Learning and Skills Asessor Level 3 Apprenticeship

This profession is prevalent across national and multinational organisations’ public, private, and voluntary sectors. Learning and Skills Assessors play a vital role across various sectors where learning, training, and development are essential, including but not limited to healthcare, military, manufacturing, production, business and professional services, education, leisure, construction, creative industries, and technology.

The primary purpose of this role is to evaluate candidates against agreed-upon competence standards using various assessment methods. Learning and Skills Assessors are responsible for planning, conducting assessment activities, documenting and communicating assessment decisions to learners and other relevant stakeholders. They also support learners’ progression by providing feedback on assessment results, setting realistic ongoing learning objectives, and referring them to other professionals if needed. Additionally, they actively contribute to their organisation’s quality improvement processes and participate in standardising and moderating assessment decisions. To maintain competence in their field, Learning and Skills Assessors are dedicated to their ongoing professional development.

Typically, they operate within their organisation’s environment, assessing competency, and their work takes place in various locations and settings, including practical vocational scenarios, whether face-to-face or remotely. In their daily responsibilities, Learning and Skills Assessors collaborate with learners, quality assurance professionals, teaching and delivery experts, and other stakeholders as required. They are responsible for ensuring their occupational competency in the sector they assess and strive to complete their work according to specifications with minimal supervision, adhering to established deadlines. Reporting to relevant stakeholders and upholding quality requirements are integral to their role.

Typical job titles for this profession include: Assessor, Training Facilitator, and Tutor.

A Learning and Skills Assessor must know and understand:

• The assessor works within organisational, legal, and ethical frameworks, including confidentiality and safeguarding.
• How to plan inclusive assessment.
• Types of and methods of assessment.
• The principles of assessment include validity, authenticity, currency, sufficiency, and reliability.
• Methods of verbal and non-verbal communication to support assessment practice, including questioning techniques.
• How to give constructive feedback for the purpose of progress and achievement.
• Standardisation, moderation and quality assurance procedures relevant to the assessment.
• The purpose and process of the quality cycle.
• Organisational and legal requirements for recording, storing and sharing personal information.
• Types and methods of recording and tracking assessment decisions, including digital technology.
• Sources of and how to access accurate and relevant vocational/pastoral advice and guidance to meet learner needs, including points of referral.
• The role and importance of holistic assessment to support wider skill development.
• Approaches to sustainable assessment practice.
• Opportunities for continuing professional development in own sector to maintain occupational competency, including sustainable practice and digital literacy.

A Learning and Skills Assessor must be able to:

• Conduct sustainable assessment practices within organisational, legal, and ethical frameworks, including confidentiality and safeguarding.
• Produce a plan for assessment.
• Select method(s) to assess learner(s) in line with organisational and regulatory requirements.
• Make accurate assessment judgments against agreed standards.
• Communicate with learners and relevant stakeholders to support assessment practice.
• Provide constructive feedback to support the learner to progress.
• Contribute to standardisation, moderation and quality assurance procedures.
• Develop and maintain assessment records, complying with quality, confidentiality and data protection requirements.
• Facilitate access to relevant, current information, advice and guidance.
• Apply holistic assessment in practice to support wider skills development.
• Identify and implement professional development opportunities to maintain occupational competency, including sustainable practice and digital literacy.
• Operate to ethical and legal standards within professional boundaries, maintaining an impartial approach.
• Take personal responsibility for sustainable outcomes in how they carry out the duties of their role by reference to good environmental practice.
• Demonstrate and encourage mutual respect, displaying a deep understanding of inclusive practice to support the individual(s) in the assessment process.
• Be committed to improving their professional practice concerning the assessment standards.
• Be resilient and adaptable when dealing with challenges and change, maintaining focus and self-control.

The End Point Assessment (EPA) will only commence once the Employer, Apprentice and Smart Training Advisor are confident that the apprentice has developed all the knowledge, skills and behaviours defined in the apprenticeship standard and that these are clearly evidenced through the progress review meetings and records. The independent end point assessment ensures that all Apprentices consistently achieve the industry set professional standard. The EPA can commence at any point once the apprentice is competent and after the twelve-month minimum period of learning and development. Prior to independent end point assessment the functional skills English and maths components of the apprenticeship must be successfully completed.

Situational Judgement Test

Apprentices will be presented with a range of real-life scenarios 60 Situational Judgement Test questions. The assessment will be undertaken on line and under controlled conditions with a time limit applied.

Professional Discussion

In the concluding assessment element, the End-Point Assessor leads a 45-minute discussion to uncover additional evidence of personal development activities and how this learning was applied to the role and workplace.