Your Progress

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There are a number of roles and responsibilities expected from an internal quality assurer. Some of this will be discussed during the next few topics. You are responsible for maintaining and improving standards for your learners, staff and organisational level. It is therefore impretive that you fully understand the courses you deliver. You do not need to just focus on the courses, you will need to have a holistic outlook and embrace the management and leadership skills required to fully execute your role.

You will be expected to ensure that all assessors are suitably competent to assess and support learners. They will need to have or working towards appropriate qualifications. It is sometimes acceptable for your staff to rely on their experience as part of proving competence. This can however be tricky as there could be issues with awarding bodies and regulators. Standards could also change and become more strict as time goes by. It is therefore worthwhile to ensure that your staff have the minimum qualifications.

You will be responsible for checking and ensuring resources and assessments methods are appropriate. For example a number of qualifications such as the assessor and quality assurer courses do not allow simulation. You therefore need to ensure simulation is not used to comply with the course specification and  awarding body requirements. 

A fundamental role of internal quality assurance is to ensure you are not paying lip service or being tokenistic. It is your responsibility to ensure your service is fit for purpose and compliant with your own policies and external requirements. Records should be kept and remain up to date. Actions should be addressed timely and appropriately.

Sampling is a big part of your role. There are different ways of samplying which can be based on course work, units, assessment methods and other methods. The sample should cover all learners on the course. You should also sample the work of all your  assessors. The samplying strategy you follow will depend on your policies. For example your policies might require sampling of all portfolios 100% if you have very few candidates, a new course and staff.  You might sample each staff differently depending on their experience and qualifications.

You will be expected to be inspirational and support your staff. This will include giving both developmental verbal and written feedback. Providing ongoing support and advice regarding practice and other issues which affect work. Remember theories such as systems which tells us that issues at home can affect work. You therefore should not isolate the welfare of your staff with their practice.

You need to ensure the systems in place are fit for purpose and do not unintentionally discriminate or disadvantage your learners and staff. Assignment briefs , course duration, deadlines, ground rules have to be clear. It is also worthwhile for you to have a service level agreement in place which clearly highlight roles and responsibilities of your learners and organisation.