Become a Recognised Centre

Currently we can only work with organisations that have a permanent base in England or Wales. This base must be responsible for all quality assurance arrangements.

If you deliver internationally then, as well as having a base in England or Wales, we also require further details about how you intend to deliver these qualifications.

• In which countries do you expect to deliver the qualifications?
• Are you an existing approved qualification delivery centre of an awarding organisation? If so with which awarding organisation and in what subject and level?
• How do you intend to deliver the qualifications? Will this be face to face traditional classroom delivery or on-line distance learning?
• What are your quality arrangements for qualification delivery?

We have a wide range of qualifications for you to choose from and you can search for qualifications based on level and sector. If you decide to seek approval, then you will need to specify qualifications as part of your application.

If you wish to deliver the Access to HE Diploma then you may find this article useful to read. You can also check out our Access to HE Centre page.

Deciding to start your Access to HE provision to a new AVA can be nerve-wracking, but our streamlined approach makes the process as simple as possible without compromising validity.

You will be given a named account manager, and our dedicated Access to HE team will be with you every step of the way to get you up and running as quickly and smoothly as possible.

Check out our page to help you become an Access to HE Centre with us.

We typically find that if you are going to deliver the qualification to fewer than 20 learners then it may not be cost-effective for you to become a Recognised Centre in your own right. You may wish to find an organisation to partner with. The National Careers Service website can help when looking for training providers.

You may also wish to consider:

• What are your plans for recruiting learners?
• Do you have funding in place?

We will need this in order to perform a credit check on all enquiries prior to the application stage.

Qualification delivery is regulated and recognised centres are required to comply with the requirements of the relevant regulator. Since our qualifications are designed with the needs of post-16 learners and adults in mind, as part of our recognition process, we will want to see evidence of your experience of the delivery of post-16 education, and the outcomes of any inspection under the Ofsted Education Inspection Framework for Further Education and Skills Providers.

You will need both a Tutor/Assessor and an Internal Quality Assurer (IQA). Please note that these must be different people as IQAs cannot quality assure their own work.

Tutors/Assessors are responsible for:

• Delivering the underpinning knowledge and skills required for learners to successfully complete assessments for the qualifications they are delivering
• Identifying when learners are ready to take assessments
• Ensuring that appropriate supervision arrangements are made
• Marking assessment tasks (where applicable)
• Maintaining accurate and verifiable learner records.

Internal Quality Assurers are responsible for ensuring that:

• Assessment setting and marking is appropriate, consistent, fair and transparent and does not discriminate against any learner
• Tutor/Assessors receive on-going advice and support, for example in contextualising assessments
• Learners clearly understand assessment requirements and are given opportunities to achieve against the assessment criteria
• Learners’ work is presented in a manner that enables effective internal and external quality assurance to take place
• Evidence of learner achievement is clearly mapped to the assessment criteria
• Certification claims are valid, reliable and consistent.

IQAs will need to hold a recognised internal quality assurance/verification qualification or be working towards one, examples as follows:

• D34 qualification
• V1 qualification
• Internal Verifier Award
• Internal Verification of Credit-Based Learning: Continuing Professional Development for Practitioners Award
• Level 4 Award in the Internal Quality Assurance of Assessment Processes and Practice.

You must provide staffing details including name, evidence of experience and qualifications such as a CV, and certifications as part of the qualification approval process for all levels.

You will need to have the following arrangements, policies and procedures in place. We will ask to see evidence of these during the approval process and at the annual compliance visit.

• Complaints policy and/or process which learners can access
• Conflict of interest policy
• Equality and Diversity policy
• Health and Safety policy
• Internal quality assurance procedures
• Learner appeals procedure/policy
• Malpractice and maladministration policy and procedure
• Organisation structure
• Reasonable adjustments and special considerations policy
• Safeguarding and SEND policies
• Whistleblowing policy