CPD Training for Assessors

Advice on Assessor CPD Training from Sam Sleight from Brooks and Kirk:

Whether you are a newly qualified assessor or someone who has been assessing ever since it was the D32/33, Continuing Professional Development is important. The irony is, sometimes NVQ assessors find that because they are constantly engaged with their learners and helping them to develop their careers, they themselves don’t look after their own.

This article will explore the various ways in which an NVQ assessor can keep their CPD record up to date and make sure that they are maintaining a high standard in their practice.

What counts towards my CPD record?

As an NVQ assessor, it’s extremely important that you are always looking for opportunities to broaden and strengthen your knowledge and skills. Completing training courses is an effective way to ensure that you are doing just that however, you don’t have to get a certificate from a nationally recognised awarding organisation for it to count towards your CPD. As long as the training you have done will help you develop into a better assessor and you have evidence of completing the training (generally in the form of a certificate) then it will do the job.

Here’s an example of just a few courses that you could complete as part of your CPD as an assessor:

• Education and Training Qualifications
• Information, Advice and Guidance Qualifications
• Refresher courses in Maths, English and ICT
• Online short courses in communication skills, organisational skills or questioning techniques etc.

If you are an experienced assessor, then it’s highly likely that you will have encountered learners with very specific needs during your career. Have you ever thought about completing more specialist training courses for special educational needs tor example?  This helps demonstrate that you are prepared to go the extra mile. A great example of this could be to complete a basic sign language course so that when it came to dealing with learners who have hearing impairments, you would be able to use multiple ways of communicating with those learners. This kind of training is ideal for your Continuing Professional Development as an NVQ assessor.

Attending standardisation meetings will also count towards your CPD as an assessor. If you are currently working as an NVQ assessor, it is recommended that you attend at least two standardisation meetings a year. Standardisation meetings are extremely important for learning providers. They ensure that all assessors are assessing at the same standard. This is also where the lead Internal Quality Assurer would relay any legislation changes within the sector to the delivery team.

Finally, developing a delivery model for a new qualification is another great way to continue your professional development. If you are currently working for a learning provider and they look into delivering a new qualification which you are occupationally competent to deliver, then this is a great opportunity to update your CPD record. NVQ assessors should be involved with the whole process when developing course content for a new qualification. Not only is this a great opportunity for you as the assessor to familiarise yourself with the specification that you are going to be delivering from, but it is also a useful experience to gain for when it comes to progressing your career.

Hopefully this article will help you to keep on top of your CPD as an NVQ assessor.

Sam Sleight, Head of Marketing, Brooks and Kirk (Assessor Training) Ltd

About Sam Sleight: Sam is the Marketing Manager at Brooks and Kirk. Whenever he’s not working away on websites, managing advertising campaigns or creating new content, he’s probably watching football. But aside from his passion for football and Chelsea in particular, he is also passionate about helping those that are eager to start a new career in the FE industry to receive the best advice, guidance and support possible.

About Brooks and Kirk: Brooks and Kirk are an independent training provider with over 20 years’ experience in delivering assessor and internal quality assurance qualifications. They have loads of great content on their assessor training website for anyone that is interested in becoming an assessor. If you are interested in finding out more here is a link to the Brooks and Kirk assessor training website.