Institute for Apprenticeships & Technical Education Seeks Peer Reviewers

The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education is looking for peer reviewers in 2020 to help with reviewing apprenticeships and T Level materials, particularly in the areas of audio-visual technology, sound recording and digital media.

Background

The Institute for Apprenticeships & Technical Education works to improve access to high-quality apprenticeships and technical education in order to transform the skills landscape. We work with employers across England to develop apprenticeships which meet their needs and those of apprentices and the economy as a whole.  

Apprenticeships The Institute’s core role is to be the guardian of quality for apprenticeship standards and assessment plans. An apprenticeship standard describes an occupation and the knowledge, skills and behaviours that need to be developed to demonstrate full competence in that occupation and meets set criteria.  Employers lead the development and the Institute manages the approval of apprenticeships, which includes peer review.  Apprenticeships are evaluated through an End point Assessment which is also peer reviewed and is externally quality assured.

Route reviews A core, statutory responsibility of the Institute is to regularly review the 15 occupational routes, and the individual standards within them, to ensure apprenticeship and technical education provision is high quality and that employer demand is being met.  Over the next year, we are conducting a review of apprenticeships in the Engineering & Manufacturing route to make sure they are high quality and fit for purpose. Further route reviews will follow.

T Levels You may be aware that earlier this year, the responsibilities and title of the Institute changed, and we become the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education. This change reflected the Institute taking on the responsibility for developing and approving T Level qualifications. T Level qualifications are new two-year courses of study which will follow GCSEs and be the equivalent to three A Levels. The first T Levels will be introduced in from September 2020 and will provide the knowledge and experience needed to open the door into skilled employment, further study or an apprenticeship. Information is here. 

T Levels are being developed with the collaboration of employers so that the content meets the needs of industry and prepares students for work. T Level Panels of experts set out the knowledge and skills required for each T Level, based on the same occupational standards as apprenticeships. This “outline content” is then taken by an Awarding Organisation to develop the technical qualification. Both the outline content and the technical qualifications are approved by the Institute with our Route Panels of employers having a central role in ensuring that the qualifications will meet the needs of businesses and learners. This reflects the role they also have in the approval of apprenticeship standards.  

The role of the Peer Reviewer

A Peer Review register has been created by the Institute in accordance with section A2G of the Enterprise Act 2016 which states that it must, “make arrangements for the carrying out of an examination of the standard or plan by an independent third party”. Peer Reviewers play a vital role within the Institute by forming a register of experts who review and comment on apprenticeship standards, assessment plans and on T Level content.   

They provide high quality advice which is fed into the recommendations that Institute officials make within the approvals process to Route Panels.  Peer Reviewers focus on key quality criteria set by the Institute and provide feedback on whether the learner would reach full occupational competence by completing the apprenticeship standard, and whether an end point assessment validly determines occupational competence. The Peer Reviewer’s comments are anonymised prior to distribution and the Institute protects the identity of its reviewers.  

The Peer Review Register

It would be possible for a reviewer to contribute a single review or join our pool of reviewers.  The workload for a contracted member of the pool who has a contract with the Institute would typically be to review one or two submissions several times a year, each review taking typically up to 4 hours (for which our contracted reviewers receive remuneration).

Peer reviewers must not be members of Trailblazer groups or T Level panels for any standard or submission they are asked to review. Peer reviewers anonymity is maintained by the Institute, and peer reviewers must not declare their role.  

If someone is interested in joining the pool of contracted, permanent Peer Reviewers to review standards & T Levels across a Route (for which they receive remuneration) please complete and return the following:

1) Expression of Interests form - Download here: https://www.creativelancashire...

2) PLUS a CV

Email your submission to : IFA.PeerReview@education.gov.uk