subject to IQA.

Circumstances when prior learning will not be recognised includes, but is not limited to:

Learning that is similar to assessment criteria but which has been met at a level lower than the current programme of study being undertaken by the learner.
Prior learning that is more than two years old.
Prior learning that has not been assessed by an assessor.

All prior learning that is submitted as evidence by a learner must be complemented by a professional discussion to ensure the learner’s knowledge of the application meets the requirements of the assessment criteria.

The assessor receiving the learners’ prior learning must be satisfied that the evidence provided meets the assessment criteria for which it has been submitted and where evidence from prior learning is weak, the receiving assessor must plan further work with the learner as appropriate.

Any assessor applying RPL should check specific requirements with the relevant awarding organisation on all occasions.

Centre assessment

For some qualifications, certain assessments are internally assessed by our colleges and externally quality assured by awarding organisations. In these instances, centres are best positioned to accurately assess learner skills and knowledge. These types of assessment have certain attributes in their design that lend themselves to internal centre assessment, that may include:

a significant practical element
the generation of brief evidence
assessment that takes place over time
holistic marking, taking in all aspects of learner performance across a range of tasks.

Where assessment judgements are made by centres, it is vital that common standards are met across all centres delivering the qualification. As such, centre quality assurance activities and external monitoring play an equal part in maintaining assessment standards and ensuring the validity of learner results.

The type of quality assurance method needed will depend upon the specific attributes of the assessment and will be indicated in the relevant qualification and/ or assessment material and should be reviewed by the IQA team.

Assessment decisions and records

Colleges must set up and maintain reliable, auditable quality assurance systems for documenting centre marking and assessment records.

Colleges must keep adequate records to track learner progress and allow for independent authentication of certification claims, and external quality assurance. These records must include the following:

A list of all learners registered for each qualification offered, including their:
- Name, date of birth and contact details (including address, telephone number and email address)
- Starting date at the centre
- Date of registration with the awarding organisation
- Learner registration number
- Unique Learner Number (if applicable)
- Assessors’ and tutors’ name(s)
- Internal Quality Assurer’s name(s).

Learner assessment records detailing:
- Assessor details
- When assessment took place
- The assessment decision
- The assessment methods
- The storage location of relevant supporting evidence
- Any access arrangements or special considerations granted.

Records of internal quality assurance activity detailing:
- IQA details
- When internal quality assurance took place
- The sampling strategy, including the sample selected and the rationale for choosing that sample.
- Details of IQA standardisation meetings with any evidence
- Assessor and IQA competence, including copies of certificates, CVs and records of their continuing professional development, relevant qualifications and their monitored progress towards required qualifications.
- Records of certificates claimed – who claimed them and when
- Evidence that any GLH requirements have been met (if required in the relevant qualification and/or assessment materials).
- Records of learner appeals and complaints – who appealed/ complained, about what, when, and the outcome.

Record retention

Assessed learner work will be retained for at least 12 weeks after learner certification and assessment and IQA records retained for at least 3 years. Where a qualification is selected for external quality assurance, the learner assessment evidence including learner work must be retained for the external quality assurance visit or sample.

In the case of extenuating circumstances, all records must be retained by the college for at least 3 years, including supporting evidence and decision outcome.

Where an investigation of suspected malpractice or maladministration is carried out, related records and documentation must be retained for at least 3 years. Records should include any work of the learner and assessment or internal quality assurance records relevant to the investigation.

In the instance of an investigation involving a criminal prosecution or civil claim, records and documentation will be retained by the college for at least 6 years in line with Ofqual regulation after the case has been heard. In the case of an appeal to an awarding organisation against the outcome of a malpractice of maladministration investigation, assessment records will be retained for at least 6 years by the college.

Tracking of every unit should be kept up to date by the assessor to ensure that recognition of every unit completed is claimed against the correct criteria with the awarding organisation.

The assessor is responsible for ensuring early leavers are fully aware of units completed and units still to be achieved to ensure full RPL for that learner if they choose to carry on their qualification with another provider.

The assessor is responsible for liaising with their lead teacher to ensure all unit credits are claimed against the relevant Awarding Organisation.

Moderation

Moderation is the process by which internal assessors are standardised to a national standard to review centre marking of internally marked assessments. External Moderators will mark a representative sample of centre marked; candidates’ work from every centre. Their marks act as a benchmark to inform the awarding organisation whether centre marking is in line with the national standard. Where moderation shows that the centre is applying the marking criteria correctly, centre marks for the whole cohort will be accepted. Where moderation shows that the centre is either consistently too lenient or consistently too harsh in comparison to the national standard, an appropriate adjustment will be made to the marks of the whole cohort, retaining the centre’s rank ordering. Where centre application of the marking criteria is inconsistent, an appropriate adjustment for the whole cohort may not be possible based on the sample of candidates’ work. In these instances, a complete remark of the candidates’ work may be necessary. This may be carried out by the centre based on feedback provided by the external moderator or carried out by the external moderator directly. Moderation applies to all internally marked assignments.

Following standardisation and marking, colleges should submit all marks and candidates’ work to the awarding organisation. In some instances, there may be a requirement for moderators to visit centres to observe practical assessments being undertaken. This will be for qualifications where the assessment of essential learner skills can only be demonstrated through live observation. The purpose of these visits is to ensure college staff are assessing the practical skills to the required standards, and to provide the external moderators with additional evidence to be used during moderation. These visits should be planned with the awarding organisation for all relevant qualifications. In all cases, awarding organisation guidance for moderation should be reviewed and adhered to.

Malpractice

‘Malpractice’ means any act, default or practice which is a breach of the regulations or which:

gives rise to prejudice to learners; and/ or
compromises public confidence in qualifications; and/ or
compromises, attempts to compromise or may compromise the process of assessment, the integrity of any qualification or the validity of a result or certificate; and/ or
damages the authority, reputation or credibility of any awarding body or centre or any officer, employee or agent of any awarding body or centre.

Malpractice includes maladministration and instances of non-compliance with the regulations.

‘Maladministration’ is defined as any activity, practice or omission which results in centre or learner noncompliance with administrative regulations and requirements. For example, persistent mistakes or poor administration within a centre resulting in the failure to keep appropriate learner assessment records.

Failure to report suspected malpractice and/ or to co-operate with follow up activity may lead to awards not being made, certificates not being issued, future entries and/ or registrations not being accepted or withdrawal of qualification and/or centre approval.

It is everybody’s responsibility to be vigilant against malpractice and report any suspected malpractice to their line manager and the awarding body.

For further information on malpractice and how to report it, please refer Catch22 Colleges Malpractice Maladministration and Plagiarism Policy, and to the awarding body documentation.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) guidance from the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ)

ChatGPT and other forms of AI could be used by learners. To support centres, the JCQ has shared guidance to help avoid misuse.

While the potential for learner AI misuse is new, most of the ways to prevent or mitigate the risks of misuse are not. Colleges should establish measures to ensure that learners are aware of the importance of submitting their own independent work for assessment and for identifying potential malpractice.

The JCQ guidance reminds centres and assessors of best practice in this area, and helpfully applies it in the context of AI use. Catch22 Colleges need to:

explain the importance of learners submitting their own independent work,
ensure that assessors are familiar with AI tools and their risks,
ensure that learners acknowledge the use of AI when used,
explain that misuse of AI tools is malpractice.

Within the document, there is a list of potential indicators of AI use that may help identify work where learners have misused AI.

For further information please review the JCQ AI use in Assessment Guidance document.

Conflict of interest

A conflict of interest is defined as a conflict between the official responsibilities of a tutor, assessor, teacher and IQA and any other interests the individual may have and which could compromise, or appear to compromise, their assessment decisions.

This may include but is not limited to the following examples, which could lead to actual or perceived conflict of interest:

Tutors, teachers or assessors working with a business outside of the college that is in direct competition.
Tutors, teachers or assessors having a close or familial relationship with a learner on programme, or learners’ family whilst being involved in decisions about the outcome of their qualification.
Tutors, teachers or assessors using privileged information or college learner records for personal gain or advantage.

The existence of such interests does not necessarily imply conflict but is likely to give an appearance of conflict and as such should be declared. It is therefore the duty of all tutors, teachers and assessors to disclose any actual or potential conflict of interest by completing the Conflict of Interest Declaration Form and submitting to Senior Operations Managers.

Please refer to Catch22 College Conflict of Interest policy for further information.

Professional development

Assessors and IQAs are responsible for ensuring that their own practice is maintained to meet changing requirements in their role. This means undertaking CPD and /or industry updating as required by the qualifications that they internally quality assessing. Such activity should be individually recorded within colleges and presented to an EQA on request on CPD Logs.

Total hours of qualification specific CPD should be at minimum 25hrs per annum. IQA should check with Awarding Bodies for relevant CPD and required hours.

Examples include:

Reflective practice.
Requesting feedback.
Undertaking training courses.
Individual research.
Attending forums or conferences.
Completing related qualifications.
Shadowing another IQA/Tutor/Assessor
Standardisation activities.
Industry updating.
Copies of CV/TA/IQA certificates and other relevant qualifications
Personal development plans

Assessors

Centres must appoint sufficient Assessors for each qualification they are approved to offer, to carry out centre marking and assessment judgements. They are accountable for:

assessing evidence of learner competence/ capability against qualification standards, assessment criteria and/or mark schemes,
engaging with required IQA activities, including training, standardisation and ongoing internal sampling,
managing the assessment system, from assessment planning to recording assessment decisions against qualifications and/ or assessments,
ensuring that learners’ evidence is valid, authentic, sufficient, reliable and current,
maintaining accurate and verifiable learner assessment and achievement records in line with requirements,
ensuring that learners are assessed only after they have been registered with awarding organisations, and
responding to any feedback, improvement actions or adjustments as the result of external verification or moderation.

It is the responsibility of Assessors/Tutors to:

Take account of the needs of all learners in designing assessment methods.
Prepare learners for the type of assessment (i.e. exams, written assignments, presentations, practical’s).
Plan the assessment schedule so that the workload of assessment is manageable throughout the programme.
Ensure that learners are fully briefed on assessment methods and procedures.
Train learners to avoid assessment malpractice (plagiarism) and appropriate use of AI.
Ensure all submitted learner work contains a signed and dated learner declaration to confirm authenticity and originality.
Show clear evidence of marking in all assessed tasks, providing formative and summative feedback which will support learner progress and development.
Provide constructive feedback (written and verbal) to learners on assessments using awarding organisation criteria/grading; agree targets and areas for development on an individual basis
Ensure all work is assessed and returned within 10 working days of the submission date or in line with awarding organisation guidelines where appropriate.
Ensure feedback includes assessment and development of wider employability skills, English and maths giving specific guidance on how to improve.
Provide opportunity to accredit prior learning or experience where appropriate.
Ensure access to assessment takes into account a learner’s circumstance and where appropriate arrangements should be made with the awarding organisation to ensure equal access.
Record in-year achievements and outcomes of assessment accurately using appropriate documentation set by the Awarding Organisation where applicable.
Store all assessment and internal quality assurance (IQA) documentation in accordance with Awarding Organisation requirement.
Ensure that internal quality assurance is conducted prior to returning assessed learner work, where required by the awarding organisation.
Use valid and most current assessment paperwork from the relevant Awarding Organisation or Catch22.
Attend external training delivered by the Awarding Organisation, where necessary.
Report all cases of suspected assessment malpractice or maladministration to your line manager and maintain copies of related records.
Ensure all documentation relating to the curriculum and its’ delivery are maintained, legible and provide a clear picture of the learner journey.

IQA

Internal quality assurance (IQA) is the process of monitoring assessment practice to ensure that assessment decisions meet national standards as well as assuring the integrity and value of qualifications.

The installed IQA must be satisfied that comparable standards are being applied across units. Assessors cannot internally verify their own work. Feedback is provided from the IQA to the assessor where they have verified the learners work. This process does not involve the learner.

Internal quality assurance records should be correctly maintained in a secure place for 3 years after certification.

A suitably qualified IQA should be employed and overseen by Lead Teachers, who, together, should together produce a local sampling rationale following Catch22 College Internal Quality Assurance Strategy for each qualification delivered. A Lead teacher and sessional IQA overseeing IQA must always be in place for each qualification whilst there are active learner registrations with an awarding organisation. Any learners withdrawn from a programme internally must also have registration withdrawal from the awarding organisation.

Internal Quality Assurance will focus on the safety, fairness, validity, authenticity, sufficiency, relevance, reliability and consistency of assessment decisions. This will include IQA monitoring of assessors by the means of carrying out observations, learner interviews and sampling of assessment decisions/ assessment documentation which should encompass the range of assessment methods being used within our qualification routes.

Internal quality assurers

To successfully carry out the IQA role, Internal Quality Assurers must:

have appropriate teaching and vocational knowledge and expertise,
hold or be working towards an appropriate teaching/training/assessing qualification, and
be familiar with the occupation and technical content covered within the qualification.

It is the responsibility of IQA to:

Ensure all new assessors have a copy of the most up to date specification and standards.
Make judgments on the marking of evidence in all tasks by the assessor.
Adhere to the Awarding Organisation assessment specification in the judgement of evidence tracked by the assessor.
Provide constructive feedback to the assessor and lead teacher on all quality assured elements.
Support assessors, especially those that are new to the qualification.
Keep up-to-date with Awarding Organisation guidance.
Use valid and most current IQA paperwork from the relevant Awarding Organisation or Catch22.
Follow guidelines set out in the Catch22 College IQA Strategy.
Coordinate, implement, document and run timely standardisation and IQA meetings – alongside Lead Teachers.
Attend external training delivered by the Awarding Organisation, where necessary.
Support annual Awarding Organisation Centre quality visits, where required.
Report all cases of suspected assessment malpractice or maladministration to your line manager and maintain copies of related records.
Conduct observations of delivery staff, to assess the quality of teaching, learning and assessment in line with Catch22 Colleges Quality Assurance Framework.
Conduct learner interviews to monitor and analyse the quality of the teaching, learning and assessment process.
Help develop and follow internal policies, procedures and documentation for the carrying out and maintenance of IQA systems in line with Awarding Organisation requirements.
Provide support to Assessors in relation to procedures and policies for the delivery of the qualifications and units they are assigned to.
Identify training needs and provide ongoing training to Assessors to continually improve the standard of qualification and unit delivery.
Ensure sampling plans take into account the ratio of learners per Assessor per qualification to meet the quality assurance requirements to cover all units delivered within a 12-month period.
Facilitate standardisation activities to support the continuous improvement of qualification and unit delivery.
Ensure all assessment documentation, maintained by Assessors, is complete, up-to-date and legible.
Ensure conflicts of interest are identified and addressed, including not allowing the quality assurance of own assessment work or cross quality assurance where two people quality assure each other’s work.
Impart information and feedback resulting from monitoring activities and ensure all actions are addressed by the indicated timescales.

Lead teachers

Together with installed IQAs, lead teachers will hold much responsibility for the IQA process, and together with the installed IQA, will form the ‘Lead IQA Team’. Lead teachers are subject to management responsibilities for IQA and are to ensure that the above (IQA responsibilities) are being completed in a timely manner and to a high standard.

It is the responsibility of lead teachers to:

Ensure all learners are registered with the Awarding Organisation prior to undertaking any assessment and registered for externally set assessments or examinations within a timely manner.
Ensure use of current specification and have a sound understanding of awarding organisation current requirements.
Organise and facilitate standardisation meetings in co-ordination with the IQA.
Own the learner journey, checking registrations prior to conducting IQA and prompting withdrawals from the Awarding Organisation.
Produce sampling plans and a timetable for IQA.
Keep records of all standardisation, assessment and IQA records.
Receive External Quality Assurance (EQA) reports from the AO and ensure that assessors are aware of any actions or recommendations arising from the EQA or quality reports. – reporting findings to Senior Operations Manager.
Complete a post EQA Action Plan, following an Awarding Organisation sanction and reporting findings to Senior Operations Manager.
Keep up-to-date with Awarding Organisation guidance.
Inducting new IQAs.
Prepare a local rationale and sampling strategy based on the risk rating of the team and in line with Awarding Organisation procedure. – in co-ordination with the IQA.
Coordinate and monitor IQA sampling plans. (risk-based).
Coordinate, implement, document and run timely standardisation and IQA meetings. – In co-ordination with the IQA.
Coordinate IQA observations.
Coordinate timely IQA of learner work throughout the academic year with interim and summative sampling.
Monitor completion of assessment plans.
Monitor sampling completed by IQAs within allocated curriculum area, to ensure constructive and accurate IQA feedback.
Provide IQAs with guidance on summative and formative feedback to learners and sample throughout the academic year.
Ensure documentation and processes used for assessment and IQA conforms to college and Awarding Organisation requirements, with most recent versions used.
Ensure electronic records of assessment outcomes and IQA documentation are maintained for at least 5 years following learner certification.
Coordinate External Quality Assurers (EQAs) to maintain and/or monitor the success of visits and or remote sampling.
Disseminate updates to IQAs and assessors, including Quality Nominee updates, Awarding Organisation email alerts, networks, webinars, face to face training events.
Cascade information to the team and implement documentation to meet Awarding Organisation standards and changes.
Ensure Course Quality Files are consistently robust and up to date.
Attend external training delivered by the Awarding Organisation, where necessary.
Support Annual Awarding Organisation Centre Quality visits, where required.
Receive EQA reports from the AO and ensure that assessors and IQAs are aware of any actions or recommendations arising from EQA or quality reports.
Report all cases of suspected assessment malpractice or maladministration to your line manager and maintain copies of related records.
Acts as the centre coordinator (where required) and main point of contact for all programmes delivered.
Provide feedback to the delivery team on the assessment schedule confirming that the workload of assessment is manageable throughout the programme.
Ensure all teachers/ tutors hold and maintain the required qualifications and occupational expertise to deliver the curriculum they are allocated.
Ensure conflicts of interest are identified and addressed – Conflict of interest form / procedure.
Lead teachers to discuss IQA performance with line managers, for annual review. Lead teachers to sample / quality assess IQA submitted forms and raise concerns to RM in timely fashion.
Co-ordinate the timely registration and certification claims for learners.

Senior Operations Managers

Senior Operations Managers must oversee and report on the required activities of the IQA team.

It is the responsibility of Senior Operations Managers to:

Take the role of securing a second assessor in the event of an appeal on assessment decisions and lead the Stage 2 of the academic appeal process.
Attend external training delivered by the Awarding Organisation, where necessary.
Support annual Awarding Organisation centre quality visits, where required.
Receive EQA reports from lead teachers and ensure that lead teachers are communicating any actions or recommendations arising from EQA or quality reports to assessors and IQAs.
Oversee the Coordinate the completion and submission of a post EQA action plan by lead teachers and monitor the completion of actions with their team.
Support assessors and IQAs through the staff development process where training needs are identified or where performance continues to require improvement.
Audit and evaluate the IQA processes at team level to ensure that standards are continually met.
Ensure all staff have an understanding of, and comply with, the Assessment and Internal Quality Assurance Procedure.
Produce and monitor improvement plans, if required, in response to feedback from EQA visits and sanctions imposed.
Monitor lead teachers assessment documentation to ensure learners are provided with robust formative and summative feedback to aid progress and development.
Ensure that provision is being made to share ‘best practice’ and areas of concern between teams.
Ensure the colleges internal quality assurance and standardisation processes operate within their departments.
Act as Quality Nominee for awarding organisations ensuring there is a main point of contact within the organisation.
Inform awarding organisations of incidents of suspected Malpractice or Maladministration.
Support Lead teachers/ IQAs where required.
Disseminate information and updates from awarding organisations.
Maintain a database of actions arising from EQA visits and samples and ensure compliance with any actions arising from these visits.
Maintain an overview of EQA visits to ensure they are effectively planned and implemented.
Drive continuous improvement for excellence in assessment and IQA.
Support curriculum areas for development and to take action to improve the quality of assessment and/or IQA.
Monitor the implementation of action plans resulting from EQA reports
Lead awarding organisation centre quality review visits and internal investigations instigated by awarding organisations.
To inform the relevant awarding organisation in the event of any changes that may affect the centres ability to meet quality assurance criteria which includes; change of premises, change of head of centre, Quality Nominee, awarding organisation coordinator, change in centre name or business, change in centre contact details, internal/external investigations, change in assessors or internal quality assurers or any change in the arrangements for secure storage of examination papers and candidate evidence

External Quality Assurance

EQA is the process employed by awarding bodies to ensure that their standards are being adhered to when an Award/Certificate or Diploma is being delivered. An EQA is the representative of the Awarding Body who will visit Catch22 Colleges at periodic intervals to monitor quality assurance.

The role of EQAs is to:

Provide advice and support to centre staff
Ensure the quality and consistency of assessments and marking/grading within and between centres by the use of systematic sampling
Provide feedback to centres and to awarding organisations.
Issuing of appropriate sanctions, actions and adjustments in instances of non-compliance.

The collection, tracking and monitoring of all external quality assurance plays a key part in ensuring the smooth running of all qualifications across the college and contributes to learner’s certification. Lead teachers will be the initial point of contact for the EQA and will liaise with appropriate assessors and IQA’s, to ensure that the EQA can carry out any required actions.

In preparation for an EQA visit:

The lead teacher must prepare and maintain a record of all dates of planned EQA visits/samples, and update Senior Operations Manager.
The lead teacher must prepare for the visits, including the agenda for the day, supported by the relevant IQAs.
The Lead teacher must ensure they are available to be present during the EQA visit.
The Lead teacher must complete the EQA visit planner checklist.
The Lead teacher must make arrangements for Assessors and other IQAs where required, to be available during the visit.

Following on from visits, all EQA reports should be received by the lead teacher in the first instance.

When a report has been received from an EQA, and either essential actions have been allocated or a sanction imposed on the qualification an action plan should be completed and discussed with Senior Operations Manager before being returned.

General Data Protection Regulation

In accordance with the GDPR effective from 25th May 2018, any personal data should be;

Processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner in relation to individuals.
Collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes and not further processed in a manner that is incompatible with those purposes.
Adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary in relation to the purpose for which they are processed.
Accurate and where necessary, kept up to date, every reasonable step taken to ensure that personal data that are inaccurate, having regard to the purpose for which they are processed, are erased or rectified without delay.
Processed in a manner that ensures appropriate security of the personal data, including protection against unauthorised or unlawful processing and against accidental loss, destruction or damage, using appropriate technical or organisational measures.
Uploaded to a secure Awarding Organisation online portal (where facility allows) for external quality assurance activity.
Password protected where individual personal data is sent to an Awarding Organisation or External Quality Assurer via email.

Individuals have a right to be informed about the collection and use of their personal data.

Related policies

Catch22 Data and Record Management Policy
Catch22 Over-arching Data Protection policy
Appeals Policy and Procedures – Catch22 Colleges
Internal Quality Assurance Strategy Policy – Catch22 Colleges
Malpractice, Maladministration and Plagiarism Policy – Catch22 Colleges
Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) – Catch22 Colleges
Registration and Certification Policy – Catch22 Colleges