Roles & Responsibilities for Vocational Qualifications

Title	Who are They?	What is Their Role
Candidates	Individuals seeking credit for their achievements and competence	Show they can perform to national standards in order to be awarded with an S/NVQ or Construction Certificate or demonstrate the specified knowledge, understanding and skills. Take some responsibility for the quality of evidence provided to assessors. Show regular progress toward the qualification Provide authentic evidence Ensure contact information is kept up-to-date and notify assessor of any changes. Notify the assessor in advance if deadlines cannot be met.
Assessors	Employed by an approved centre to assess candidates’ evidence. They are in direct contact with candidates	Undertake candidate induction Support the candidate through the qualification Identify and support candidates requiring reasonable adjustments/special considerations. Judge candidates’ evidence against the national standards. Decide whether the candidate has demonstrated competence. Ensure that the assessment practice meets awarding body guidance. Attend standardisation meetings and maintain CPD
Internal Verifiers	Employed by an approved centre to ensure consistency and quality of assessment within the centre	Work with assessors to ensure the quality and consistency of assessment. Monitor how the centres assessors carry out assessments. Ensure that their own verification practice meets the required standards. Make sure that the assessment and verification records and documents are fit for purpose and meet awarding body requirements. Ensure that requests to the awarding body for certificates are based on assessments of consistent quality. Provide support and guidance for centres assessors.
Centre Co-ordinators	May take on some of the internal verifiers functions, particularly administration	Act as contact for the awarding body and the external verifier. Ensure that there are accurate assessment and verification records for the qualification. Ensure there is the appropriate amount assessors or internal verifies for each award. Request certificates from the awarding body. Maintaining security of access to the Awarding organisations system e.g. SQA Secure Site, and to notify the AO of a suspected breach to this site. Notify AO’s of any change of premises, change of head of centre, owner or Co-ordinator, change of name of centre or business or contact details, outcome of internal/external investigations, removal of centre and or qualifications approval by another awarding body, any change to centre’s arrangements for secure storage of examination papers and candidate evidence (where relevant). Periodically ensure centres document retention procedures are in line with AO requirements.
Approved Centres	Organisations approved by the awarding body to assess and verify qualifications	Manage assessment and verification on a day to day basis Have effective assessment practices and internal verification procedures Meet awarding body requirements for delivering the qualifications Have sufficient competent assessors and internal verifiers with enough time and authority to carry out their roles effectively.
External Verifiers	Appointed by the awarding body to monitor the work of the approved centres. They are they key link between the awarding body and centre.	Make sure that decisions on competence are consistent across centres. Make sure that they quality of assessment and verification meets national standards. Sample candidate assessments and monitor assessment and verification practices in centres. Provide feedback to centres Make regular visits to centres and assessment locations.
Expert Witness	A person whose level of specialised knowledge or skill in a particular field qualifies them to present their opinions or facts	Will posses the relevant occupational and trade knowledge. Does not need to be a qualified assessor but is required to be a subject matter expert with an understanding of the assessment procedure of which he/she is a part When learners are in the workplace, their line manager, or supervisor may be able to act as the expert witness.
Awarding Bodies	Organisations accredited to award vocational qualifications	Ensure the quality and consistency of assessment for qualification nationality Provide guidance for centres Appoint, support and develop external verifiers, allocate them to centres and monitor their work. Approve and monitor centres against specified criteria Collect information from centres to inform national decisions about delivering qualification Provide information to awarding organisations
Standard Setting Bodies	Develop the national occupational standards on which S/NVQ and related vocational qualifications are based.	Work with awarding bodies to produce an assessment strategy Provide information about, and the clarification of the national occupation standards.
SQA (Scottish Qualifications Authority)	The accrediting body for Scotland	Accredit qualifications put forward by awarding bodies f they are meet the published criteria Ensure the quality of the overall qualifications system through work with awarding bodies Monitor the quality and effectiveness of awarding bodies through quality audits.
QCA (The Qualifications & Curriculum Authority)	The accrediting body for England, Wales and Northern Ireland	Accredit qualifications put forward by awarding bodies if they meet the published criteria Ensure the quality of the overall qualifications system through work with awarding bodies Monitor the quality and effectiveness of awarding bodies through quality audits.