Your Progress

[_course_progress]

You should always have a holistic outlook when thinking about the working environment of an internal quality assurer. It is important to think about all players involved from your staff, learners and external parties.

You then need to focus on their needs and how you are going to address them in your role. For example, learners will expect you to support them to gain skills while employers might expect you to provide a value for money service. You might find yourself, having to balance needs of various parties. For example, learners might want fast track while your awarding body might not recommend or endorse this method.

One thing which sticks is the need for you as a practitioner to respect your working environment. Respect involves following procedures in place and ensuring you are maintaining the quality of services and qualifications you oversee. It is important you are also professional and recognise the potential consequences of being a rogue practitioner which not only can damage your career but can also result in various legal problems.

It is also important to recognise that learners should be treated as vulnerable and should be protected. A working environment that is not conducive can lead to all sorts of problems. If you consider some of the current affairs in the United Kingdom where quality assurance has failed resulting in major problems.

International students who have fallen foul to dodgy colleges which have resulted in some of them being deported. Another recent case involved Bright International who were discovered to have falsified evidence for learners which resulted in awarding bodies withdrawing certificates and asking candidates to be reassessed. Jobs which relied on these certficates where put at risk. The moral here, is that failing to honor your obligations as an internal quality assurer can have dire consequences to a number parties. You could easily be complacent in allowing a dangerous person to be unleashed to an innocent public as a holder of qualifications they have not earned.

Internal quality assurers have to adhere to the rules of their micro and macro environment. The microenvironment refers to your own organisational requirements. The macroenvironment refers to the influence outside your organisation such as awarding bodies, Ofqual and Ofsted.

You will be expected not only to know all the policies and regulations that affect you. You will need to show an understanding and embrace them as part of your practice. Regardless of the area, you will be moderating there will be an expectation of you to work in line with your organisational policies and applicable legislation.

Usually, a majority of policies are mapped against awarding body, skills sector and regulatory requirements. This settles well with some regulations, policies and legislation which we will discuss during the next two topics.