Course Information

The assessor qualification first began as the D32 & D33 qualifications, however, in 2002 the government realised that the industry had become much more complex and therefore merged these qualifications together to create the A1 award.  

It was in the early 2010s where it was decided that education had become even more advanced and complex, so a new range of qualifications needed to be introduced in order to replicate this.  

These new qualifications were nicknamed ‘TAQA’ – Training, Assessing and Quality Assurance.

Qualifications

As a result of TAQA being enforced, the assessor qualification was broken down into 4 different variations. This meant that more people would have access to an assessor qualification which was much more specific to the role that they would be undertaking.  

The variations of the qualification are as follows:  

• Units Included: 1 

• About: This award is a knowledge-only qualification which details how assessments should be carried out.  

• Suitable For: Anyone who needs to know how assessments are conducted but aren’t carrying out any assessments themselves. Also, anyone who is undertaking assessments that don’t have a national qualification framework attached to it. For example, internal skills & behavioural assessments that are conducted by line managers etc.  

• Units Included: 1&2 

• About: This award is focused on assessing in the real working environment. It concentrates on using observation, oral questioning/ discussion and examining work products as a form of assessment method. 

• Suitable For: Anyone assessing in the real working environment and not a simulated training school.  

• Units Included: 1&3 

• About: This award focuses on assessing in vocationally related environments. For example, classrooms, workshops, training schools, and also uses simulations, skills tests, written questions/ assignments etc. as forms of assessment method.  

• Suitable For: Anyone assessing in simulated environments such as training schools.  

• Units Included: 1, 2 & 3 

• About: This award incorporates all of the other qualifications. In some instances, individuals will be assessing both in working and simulated training environments. This award therefore provides candidates with the all-rounded knowledge of each.   

• Suitable For: Anyone who is assessing in both real working environments and vocationally simulated environments. As an example, you might be assessing apprentices where you are responsible for assessing both their working competency, and, their vocational coursework.  

Course Structure

The delivery of the assessor course differs depending on which option is chosen. Please watch these informational videos which detail the structure for each.