Apprenticeship standards are now firmly on their way to replacing apprenticeship frameworks. However, too many organisations are simply running programmes without fully understanding what they need to do to ensure apprentices are receiving the skills and knowledge needed to be a success at End Point Assessment.
Stedfast Outcomes Assessment
Using Stedfast’s Outcomes Assessment module organisations can easily create an outcome set using the apprenticeship standard knowledge, skills and behaviours criteria. Once these have been added, the team working on that assessment plan can then identify how they will measure the requirements. Once each outcome has a measure staff should conduct an annual review of the programme to ensure they are meeting the course requirements. Where there are shortfalls, team members can then add actions to ensure that improvements are made.
Continual Programme Improvement
The key driver in work with the outcomes assessment module is to drive improvements to course and programmes. Programmes should not just be judged on hitting the ESFA 62% achievement threshold. They also need to be engaging and purposeful for learners. Providers also need to consider the grade descriptors that OfSTED has provided for teaching, learning and assessment.
Examples of outstanding teaching, learning and assessment grades are:
Staff plan learning sessions and assessments very effectively so that all learners undertake demanding work that helps them to realise their potential. Staff identify and support any learner who is falling behind and enable almost all to catch up.
Staff gather a useful range of accurate assessment information and use this to give learners incisive feedback about what they can do to improve their knowledge, understanding and skills. Learners are committed to taking these next steps and their work shows that almost all are making substantial and sustained progress.
Staff set work that consolidates learning, deepens understanding and develops skills, and prepares learners very well for their next steps.
Using the outcomes assessment module, providers will be able to plan to meet these and other key areas of the teaching, learning and assessment module.