Specialist Vocational Training Ltd hold centre approval with City & Guilds and the Institute of Leadership & Management. Regular readers will be aware that we offer a range of qualifications at levels 3 through to level 7 in Occupational Health & Safety, Social Care and Management and Leadership & Management. What you may not be aware of is that each of the qualification models that we deliver is regularly checked or externally quality assured, by the relevant awarding body. The checks known as EQA visits are undertaken by an external quality consultant who is contracted by the awarding body and the main aim of the visit is to audit our documentation and ensure that we are following the standards as set out by the awarding body such as City & Guilds or ILM.
Those of you who have experience of an external quality assurance audit will appreciate the anticipation of the results of such audits. Our external audits take place about every 12 weeks which is necessary when you take into account the variety of the qualifications we offer. Everything must be right in terms of documentations and paper trails. We must also show that not only do we get the paper side of the quality right we must also show that we understand what we are doing and why we are doing it. Our students are vetted to ensure that we have provided the correct advice to them and that we have guided them to the right qualification. In other words, we do the right thing because it’s the right thing to do and we do it every time without fail.
One thing about these audits is that you cannot fully prepare for them. We do however get notice of a preferred date from the EQA (the visiting officer) and an outline of what they want to inspect, discuss and observe on the day. However that can change on the day as they have the right to request sight of any of our documentation and candidates portfolios. In the case of the City & Guilds Health and Safety NVQs the EQA will go back over 12 months of paper trails. Recently, in June 2017, Mr Mike Todd Head of External Quality Assurance with City & Guilds for the Level 5 OH&S visited us at SVT to undertake such an audit. Mike Todd is highly qualified, experienced and well respected within the sector. After a full day of quality checks I am pleased to say that we passed again and keep our direct claim status. Yes we have been through this many times before, however each time matters a great deal to us and reflects our reputation as a quality provider.
You may be aware that Mike Todd was instrumental in the changes for the new City & Guilds Occupational Health & Safety Level 5 Diploma. Mike’s recommendations included a new approach and that all centres approved by City & Guilds for the new City and Guilds NVQ Level 5 Diploma in Occupational Health and Safety Practice (3654-06) including the unit 611, yes it’s a level 6 award, must visit the candidate at their place of work. We at SVT welcomed the change and we are successfully delivering the qualification as required by the standard set. We deliver this qualification through our innovative online learning portal, as before, but now we physically visit the candidate in their workplace, not only because this is now a formal requirement, but because we understand and recognise the benefits in doing so.
Mike Watson CMIOSH MIIRSM FlnstLM