Quality Assurance and Quality Improvement in Education

In America, the government spends a lot of money on the education system. Yet some schools or universities may have an advantage in funding which can provide

In my point of view feedback is an essential tool for learners’ progress. If the student is not assessing their work then they are not learning and given feedback are vital to ensure best practice is maintained and the learners are achieving to their full potential.

Feedback is a vital part of the assessment process as it gives the assessor an idea of if the learner has met the criteria set and if they haven’t, what action is needed to achieve the criteria.

The functionality of centre IQA’s, although varying slightly, will monitor key aspects of the assessment process born from basic principles that are upheld throughout. The IQA’s role, therefore, needs to be consistent, reliable and fair supporting candidates and assessors ensuring the assessments are valid, authentic current and sufficient (VACS) matching the NOS as described by the Sector Skills Council (SSC). The IQA has direct influence on the performance of delivery and assessment teams. ‘Good IQA’s can spot areas for improvements long before they become a problem.’ Pg 191 The Vocational Assessors Handbook.

Our process for internal quality assurance involves planning the units that will be sampled for each student. This is planned on an internal verification sampling plan (Evidence index 5) and we use the alphabetical listings and diagonal lines that cross the units to be sampled. If however, the units are infrequently selected then I will ensure that they are sampled and also with the new NVQ specification that has recently taken place then I would carry out a 100% check. We also like to carry out formative assessment as this is good practice and aids to our standardisation process in supporting all our assessors. Regarding support I always liaise with our more senior assessors and the external verifier to ensure I am continually meeting the quality standards required and they are always available to offer their assistance and advice. If we have a very inexperienced assessor or new assessor then the NVQ’s they assess would be sampled far deeper and more support would be given to them. I would ensure that I assess a variety of evidence ranging from Observations, Recorded discussions, Reflective accounts, Witness statements and Work products to list a few. I ensure that the levels and quantities of these are consistent, authentic, valid, and reliable especially regarding new standards.

This also includes giving clear, concise and accurate feedback to learners on their progress and achievement along with developmental comment. Any progress and achievement should be recorded in accordance with awarding

To conclude, once the lesson has finished, the TA will provide feedback to the Teacher as to how and what the children learnt, if there were any areas of difficultly or if extension or different strategies were used to help the child learn, if the work was supported by the TA or if their work was independent. Having assessed the children’s work and passed on the relevant information, (this can be passed on verbally or by annotating the planning and by marking the children’s work) the teacher can then reflect effectively, update children’s progress on school monitoring systems and can now plan next steps for each individual child’s learning. Children all learn in different ways therefore the adult teaching needs to be versatile and have a variety of teaching strategies to enable them to assist in any given situation.

Effective feedback will encourage the learner to progress and by knowing what and when to give feedback is half the battle won, by choosing a moment to give feedback is as valuable as the actual feedback given. The learner basically wants to know two things what is the grade? and how can I improve? The perfect time to give this feedback is as early as possible after the assignment has been completed. Any feedback during the assignment should not interfere with the assignment in progress but instead compliment the good bits and encourage rather than

4.1 Critically compare the types of feedback, support and advice that internal assessment and quality assurance staff may need to maintain and improve the quality of assessment

The delivery of learning support is not complete, however, until you have fed back to both the pupil and the teacher and reviewed your own success as a learning support practitioner. In feeding back to the pupil it is vital that your feedback is constructive. This does not necessarily mean it has to be positive but it is vital that it is not destructive. It should serve to encourage and help the pupil. Feeding back to the teacher is equally as important as this will provide the teacher with information as to individual pupils’ progress, any difficulties they might be having (or indeed that you might be having) and this in turn will feed into planning for the next lesson as per Wilkinson’s Classroom Process Cycle.

By providing feedback the pupils will see more clearly what they need to do next and how to improve on their work if needed, examples of feedback could be questions in a group or a through a whole class discussion.

It is always my aim to ensure that feedback is timely and given in a constructive and sensitive manner; and my approach can sometimes be influenced by what I have learned during initial assessment; and as I develop relationships with the learner. I have recently made efforts to encourage my learners to reflect and to self-assess their performance. I feel that this helps to pave the way for me to feedback to the individual and to reduce the risk of de-motivating them.

Make judgments on successful completion or otherwise then giving constructive feedback in order to help further the learner or help for successful completion at a later date. A record should be made in order to track each learners progress.

I need to monitor and assess the progress of each student by maintaining accurate record using a variety of assessment tools, gaining feedback, formative informative,formal and informal whilst also maintaining my organisations requirements.

What is quality improvement? Why is it necessary? Who benefits from having a Quality Improvement Team? What can we do to improve their performance? Quality improvement is a “structured