Not the Award in Undertaking End-Point Assessment
Introducing Our Online EPA Training!
Yep, that’s right. The long awaited, Brooks and Kirk exclusive Award in End-Point Assessment Principles and Practice is here! Here at Brooks and Kirk, we have been working hard (for what feels like forever) on developing an online version of our successful National EPA Workshop. So we are extremely pleased to finally announce that the course is now live.
Over the past year however, we have received A LOT of calls asking us about another EPA course – the Level 3 Award in Undertaking End-Point Assessment. We’ve noticed that there has been a significant amount of misunderstanding over the purpose of this course and who it is suitable for. Which is why we thought we would create this post to talk you all through a couple of the most common misconceptions regarding this particular EPA qualification.
Will the Level 3 Award in Undertaking End-Point Assessment help me get a job as an End-Point Assessor?
In short, no. Of the 590+ Apprenticeships that are approved for delivery, not one of them require the End-Point Assessor to hold this qualification. What most of them do require the End-Point Assessor to have however, is a ‘recognised’ Assessor qualification. Some even require you to have an IQA qualification as well. We have worked with, and are still working with some of the largest End-Point Assessment Organisations and they told us the same. To summarise; as strange as it may sound, completing the Level 3 Award in Undertaking End-Point Assessment will not qualify you as an End-Point Assessor.
In that case, Where does the Level 3 Award in Undertaking End-Point Assessment sit in the range of qualifications?
Right at the bottom. If you look at the specification for the Level 3 Award in Undertaking End-Point Assessment, it actually suggests that after taking it you could go on and take one of the other Assessor qualifications. This indicates that it sits below the ACWE and the AVRA; both of which are below the CAVA. If all of those acronyms have made no sense to you, take a look at our blog on ‘Choosing the Right Assessor Qualification‘.
Of course, we certainly don’t want to give off the impression that the Level 3 Award in Undertaking End-Point Assessment isn’t useful. As long as you, the learner, gain something from it then it gets the green light from us. However, we as a reputable assessor training training provider, we do want to make clear that if the sole reason you want to do this course is to get a job as an End-Point Assessor, then we wouldn’t necessarily recommend it alone. Instead, almost every single Apprenticeship and/or EPAO will require you to have the CAVA, ACWE or equivalent.
So, if that won’t get me a job as an Independent End-Point Assessor – what will?
As we touched on before, most Apprenticeship ‘Assessment Plans’ state that IEPA’s must hold:
- A recognised Assessor qualification – such as the Level 3 CAVA;
- A certain amount of experience within in the relevant occupation/sector;
- A particular level of vocational qualification relevant to that occupation.
For a specific example, in order to be an IEPA for the Plumbing and Domestic Heating Technician Apprenticeship, you must have:
- Relevant occupational expertise and knowledge, at the relevant level of the occupational area(s) they are assessing, which has been gained through ‘hands-on’ experience in the Plumbing and Domestic Heating industry.
- Hold a recognised assessing qualification.
- Hold a recognised qualification, for example, an NVQ Level 3 in Plumbing and Domestic Heating
If you already have a qualification and experience in the area you want to become an End-Point Assessor in, all you need to do is gain an Assessor qualification. There are three to choose from; but the one that we recommend and most EPAO’s prefer is the Level 3 Certificate in Assessing Vocational Achievement. We would strongly recommend checking the specific Assessment Plan for the End-Point Assessment you wish to assess in. By checking it, you can also see whether you will require an IQA qualification. If you do, it will be the Level 4 Award in the Internal Quality Assurance of Assessment Processes and Practice.
However, if you are already a qualified/trainee assessor and you are looking for EPA Training specifically, then here’s what we would recommend…
The Award in End-Point Assessment Principles and Practice
We were asked by a number of bodies to develop a training course that would give their qualified assessors the skills they need to work effectively as an End-Point Assessor. Initially, we trialled this EPA training by delivering it around the country in the form of a workshop. The feedback we received was amazing. Even learners who had previously completed the Level 3 Award in Undertaking End-Point Assessment commented on how much they had learnt from our course and how they now understood far more than before. Which is why we decided to transform this workshop into a CPD verified course, to make it accessible to everyone.
The Award in End-Point Assessment Principles and Practice is a Brooks and Kirk exclusive CPD course. It has been designed to give learners like yourself all the theory behind EPA; industry best practice tips; and not to mention the opportunity to grade 2 mock End-Point Assessments using three of the most popular assessment methods used in EPAs.
As you’ve probably gathered by now, the course is delivered entirely online. You don’t need to attend any of our centres or take time off work to enable you to complete it. Even your grading tasks are done remotely, just like most of them are in the real world of End-Point Assessment. It should take you about 6 hours to complete the course. So you could even get it boxed off in a day if you wanted to!
Upon completion you will receive a certificate that states you have completed 6 hours of verified CPD.
Get started on our Award in End-Point Assessment Principles and Practice today!
Steve is a Chartered Manager and a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute.
He provides Educational Consultancy to the 19+ sector as well as being an Assessor, IQA, EPA and Digital Marketing Professional. When not doing any of these he finds time, every now and then, to write blogs and articles.