This month, we spoke to Edith Hall, Chief Moderator for NCFE covering:Business Administration & Law and Preparation for Life & Work, to give us the inside track on what Edith and her Moderators are frequently asked and some handy tips for qualification delivery and assessment success.

We’ll be speaking to more of our Chief Moderators, so if you have any burning questions about the sector you teach in, get in touch with [email protected].

Tell us a bit about yourself?

I have been involved in the assessment and IQA of competence-based qualifications since the early days of NVQs, following over 10 years in financial management. I established an NVQ centre for the NHS, where we introduced a number of qualifications to support staff development including the Assessor and IQA qualifications, Business Administration, Customer Service, Team Leading, Management and Equality & Diversity. I am now self-employed and work as an External Contractor for NCFE in the Business Administration & Law and Preparation for Life & Work sectors.

Describe your role as a Chief Moderator.

My role is to support the team of EQAs and standardise their practice to ensure NCFE’s centres are supported fairly. NCFE EQAs are trained to provide a positive experience in providing their centres with supportive and developmental feedback. As Chief, part of my role is to answer EQA queries and discuss any areas of concern, as required, to support them towards fair decisions.

What drew you towards working with NCFE?

Whilst running the NVQ centre, we introduced NCFE qualifications and I was impressed with their customer service and flexible approac

Any news or insider information in your sector?

There are so many changes happening and in the pipeline across the sectors. Whilst we are all used to the ever-changing world of education and training, the changes do appear to be increasing in pace and ongoing CPD and standardisation are now more important than ever to ensure our staff are prepared for the challenges ahead.

Standardisation – what are the key points for centres?

• Plan dates in advance to ensure all staff can attend on a regular basis.
• Hold qualification specific standardisation meetings rather than generic.
• Use the information from your IQA and EQA reports to inform standardisation meetings e.g. units which Assessors often require support for; methods of assessment for specific units.
• Ask your Assessors which units they would find beneficial to discuss.
• Prepare a range of activities to support development in best practice in both assessment and IQA; for example, ask all Assessors to re-assess the same item of evidence and discuss their findings – was there a consensus?, what were the reasons for the differences in opinion?

What support or resources are available?

During our visits, NCFE EQAs are always happy to discuss centres’ plans for standardisation activities to help them develop effective models which support centre staff.

What questions are you and your Moderators asked the most?

Can we record discussions and observations rather than writing these?

Yes of course, the evidence can be presented in any format as long as there is a clear and auditable trail of assessment decisions or each item of evidence to allow for IQA and EQA sampling;

What qualifications do centre staff need for specific qualifications?

NCFE provides guidelines regarding this and, where a qualification has a specific Assessment Strategy, this is available on NCFE’s website alongside the full Qualification Specification.

What are your top three pieces of advice for centres delivering NCFE qualifications in your areas of expertise?

• Read the full Qualification Specification and relevant Assessment Strategy to ensure all Assessors and IQAs are aware of, and are able to meet, the requirements.
• Hold a standardisation meeting prior to first delivery and ensure any delivery and assessment materials devised by centre staff are Internally Quality Assured prior to use - remember that the verb descriptors for the Assessment Criteria must be addressed for learners to achieve.
• Plan your EQA visits to support your centre. It is always best to plan your first visit when your learners are partway through their qualification and your interim IQA has been conducted. This will enable your EQA to provide any advice and guidance to support achievement and, hopefully ensure a successful second EQA visit where your learners can be certificated.