BTEC Quality Model 2012-13
These slides are an aide memoir; a visual representation and simple explanation of
the BTEC Quality Model.
For a full understanding of the process you need to refer to the UK BTEC Quality
Assurance Handbook on the BTEC website: www.btec.co.uk/keydocuments
The slides contain a number of hyperlinks [including company logos and blue boxes
at the top of each slide] but may also be stepped through in the normal way.
BTEC Quality Model 2012-13
QRD
Lead IV
SV
The BTEC Quality Model is made up of 3 components
• Quality Review and Development (QRD) :
An annual meeting with Senior Managers,
supported by teaching staff. Looks in detail at
centre processes and procedures.
• Lead Internal Verification (Lead IV) :
A standardisation exercise for teaching staff
that assists in understanding the Edexcel
requirements for Internal Verification
• Standards Verification (SV) :
An external review, via sampling, of the
accuracy of assessment decisions; ensuring
National Standards are maintained.
BTEC Quality Model 2012-13
QRD
Through 2012-13 we will continue to
support you through an annual Quality
Review and Development (QRD) meeting.
We will allocate a Centre Quality
Reviewer (CQR) who will negotiate a visit
date with you.
QRD covers all your BTEC provision: FL
through to Level 3 and specialist short
courses. The process is designed to be
supportive. It is not an inspection or
audit. It is a qualitative discussion,
supported by documentary evidence.
QRD focuses on three key areas:
• Managing Assessment
• Managing Learning
• Managing Resources
A Centre Quality Reviewer (CQR) will
make contact with you as soon as they
are allocated to your centre to negotiate
a visit date between 1st Oct and 30th
April.
If they’ve not been in contact please be
proactive and email them (details on
Edexcel Online: BTEC tab \ Quality
Review and Development.
Lead IV
The CQR will send visit details and
further information prior to the visit.
They will ask you to complete a ‘Centre
Engagement Document’. This is for you
to do some preparatory checking of your
systems, making sure any actions /
recommendations from your previous
QRD meeting have been addressed.
On the day, the focus will be on your
centre’s policies and procedures: How
you support staff and how they support
learners. The Objectives and Measures
used in QRD are explained in the UK
BTEC Quality Assurance Handbook.
The CQR will also meet with
representatives from each programme
area. We recognise that it might not
always be possible to have everyone
there, but someone from each
programme area should attend. The
purpose of the meeting is for the CQR to
triangulate information previously
provided by senior managers.
The CQR will end their visit with feedback
to senior managers outlining their
findings. They may identify essential
SV
action and/or recommendations. Any
essential action needs to be completed
within 3 months of the report or at least
significant evidence of them having been
addressed.
In exceptional circumstances, the CQR
may indicate that there are significant
deficiencies with your systems, relating
to Objectives A1 or A2 and may
recommend that certification for all your
programmes may be withheld. In such
circumstances your Regional Quality
Manager will be alerted and will work
with you to ensure learners are not
disadvantaged.
The official visit report will be posted on
Edexcel Online within 10 working days of
the visit. The report should reflect the
feedback given on the day and contain
no surprises.
NEW FOR 2012: NVQ qualifications are
no longer in scope for QRD.
BTEC Quality Model 2012-13
QRD
A robust internal verification system is at
the centre of the BTEC Quality Model and
at the heart of every BTEC qualification.
With the exception of the new next
generation NQF BTECs, BTEC
qualifications are wholly internally
assessed. Therefore a rigorous IV system
is required to ensure that assessment
decisions made by teaching staff are
accurate, valid and at the national
standard.
The accreditation process has four parts:
1. Registration
As a centre, you need to identify a
person to act as the Lead IV for each
programme area you run. The Lead IV
then needs to register via OSCA (an
option found on Edexcel Online) for their
principal subject area.
2. Centre Induction
This is a podcast explaining the need for
internal verification and the role of the
Lead IV. The podcast can be found at:
www.edexcel.com/centreinduction
Lead IV
3. Practice Materials
These are what they say on the tin:
practice materials! We encourage you to
use these as internal standardisation
exercises with colleagues.
SV
The results and SSV report will be
released one week after the close of each
window. Results will be posted in the
mailbox of Edexcel Online.
The online standardisation material is
Once registered as the Lead IV on OSCA, downloaded and worked through in
the practice materials will be available to exactly the same way as the practice
material.
download in PDF format.
The practice material will contain:
• Guidance notes on the activity
• A piece of learner work
• Feedback to the learner
• IV sheets of the assignment brief and
assessment decisions
• Questions for the Lead IV
• Answers and a Senior Standards
Verifier (SSV) commentary
4. Online Standardisation Exercise
During 2012-13 there will be two
windows available for online
standardisation:
Window 1:
Window 2:
08.11.12 to 05.12.12
17.01.13 to 13.02.13
Lead IVs need to keep copies of their
responses to compare with the SSV
commentary.
Successful accreditation lasts for the
current year +3 years. If a Lead IV is
unsuccessful, we will allocate a Standards
Verifier (SV), who will undertake a
sample of the Lead IV’s principal subject
area. Successful sampling will accredit
the Lead IV for the full term.
NOTE: For new next generation NQF
BTECs, the Lead IV is not required to
undertake the standardisation exercise,
but has specific training materials they
should work through with their
programme team.
BTEC Quality Model 2012-13
Lead IV
QRD
SV
From Sept 2012 the Lead IV arrangements for the new next generation NQF
BTECs will be slightly different than that for QCF BTECs. The table below sets
the arrangements side by side for comparison.
QCF BTECs
A Lead Internal Verifier is required to
gain accreditation for each Principal
Subject Area.
This involves registering on OSCA and
undertaking a standardisation
exercise. Successful completion
accredits the Lead Internal Verifier for
three years.
New next generation
NQF BTEC Firsts
The registered Lead Internal Verifier
for each Principal Subject Area
accesses standardisation training
materials via OSCA and works through
these with their team.
The Lead Internal Verifier must agree
and sign off the Assessment Plan for
the programme from the outset.
BTEC Quality Model 2012-13
QRD
Lead IV
Standards Verification is our process of
checking assessment by centre staff to
ensure that it is accurate, valid and at
the national standard.
to the SV updated records, showing
learners’ achievement and grades and
which of these have been subject to
internal verification.
The SV samples assessed and internally
verified learner work to confirm that:
• assignment briefs are fit for purpose
• assessment decisions are accurate
• the internal verification process is
robust and effective
• the Lead IV for the area understands
the requirements
What do I need to send to the SV?
SV
missing, or the evidence is not clearly
identified.
The SV completes a report that will be
available on Edexcel Online within 10
working days.
If the SV is satisfied that national
standards are met at the first sample,
the principal subject area is released for
certification and the Lead IV is accredited
or the full term.
If a second sample is required the SV
report will state clearly what the issues
are and what is required to put them
right. Extra learners will also be required
for the second sample.
The SV will make the final selection of
learners to be sampled, based on the
number of assessors on a programme
and the learners’ anticipated grades.
The sample must consist of:
• copies of learner work previously
selected by the SV (we can take no
responsibility for the safe return of
originals)
• an authenticity declaration from each
• learner
• assignment briefs for the units
identified
• IV records for the assignment briefs
• assessment records for the learner
work
• IV records for the assessment decisions
• learner consent declaration for each
piece of learner work
• Lead Internal Verifier declaration
The sample must include learners with a
range of achievement in terms of the
grades awarded. If your learners have
not achieved a range of grades, discuss
this with your SV.
Approximately four weeks before the
agreed sampling date, you should send
For each sample there must be definitive
evidence of assessed work covering the
whole unit. If the materials are
incomplete, inappropriate or appear to
not be authentic the SV cannot complete
sampling. They will contact you for
clarification if there are elements
If after the second sample the SV feels
there are still issues, the Regional Quality
Manager will arrange a visit to work
through the issues with you.
How will the sample be selected?
The SV may select samples from any
internally assessed units.
If the second sample is successful, the
principal subject area is released for
certification but the Lead IV has to
complete online standardisation next
year.
BTEC Quality Model 2012-13
QRD
Lead IV
From Sept 21012, two sampling activities ‘accredited subject to standards
will run in parallel for:
verification’. We don’t ask that they
undertake the exercise again, but we
• QCF BTEC Entry Level-Level 3
allocate a Standards Verifier who will
• new next generation NQF BTECs
sample the programme area. The SV will
contact the Centre Quality Nominee to
Whilst the principles are much the same, arrange a sample shortly after the results
sampling details differ slightly.
of online standardisation are released.
QCF BTEC Entry level – Level 3:
1. Confirmation Sampling
(for Accredited Lead IVs)
Accredited Lead IVs need to re-register
each September to confirm they are still
‘active’ in the centre. They do not have to
complete online standardisation again,
but have access to new practice
materials to work through with their
programme team.
However, they will be part of a random,
confirmatory, sampling process and can
expect to be sampled at least once
during their accreditation period.
2. Accreditation Sampling
(where there is no accredited Lead IV)
Where a Lead IV has been unsuccessful
in online standardisation, their status is
If no Lead IV has completed online
standardisation by the end of Window 2,
we will allocate an SV to conduct
sampling to release certification for the
current year only. A lead IV must
complete online standardisation in the
following year.
For QCF BTECs the sample size is:
Number of Units Sampled:
L3 Diploma or Ext Diploma: 2 Units
L3 Certificate or Sub Diploma: 1 Unit
L2 programmes: 1 Unit
L1 programmes: 1 Unit
Number of Learners Sampled
1-3 learners: All learners sampled
4-100 learners: 4 learners sampled
101-250 learners: 8 learners sampled
250+ learners: 12 learners sampled
SV
New next generation NQF
Level 1/Level 2 BTEC Firsts:
We will allocate a Standards Verifier (SV)
from December 2012 and the standards
verification will take place between
January and May 2013.
The SV will request samples of learner
work from every assessor over the
lifecycle of the programme. Only whole
units will be accepted for sampling.
Once allocated, the SV will want to see
your Assessment Plan showing:
• all assessors and the units they are
assessing
• all internal verifiers and when IV will
take place
• confirmation of the learners registered
on the programme
The dates for selecting and receiving
learners to be sampled will need to be
agreed with the SV.
BTEC Quality Model 2012-13
Lead IV
QRD
SV
From Sept 2012 the Standards Verification arrangements for the new next
generation NQF BTECs will be slightly different than that for QCF BTECs. The
table below sets the arrangements side by side for comparison.
QCF BTECs
New next generation
NQF BTEC Firsts
Standards Verification takes place
in two ways:
Standards Verification takes place
annually.
1. Confirmation Sampling: takes
place at least once during a Lead
Internal Verifier’s accreditation period.
Please note, this is in addition to any
QCF Standards Verification you may be
involved in.
2. Accreditation Sampling: takes
place if a Lead Internal Verifier is
unsuccessful or if no-one attempts
online standardisation via OSCA.
BTEC Quality Model 2012-13
Lead IV
QRD
SV
From Sept 2012 the sampling arrangements for the new next generation NQF
BTECs will be slightly different than that for QCF BTECs. The table below sets
the arrangements side by side for comparison.
QCF BTECs
The Standards Verification sample is
based on units and levels being
delivered in the centre:
L3
L3
L2
L1
Diploma or Ext Diploma: 2 Units
Certificate or Sub Diploma: 1 Unit
programmes: 1 Unit
programmes: 1 Unit
New next generation
NQF BTEC Firsts
The Standards Verification sample is
based on the number of assessors on
a programme:
Up to 10 samples per assessor,
over the lifecycle of the programme.
Standards Verifiers will look at
assessment plans prior to selecting the
sample.
We hope you find this brief overview of the BTEC Quality Model useful.
For a full understanding of the process you need to refer to the UK BTEC
Quality Handbook on the BTEC website : www.btec.co.uk/keydocuments
If you require further support, please contact your local Regional Quality
Manager
A map with Regional Quality Manager contact details can be found on the
BTEC website: www.btec.co.uk/support