Quality Assurance Principles, Elements and Criteria

1 Quality AssurancePrinciples, Elements and CriteriaDecember 1998 Publication code: A0798 Published by the Scottish Qualifications AuthorityHanover House, 24 Douglas Street, Glasgow G2 7NQ, and Ironmills Road, Dalkeith,Midlothian EH22 1LE Scottish Qualifications Authority 1998 The information in this publication may be reproduced in support of SQAqualifications. If it is reproduced, the Scottish Qualifications Authority should beclearly acknowledged as the source. If it is to be used for any other purpose, thenwritten permission must be obtained from the Publications Officer at the ScottishQualifications Authority. It must not be reproduced for trade or of Assessment and Quality Assurance2 Quality Assurance Principles8 Quality Assurance Elements9 General Criteria10 Approval as an SQA centre11 Approval to offer specific SQA qualifications12 Validation of SQA qualifications13 Internal moderation (verification) of internal assessment16 External moderation (verification) of internal assessment17 Quality control of external assessment19 Monitoring of SQA s Quality Assurance elements201 ForewordDeveloping its policy on assessment and Quality Assurance was one of the first tasksundertaken by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) on its formation.

2 SQAinherited policies and procedures from its predecessor bodies, and these had to beintegrated. It also had to take account of decisions already made in relation to the newHigher Still provision. Assessment and Quality Assurance of Higher National Certificatesand Diplomas were also under review, as were the Criteria applied to ScottishVocational Qualifications. Convergence, where possible, with the emerging policies ofthe Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) has been another works in partnership with centres to ensure that all of its qualifications are subjectto rigorous Quality Assurance and has now drawn up a number of Quality assuranceprinciples to maximise the effectiveness of its partnership. Specific Elements of qualityassurance are based on these principles, and each element consists of a number ofcriteria.

3 The Elements and Criteria are designed to ensure that all SQA qualifications areassessed to national reading this publication, staff in centres should develop an understanding of thecriteria and of the ways we can work together to ensure that all SQA qualificationscontinue to meet the requirements of the people of of Assessment and QualityAssurance1 IntroductionThis document sets out SQA s Quality Assurance principles, Elements and for meeting some of the Criteria falls mainly on SQA itself, while for othercriteria it falls more on the SQA monitors the way a centre carries out its responsibilities depends on the typeof centre and the type of qualification being offered. For a qualification which isassessed wholly by an externally-marked question paper, such as some Standard Gradesubjects, most of the Quality Assurance burden falls directly on SQA.

4 For an internally-assessed qualification, responsibility is shared with the centre, so a different range ofquality Assurance procedures is required. Another consideration was that the assessmentprocesses of education authority schools and further education colleges are subject tothe Quality Assurance procedures of a number of external bodies, whereas for someother organisations it may be SQA alone which externally monitors most important objective of SQA s assessment and Quality Assurance principles andprocedures is to ensure that assessment of SQA qualifications is valid and reliable; iethat candidates who have demonstrated the competences required by a qualificationreceive certification and that those who have not demonstrated competence do not. Thishas to be achieved in a practical and cost-effective manner, and we have taken accountof concerns about the Quality Assurance burden expressed by some centres.

5 Every efforthas been made to keep the Quality Assurance demands on centres to the rest of this section gives an overview of how Quality Assurance will be carried out inthe various contexts in which SQA qualifications are SchoolsSQA s involvement in primary schools relates to 5 14 National Testing. Policydirection for National Tests lies with The Scottish Office and, of course, National Testsdo not result in a qualification or the issue of a certificate. Some of the centre Criteria arenonetheless relevant but are only of an advisory nature for primary schools. Forexample, internal moderation of the marking of National Tests is strongly Secondary SchoolsApproval as an SQA centreEducation authority schools will receive centre approval automatically, as the educationauthority is obliged to ensure that minimum standards of resourcing are attained and allteachers have to be registered with the General Teaching Council.

6 Independent schoolsfully registered with The Scottish Office Education and Industry Department (SOEID)will be approved following a development visit by a member of SQA s to offer specific qualificationsA school wishing to introduce a new National Qualification in an area in which it hasexperience simply needs to let SQA know. This will help SQA to plan a school wishes to offer a qualification in an area in which it has no experience,there may be specialist skills or equipment required, or a specific learning such instances approval to offer the qualification will be required. The completion of aform will normally be sufficient, though an approval visit may take place if SQA needsmore informationValidationSchools, for the most part, will be delivering National Qualifications which aredeveloped nationally. Schools involvement in validation will, therefore, focus on theirwillingness to release staff on request to serve on national development groups, and torespond to consultation on proposals for introducing new qualifications or revisingexisting moderation/verificationIt is important that schools ensure that internal assessments and estimates are made in aconsistent manner.

7 SQA will assume that all candidates in the school entered for thesame qualification are assessed to a common standard, so methods of ensuring thatassessments are consistent should be applied. It is also important that any new memberof staff has access to all the relevant SQA external moderation reveals a significant problem in assessment the externalmoderator may look into the way internal moderation is carried out. Should a centre-wide problem be identified through external moderation, then a visit by a systems verifiermay be moderationExternal moderation will follow the principles and procedures which SQA consulted onearly in 1998. The system will involve both visiting and central (including postal)moderation. External moderation will focus on the validity and reliability of the school sassessment. There will be a greater role for holistic assessment at outcome visits will be offered.

8 A separate charge will be made for these but nocharge will be made for moderation visits instigated by SQA. The National AssessmentBank items should enhance the validity and reliability of internal assessment of theNational Units covered by the Bank. This resource, coupled with the use of externalassessment, will allow less obtrusive moderation of these units. Further details on4moderation will be found in the Summary of the Outcomes section of SQA sAssessment Moderation/External Verification Project: Outcomes of assessmentThe conduct of national examinations requires a high degree of organisation andpreparation. Most of this falls to SQA, but centres have an important role to play insubmitting estimates and entering candidates at the appropriate course for large numbers of students sitting examinations is required, as is theschool s co-operation in special assessment arrangements, and procedures forabsentees and assessment appeals.

9 The production by candidates of folios, projects etcoutwith the examination room demands different Quality Assurance measures for ensuringthat the work is the candidate s own. Schools will already be familiar with theserequirements but the emphasis on supervised write-ups will CollegesApproval as an SQA centreAs independent institutions, colleges new to SQA will require individual approval inorder to become an SQA centre. Full registration with SOEID and/or the ScottishQuality Management System (SQMS) or with another awarding body should result inan abbreviated approval to offer specific qualificationsFor most colleges, responsibility for this function is devolved after a successful responsibility may be withdrawn should difficulties in assessment arise frominadequate resourcing and for validating National Qualifications will not be devolved as NationalQualifications will be developed nationally in consultation with centres.

10 Colleges involvement will focus on their willingness to release staff on request to serve on nationaldevelopment groups, and to respond to consultation on proposals for introducing newqualifications or revising existing Higher National Units, where a college has obtained devolved responsibility forvalidation of units and/or group awards on SQA s behalf, the extent of this devolution isdefined in the centre s Quality contract with SQA. In the centre s exercise of itsdevolved responsibility for validation, it must: have a system and procedures which ensure that all validation proposals areappraised against the validation Criteria have documentation describing all validations which have been carried out, includingthe result of the appraisal against each of the Criteria ensure that the outcomes of validations are timeously reported to SQA for recordingin the appropriate catalogue Accreditation of Scottish Vocational Qualifications is not devolvable.