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

2. Partnerships with Pearson for Apprenticeship New Standards
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3. Why Partnerships?
Resource base of qualified assessors with occupational competence
Working with local employers: accessibility, trust, infrastructure
Understanding the EPA
CPD opportunity
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4. 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
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5. Types of Partnerships and Processes
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6. 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
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7. 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

8. 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

9. Partnership Process
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10. 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

11. Considerations for Partnerships and Next Steps

12. 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
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13. 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)
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14. 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
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