Assessor Newsletter
February 2016
In this issue:
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Welcome
NVQ Standards
Somerset College
E-portfolio
EQA Visit
IQA Role
General Information
Second year
induction
Please note the date of
the 2nd year induction
day now as every year
some students do not
attend due to this being
overlooked.
It is a mandatory day
which is an important
part of their funded
training provision.
South-west Regional
NVQ Coordinator
Karen Nash
South West Medicines
Information and Training
Bristol Royal Infirmary
Marlborough Street
Bristol
BS2 8HW
Tel: 0117 3423487
Fax: 0117 3423818
www.swmit.nhs.uk
Welcome
Firstly I would like to wish you
a very Happy 2016 and
welcome you to the first
newsletter we have had for
several years.
NVQ Standards
The current NVQ standards
expired in Dec 2015 but have
been given an extension until
Dec 2016 at present. You will
all be aware that the National
Occupational Standards for
Pharmacy have recently been
reviewed. This along with the
current GPhC review of our
educational standards will help
develop
our
new
initial
training standards for the
Pharmacy
workforce.
The
proposal is for these to be
implemented in September
2017.
For the present we continue as
normal with the existing NVQ
2 and 3 standards for both.
Somerset College
Last September saw some
significant changes to the staff
involved
with
the
BTEC
programme. Graham Lilley has
stepped
down
from
programme lead although he
is still the course lead and
teaches as normal on the
course. The new programme
lead is Terrie Chaplin.
Sue Porcas, the students
Human Physiology lecturer has
retired and these lectures are
now taught by Jill Gannon. Jill
is also their tutor.
Changes mean that only those
students who do not currently
have
functional
skills
or
equivalent at level 2 or above
are required to study this,
which now only applies to a
couple of students. This does
however
lead
to
some
timetabling difficulties for the
first years which we have
done our best to minimise.
Please remember that you
can use college work for Unit
309 and Graham Lilley can act
as a witness in place of
observations for this unit.
E-portfolio
Last year we started to offer
NVQ level 2 candidates the
option of using the e-portfolio,
with good uptake. There is an
additional cost of £40 associated
with this to cover the e-portfolio
license. However this option
does remove the difficulty of
transporting
folders
for
verification purposes.
The induction day and NVQ 2
Manual have been revised to
cover this area.
There is no requirement for the
SWMIT custom data unit to be
completed for NVQ Level 2
candidates.
You will also have noticed many
changes to your e-portfolio over
the last year which hopefully will
make it more user friendly.
Remember that there is always
additional help and information
on
the
support
website,
www.skillwise.net . You can log
in to the help and support area
with the username; vqmanager
and the password; balloon. This
will talk you through any aspect
of
the
e-portfolio
and
is
constantly being updated.
External Quality
assurer visit
The EQA (Tess Fenn) visited in
May and as you are probably
now aware, she was very
impressed. We retained our
centre status which allows us
to certificate candidates on
completion. She could not find
any action points for us which
is a first for the centre. I
would like to say a massive
thank you to everyone for
your hard work which made
this
possible.
Improved
signposting
of
supporting
evidence helped with this so
please continue to do this.
We have now set ourselves a
very high standard which we
need to maintain so please
keep
up
the
excellent
assessment practice.
Your Internal Quality
Assurer
Just a reminder regarding
your IQA’s (previously known
as your IV) role. As the
majority of candidates we are
funded for now use the eportfolio we are able to verify
more work remotely which
removes the need to travel to
sites as often as before. We
now carry out one visit to your
trust each year and the focus
of this visit will be assessor
observations, CPD checks and
assessor support as well as
candidate interviews. You can
still contact us at any time if
you require assistance or
guidance.
Following any remote IQA
activity your assessor feedback
will appear on your e-portfolio
with a link on your homepage,
so
remember
to
log
in
regularly to check for these
and also any evidence which
may have been returned for
action. You are able to reply to
any comments made by the
IQA in both these areas.
Remember that you can use
your activity log to store your
assessor CPD. This keeps it
together and makes it easy for
your IQA to check each year. It
is an easy process to upload
your GPhC CPD here so it is not
extra work.
Also when candidates have
completed all their units please
remember to sign off the
qualification as a whole so that
we can certificate them in a
timely manner.
For NVQ level 2 candidates and
those
completing
individual
units at NVQ 3, it is important
to keep a record of their
registration and expiry date and
ensure that work is completed
leaving sufficient time for the
IQA to verify this. As these
candidates are outside of our
funded workload we need to be
able to plan their verification in
a timely manner within limited
resources.
Dates for your
diary 2016
Assessor Updates
23rd February
21st April
15th July
8th November
Please ensure you book
a place asap, as
numbers are limited
and all must attend.
TAQA Assessor
Induction
21st April
11th October
General Information
There is a new version of the
CPERH on the SWMIT website
which is lined. The sections will
grow when you type in them
but may aid those candidates
who struggle to line up their
claims
against
the
text,
especially when evidence is
returned for reworks.
We no longer require you to fax
signed copies of application
forms for courses. Some trusts
require
you
to
obtain
a
purchase order before booking
your place on a course so
please check this prior to
applying.
The
application
process can be completed on
line.
Course attendance certificates
will only be issued to those
participants who complete all
sessions.
In
exceptional
circumstances additional work
may be set to cover any
sessions missed.
Level 2 induction
26th April
12th October
Level 3 induction
(Proposed)
8th and 9th September
Level 3 second year
induction
2nd August