Partnerships for End-Point Assessment (EPA) 8th December 2017 Rohini Bhattacharya, Head of Apprenticeship Services

Partnerships with Pearson for Apprenticeship New Standards X046 2

Why Partnerships? Resource base of qualified assessors with occupational competence Working with local employers: accessibility, trust, infrastructure Understanding the EPA CPD opportunity X046 3

Principles for Partnership working Work with organisations who have the capacity, capability and suitable independence in delivering the EPA (colleges, training providers, employer providers, training provider assessment entity) Pearson is the EPA Accountable and Responsible body for all purposes Will work with an intermediary organisation, however, contractual relationship will be with the organisation employing the assessors Due diligence checks/ Quality Assurance of EPA delivery/ Validity and comparability of EPAs, Conflict of Interest checks and balances, Assessor – Apprentice interactions, Appeals and Complaints Contractual agreements with providers and intermediary organisations – need AIP from ESFA X046 4

Types of Partnerships and Processes X046 5

EPA Development and EPA Delivery Consortia of Employers Pearson UK (EPAO) Intermediary organisations Contractual agreements MoU + Assessor supplier contracts Training Providers/ Consortia of providers EPA Development EPA Delivery Occupationally competent staff Item writing workshops for MCT Delivering EPAs on behalf of Pearson Scenarios to feed into Professional Discussion X046 6

Independent Assessor Selection and Recruitment Process Pearson create Independent Assessor JD based on Assessment plan requirements Assessor interviews and selection (Six months prior to 1st EPA date) Interested candidates apply with CVs Assessment instruments Assessor handbook EPA Code of Conduct CPD Framework Quality assurance and monitoring Systems and Data inputs Assessor Training and Standardisation events Support from Lead Independent EPA Assessor allocations/ scheduling Ongoing standardisation/ CPD/ QA monitoring/ EQA requirements 1st accompanied visit

Operationalising the Partnership – EPA Delivery Available capacity and occupational competence for the EPA sectors Management and staffing arrangements Internal QA processes Current apprenticeship contracts Due Diligence for each partner Signing of Contractual agreements with each individual partner following satisfactory Details of standards for EPA delivery Number of assessors Location and geographical coverage Estimate of time availability Price per assessor for different standards Assessor management Organisational level management and independence for conflict of interest EPA admin including allocations, invoicing Liability for assessors CPD Quality Assurance EPA Code of Practice QA of EPA Partner QA of assessors Standardisation activities EQA activities

Partnership Process X046 9

Working Arrangements EPA Development EPA Delivery MoU with Providers/ Consortia Contracts with individual providers for supply of occupationally competent staff (No. of workshops + Payment Terms) Dedicated Assessment workshops Service management and administration support EPA Delivery Contractual agreement with individual Providers/ Consortia Lead Independent Assessor for planning and support EPA Planning, Standardisation and Training events (F2F and online) Pearson Governance oversight – Quality Assurance/ Compliance/ Standards

Considerations for Partnerships and Next Steps

Considerations for EPA Delivery Partnerships Number of occupationally competent assessors Available capacity Win – Win? Location of assessors and geography they can cover Occupational competence, qualifications and CPD aligned to requirements within the assessment plan and Pearson’s JD Release of staff for attending standardisation and training meetings X046 12

Win – win scenarios for Providers Scalable solution Three scenarios: Sectoral/ niche expertise Local Area partnerships (LEP/ Devolution agenda/ Employer Boards) Economies of scale (SMEs) Minimum bank of 10 – 15 assessors across different sectors/ niche sector (Healthcare/ Hospitality) X046 13

Next Steps Speak to your account managers for further details We welcome more in-depth discussions to articulate/ visualise a partnership model Partnership Expression of Interest form completion Due diligence process ESFA agreement in principle is ESSENTIAL prior to signing of contracts X046 14