Every Learner is Different | Lisa’s Story
About Lisa
Lisa loves motorbikes and now owns 3. Her hobbies are always competing when the sun is out, as she loves mountain biking too. When she’s not out on one of the many bikes, Lisa finds Classic FM great to relax to – but 80s dance music is her friend on the morning commute and a little dance music picks her up in the afternoons too!
Life before Brooks and Kirk
Before starting the course, Lisa already had experience in apprenticeships. She worked as a lecturer in a college on both full time BTEC courses and a new social media apprenticeship standard. Working on both courses opened her eyes and she saw how beneficial the apprenticeship option was for learners.
So, she decided to go back into the industry to get the relevant experience and gain my assessors award, so she could return to apprenticeships with the skills and experience to support learners effectively.
Finding Brooks and Kirk
Lisa found Brooks and Kirk online as she was searching for a TAQA course that she could do before having an assessing job. Like many people say, it seemed a bit chicken and egg; many employers wanted assessors to have the award already, but most courses required you to have access to learners to complete the assessments.
Lisa was thrilled when she found Brooks and Kirk as we were able to offer a complete solution. She was able to gain the award while staying in the industry and on completion, the whole job market opened up to her.
Course Review
“The course was excellent. Although I have experience in some of the subject matter from doing my PGCE, there was plenty of new material relevant to apprenticeships and I certainly needed the refresh. The online materials in the virtual learning environment were so easy to use and the course was really well structured. It made it quick to understand what was expected and what I needed to get on with. Each module had the learning content; many with videos, followed by a worksheet to download to complete and submit back to the same page. This meant I knew where everything was, what I had done and what was outstanding. The course didn’t feel overwhelming at any point either. It was a great example of how to structure learning materials online and it will stay in my mind when I am creating learning resources for the online platform.
The practical assessment day was the best bit. I did the whole course in 3 weeks and working through it at that pace meant that when I did the practical, all the online materials were very fresh in my mind. The practical day in Birmingham was really well thought out and gave us plenty of opportunity to ask questions and confirm our understanding. It was very relaxed and we were able to gain instant feedback from our assessor on how we asked questions of the apprentice we assessed and the notes we made to evidence the assessment criteria.
I think for anyone looking to do their CAVA, this is the way to do it. Avoid the pressure of being in front of a paying employer and go with Brooks and Kirk, where you are the focus of the day and not the apprentice!”
Review left on our Facebook Page
Really enjoying my CAVA course. The online learning platform is so easy to use, and the quality and accessibility of the resources make the assignments much easier to understand. They have exceeded my expectations on feedback times, usually within days rather than the two weeks they give themselves. When I have had questions, the team have always been really helpful and nothing has been too much trouble. They are a great example to assessors as to how to run vocational training!
I will be returning to do my verifier’s qualification with these guys and highly recommend them.
UPDATE!
I have finished the qualification now, and it has been excellent. The assessors day was a fantastic opportunity to gain experience completing an observation and professional discussion in a context where the trainee assessors’ needs come first. This means that as the assessor, you feel safe to try things and in asking your trainer questions without worrying about being professional in front of an apprentice and their employer.
This is how all new assessors should be trained as you feel so much more confident at the end of it!
I cannot recommend Brooks and Kirk highly enough! Their service is excellent, the marking is fast and feedback is clear and supportive.
I have talked at length with them on the phone about things like the new apprenticeship standards, which shows they are not just there to help you with the qualification, but are ready and willing to support you in your professional development as a whole.
Life after the Assessor Course
Lisa has recently accepted a position as Technical Coach (Digital Marketing Assessor) for The Development Manager, an apprenticeship provider in Worcester.
She am investigating a masters degree so that I am ready to train on the degree apprenticeship standards currently awaiting approval. In the mean time, Lisa is keeping up with CPD activities in HTML coding and Google Analytics. Once she has been assessing for a little while, Lisa said she will be back to Brooks and Kirk to do the IQA award and take her career to the next level.
Contact Us
If you have any questions about our courses or services, please feel free to get in touch. Our advisors are always happy to have a chat. You can contact us using any of the below platforms, or fill in our contact form and we will respond to you within one working day.
Our opening hours are 9am – 6.30pm, Monday – Friday.
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.