Pre-delivery and Understanding Standards
The first stage of internal verification is the pre-delivery stage. This includes:
- planning the management and coordination of internal assessment activities
- planning the management and coordination of internal verification activities
- ensuring a shared understanding of standards
- agreeing on assessment approaches
- preparing candidates
Pre-delivery tasks
| Role of assessor | Role of internal verifier |
|---|---|
| Understand roles and responsibilities | Ensure assessor(s) and internal verifier roles and responsibilities are clear Define approach to internal verification, including sampling |
| Get familiar with standards and conditions | Collaborate with assessor(s) to ensure shared understanding of standards and conditions |
| Propose assessment approach Assessors can use SQA provided assessment (UASPs or SQA prior verified assessment from the secure site) or devise their own assessments |
Collaborate to ensure that assessment approach is valid, reliable, practicable, equitable and fair Where appropriate SQA’s free Prior Verification service should be used |
| Prepare candidates | Confirm guidance to candidates Ensure that process is in place for candidates who require assessment arrangements |
Pre-delivery records
The assessor(s) and internal verifier(s) for every Unit should be identified and recorded. A pro forma is provided for this.
You may wish to refer to the Frequently Asked Questions (21 KB) for guidance on the qualifications and experience required to be an assessor or internal verifier.
A pro forma is provided for recording discussions and actions from meetings. These could be full staff team meetings, or smaller, informal meetings. The pro forma has a checklist of issues to be discussed and allows you to record comments and actions succinctly. There is also a completed example, for guidance.
- Understanding Standards Pre-delivery Meeting Form (67KB)
- Understanding Standards Pre-delivery Meeting Form – Example (29 KB)
If you decide to write your own assessments, rather than using the SQA Unit assessment support packs (UASPs), you should internally verify them before use. It is also strongly recommended that you send them to SQA for prior verification, once you have internally verified them. A pro forma is provided for recording the outcome of internal verification of a centre-devised assessment, feedback to the teacher/lecturer who wrote it and any action points. There are two completed examples, for guidance.
- Internal prior verification of assessment record (68 KB)
- Internal prior verification of assessment record – Example 1 (162 KB)
- Internal prior verification of assessment record – Example 2 (154 KB)
Internal Assessment arrangements
Candidates are individuals with a diverse range of needs and it is important that, as part of your internal verification process, you consider the individual assessment needs of your candidates when considering the most appropriate assessment arrangements.
A single download is available on all pages of the toolkit. This includes a single log form, which incorporates all the IV toolkit pro forma into one document which you may use to support your centre's internal verification procedures. We recommended you refer to all pro forma in the IV toolkit.when developing and reviewing your approach to internal verification.