People needed in theassessment of ITQ

• Expert Witnesses
• Assessors
• Internal Verifiers
• External Verifiers

Expert Witnesses can be drawn from a wide range of people who can attest to performance in the workplace, including line managers and experienced colleagues from inside the candidate’s organisation or from other organisations such as customers or clients.

The expert witness can, in particular, provide evidence relating to the candidate’s competence:

• when using specialist or bespoke IT applications;
• in meeting customer requirements; and
• of working within organisational procedures.

Expert witnesses must:

• have a minimum of 2 years supervisory, managerial or training experience in the units for which they are providing evidence;
• demonstrate a working knowledge of the National Occupational Standards units they are attesting to; and
• demonstrate clear evidence of appropriate continuous professional development.

In addition it would be desirable for the Expert Witness to hold or be working towards an appropriate unit of competence in the assessment of workplace performance (such as the Learning and Development Unit L20 - ‘Support competence achieved in the workplace’). If this is not the case they must hold a post that involves responsibility for the quality of work performed by those for whom they are acting as an Expert Witness.

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Assessors will be appointed by approved centres to assess candidate performance and judge the validity of work place assessments.

The assessor will be responsible for vetting the selection of Expert Witnesses including evidence of occupational competence and monitoring their contribution to the assessment process. A register of all accepted Expert Witnesses must be maintained by the centre and be subject to review as part of the external verification process.

The assessor will be responsible for making assessment judgements including for units where evidence relies extensively on expert witness testimony. The assessor will make use of appropriate Expert Witness testimony as part of the overall assessment of the candidate. In addition the assessor must ensure that witness testimony clearly matches the level and breadth of performance described in the NOS, and this may be done, for example, by the assessor questioning the witness against the knowledge and skills specified in the NOS.

In addition to the requirements of the regulatory authorities assessors must:

• have carried out continued professional development to familiarise themselves with current standards for assessment; and
• have enough IT experience and occupational competence to enable them to make a valid judgement about the demonstration of competence in the area they will be assessing, normally through demonstrating that their own practice meets the national occupational standards.

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Internal Verifiers will be appointed by approved centres to ensure the quality and consistency of assessments within the centre.

In addition to the requirements of the regulatory authorities Internal Verifiers must:

• have enough IT experience and occupational competence to enable them to make a valid judgement about a demonstration of competence in the area they will be verifying.

External Verifiers will be appointed by the relevant Awarding Body to monitor and assure quality and consistency of assessments within and between centres.

In addition to the requirements of the regulatory authorities External Verifiers must:

• have enough IT experience and occupational competence to enable them to make a valid judgement about a demonstration of competence in the area they will be verifying.

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Last modified: 16 Jun 2007