Carrying out a Group Award review
Any information which could support a decision on the future of a qualification is gathered throughout the qualification's period of currency.
The formal review takes the following into account:
- any changes made to the original qualification during its life span
- any changes suggested since previous validation/review
- new legislation affecting the sector/industry
- new technology affecting the sector/industry
- new or altered related qualifications (those which progress into or beyond the Group Award, for example, National Courses, NQGAs, SVQs and HNC/Ds)
- External Verifier reports
- uptake of Group Award
- pass rates (Unit-by-Unit)
- comments from delivering centres
- comments from centres approved to deliver but not delivering
- comments from other Qualification Design Teams (in related sectors)
- income generated from candidate entries
Most of the information required for the formal review will already be to hand due to having been looked at through maintenance of the qualification and as part of the verification process:
- any changes made to the structure of the Group Award is recorded in the History of changes section in the Group Award specification
- any changes made to Units within the Group Award is recorded in the History of changes section in the Unit specification
- external verifier reports are sent to the Qualification Manager each year
- members of the QST/Course Team will know of any changes in legislation and how they impact on the qualification