FAB Supports VQ Day
Awarding Bodies & Centres
The Awarding Bodies and Centres special interest group strategically lead on improving relationships between awarding bodies and centres. This group has a particular focus on reducing bureaucracy, centre recognition, e-assessment and access to assessment.
This group meets every six weeks, with additional meetings as required. Minutes from the special interest group can be accessed on the FAB members website.
Reducing Unnecessary Monitoring of Vocational Qualifications
A helpful document has been produced aimed at approaching and dealing with concerns over the monitoring of vocational qualifications in centres. Uniquely the document is jointly published by the regulators, FAB and the Association of Colleges.
The document makes it clear that awarding bodies operate in a market for qualifications and that centres should have which (and how many) awarding bodies to work with based on the most suitable offer for their, and their learners’ needs. This includes a consideration of monitoring arrangements. Larger centres in particular are encouraged to appoint a central contact as a manager with responsibility for all relationships with awarding bodies and establishing a strategy for their organisation.
Awarding bodies are encouraged to ensure that their customer satisfaction surveys explicitly identify centres’ concerns over unnecessary bureaucracy. Awarding bodies are also asked wherever possible to adopt within their own processes and procedures common guidelines such as FAB’s Good Practice Guide on Reasonable Adjustments.
The full document ‘Reducing the Unnecessary Monitoring of Vocational Qualifications, the Rules and Responsibilities of Qualifications Regulation, Awarding Organisations and Colleges’ can be found here.
The FAB ‘Good Practice Guide: the Application of Reasonable Adjustments and Special Consideration in Vocational Qualifications’ can be found here.
Information Authority Report 'Identifying and Quantifying the Provider Data Burden'
The Federation has welcomed the Information Authority 'Identifying and Quantifying the Provider Data Burden' published on 2 July 2009. The Executive Summary can be accessed here.
The Federation has issued a statement saying that its Awarding Bodies and Centres Strategic Working Group will work with the Information Authority to explore improvements. This statement can be accessed here.