Working in Partnership: How We Empower Our Approved Centres
Sean Hayes
At the heart of every successful qualification is a strong partnership between the Awarding Body and its Approved Centres. We feel it is the collaborative relationship between GQA and our Centres that ensures our qualifications are delivered efficiently, lawfully and in full compliance with regulatory requirements.
Our strapline “All About the Learner” is something we truly believe, and our mantra of advice, support, and guidance underpins this.
Clearly, we have to work within a regulatory framework set by Ofqual, Qualifications Scotland Accreditation, Qualifications Wales, and CCEA to uphold the integrity of, and public confidence in, our qualifications, but at a more fundamental level, we need to be confident every achiever of a GQA qualification has been assessed fairly and robustly and proven to have the relevant skills and knowledge required.
Preparing the learner is a key step in helping them understand the assessment process and requirements and creating a good working relationship between the learner and the assessment team at the Centre. Remember, in many cases the learner could be entering a workplace with risks and hazards, so it is everyone’s duty and responsibility to be competent and confident to deal with these.
As many of you will know, we offer what is seen by many as a high-risk qualification, our Level 1 Award in Construction Health and Safety, and the associated CSCS card for Labourers, and we commit a huge amount of resource to monitoring the delivery and assessment processes. This includes remote monitoring of classroom delivery and testing, physical unannounced visits, and employing 2 members of staff whose entire working week consists of quality assurance activities in sampling what Centres do.
At 1 or 2 recent unannounced visits, I feel it is fair to say, the Centre staff were less than cordial with the GQA representative initially. The Centres felt they were being singled out and were being scrutinised too closely and too often.
This was sorted out relatively quickly by us explaining to the Centre staff why we were on site, and what our visits are intended to do.
Our attendance should not be seen as negative; they should be viewed as a free and impartial “health check” and an opportunity for identifying areas of good practice along with aspects that could be “…even better if…”
Our CSCS license puts an obligation on us to minimise any instances of malpractice of unethical behaviour by our Centres, so our enhanced monitoring goes some way toward this, but that alone is not enough.
It is not possible for us to be present at each and every assessment that takes place, so we support Approved Centres through clear qualification specifications, guidance documents from our Qualifications and Product Development team and responsive customer support from our office team.
Our Strategic Relationship pairing of Dan and Katie are reaching out to Centres to see what they need from us to grow their business, after all, we can only really be truly successful if our Centres are successful.
Our team of EQAs provide quality assurance, training, standardisation and ongoing professional development; all aimed at creating an environment where Centres have the confidence, knowledge and resources to deliver qualifications consistently and effectively.
As an Awarding Body, we recognise that our Approved Centres are more than providers of education and training—they are trusted partners who share our commitment to maintaining high standards, protecting learners and supporting entry into employment, progression, or further study.
By empowering our Approved Centres with expert guidance, practical resources and responsive support, we enable them to deliver qualifications efficiently, lawfully and compliantly. Together, we uphold standards, build confidence and create meaningful opportunities for learners to achieve recognised qualifications that support their future success.
Compliance should never be viewed as a box- ticking exercise or something to be endured, if should be the bedrock of credibility.