51����

This policy sets out the assessment processes for programmes leading to QTS, for written, formative and final assessments. The term ‘assessment’ should be construed to include reference to, as appropriate, assessment of coursework, tasks, presentations, research assignments, school placements, teaching observations, reviews of evidence against the Teachers’ Standards and any other form of assessment of learners’ performance. It should be read in conjunction with the relevant programme’s handbook which will be made available to all learners.

The purpose of formative assessment is to promote development of learners’ knowledge, skills and behaviours and classroom practice, aligning such assessment with the ITT curriculum*. It is used to help learners gain, apply and refine the knowledge and skills set out in the curriculum, so that they can embed the knowledge and use it fluently in their day-to-day classroom practice. Formative assessment should also be used to assist mentors and other ITT colleagues to refine a robust ITT curriculum.

*ITT curriculum defines the curriculum designed to integrate the ITTECF implemented across ITT, PGTA and iQTS programmes.

Set out below are the schedule and processes Tes Institute uses to assess learners’ knowledge and understanding, as well as skills, practice and behaviours. Learners are not assessed against the Teachers’ Standards as part of their formative assessment. Assessment against the Teachers’ Standards is made at the end of training.

Weekly

Method: A weekly reflection of knowledge gained and how this will be applied to teaching, considering the impact or likely impact on children’s learning – Assessing Learner’s Knowledge and Understanding of 6 Core Areas of Teaching Practice.

Process: The learner is set a weekly learning focus around the 6 Core Areas of teaching practice. They will have one day off timetable to complete an online session and directed reading, as well as to write a reflection demonstrating their learning and how they intend to apply this to their practice.

Reliability: The learner’s Pathway Tutor checks the reflections which are added to the relevant core area toolkit fortnightly on Tes Learn and feeds back to the learner.

Programme Leadership quality assures the learner’s Pathway Tutor via Tes Learn every half term.

The learner will also discuss their weekly learning with their mentor during the weekly mentor meeting and the mentor will start to see learning applied in practice during Classroom Practice Reflections.

Method: Classroom Practice Reflection.

Process: Expert Colleague observes the learner each week and completes a post lesson co-analysis, strengths and areas for development against the 6 Core Areas of Practice are identified and fed into the weekly deliberate practice record.

Reliability: Pathway Tutor completes a joint Classroom Practice Reflection and Co-Analysis each half term.

Joint Classroom Practice Reflection and Co-analysis with ITT Coordinator and Mentor each term.

Pathway Tutor moderates Classroom Practice Reflections fortnightly on Tes Learn.

ITT Leadership quality assures the Pathway Tutor via Tes Learn every half term.

Method: Mentor Meeting.

Process: Mentor and learner meet weekly and use the reflective cycle to discuss weekly learning, practise opportunities, areas for further development and next steps. This is documented on a deliberate practice record.

Reliability:

The Pathway Tutor checks deliberate practice records fortnightly on Tes Learn.

ITT Leadership quality assures the Pathway Tutor via Tes Learn every half term.

Half-Termly

Method: Professional Practice Conversation.

Process: Learners are to prepare a reflective piece on one of the 6 Core Areas of Teaching Practice to demonstrate they know more and remember more of the intended curriculum and apply that knowledge to their practice. This will allow the team supporting the learner to feed any gaps and deficits in knowledge, understanding and practice into long-term deliberate practice. The conversation is shared with both mentors and Pathway Tutors.

Reliability:

Pathway Tutor reads or takes part in the conversation.

Programme Leadership quality assures the Pathway Tutor via Tes Learn every half term.

Method: Pathway Tutor Half-Termly Visit.

Process: Pathway Tutor completes a 3.5-hour half termly visit (conducted remotely for the iQTS Programme), including a joint Classroom Practice Reflection and Co-analysis with the mentor, a meeting with the learner reflecting on development of the 6 core areas of teaching, a mentor meeting and meeting with ITT Coordinator.

In the PGTA, the tutor conducts the compulsory APR (Assessment and Progress Report) during the visit; there are 5 visits in ITT and iQTS and 6 in PGTA. This additional APR is scheduled during the training year, to comply with the statutory requirement for regular (number of weeks as stated in the ESFA funding rules) APRs in the PGTA.

Reliability: Programme Leadership read every visit note.

Method: Specialist Teaching and Focused Inquiries.

Process: Learners are to prepare a reflective piece for Progression, SEND, EAL, Context Comparison. This will allow the team supporting the learner to feed any gaps and deficits in knowledge, understanding and practice into long-term deliberate practice. The Inquiry is shared with both mentors and Pathway Tutors.

Reliability:

Pathway Tutor reads every Inquiry.

Programme Leadership quality assures the Pathway Tutor via Tes Learn every half term.

Termly

Method: Formative Assessment Tracker.

Process: Learner and Mentor complete a formative assessment tracker, reading all of the intended learning objectives from the ITT curriculum that term and discuss learner’s knowledge, understanding and practice development against the intended curriculum. Learners will identify whether they are refining, have gaps or have deficits in their knowledge, understanding and practice, and will set longer term targets for deliberate practice.

Reliability:

The Pathway Tutor scrutinises the formative assessment tracker.

Programme Leadership read every formative assessment tracker.

Assessment schedules will be communicated to learners. It is the learner’s responsibility to ensure that they are aware of the date, time and arrangements for submission of any written assessments.

With regard to written assessments, learners have responsibility to:

• be familiar with all requirements relevant to their assessments;
• obey all rules for the conduct of assessments – please refer to section relating to extensions;
• submit by the appointed deadline all assessed or examinable material;
• inform the Tes Institute Programme leader at the earliest opportunity, in writing and with supporting documentation, if they consider that their performance may be or has been adversely affected by any extenuating circumstances, for example, a bereavement/disability.

Learners must retain a copy of any assessed work in case they are required to produce it at a later stage. It is a learner’s responsibility to ensure that all files and folders are kept up-to-date on a weekly basis. The nature of evidence required for programmes leading to QTS means that all work carried out by learners must be retained, not just summative assessments. The following section refers to PGCE assessments.

Where a word limit for an assessment is specified, this must be adhered to. A margin of +/– 10% is allowed for, for example. for a 3,000-word assessment, anything between 2,700-3,300 words is acceptable. Beyond this, penalties will apply. Unless otherwise stated, the word limit excludes appendices, title pages, references and direct quotations.

For assignments that are submitted towards the PGCE, learners must properly cite and reference all work that is obtained from any/all sources. Failure to do so is considered plagiarism, which attracts serious penalties – see Tes Institute’s Disciplinary Policy. All work submitted must be the learner’s original work. If a learner resubmits work from an earlier course or assignment, this is self-plagiarism.

Correct referencing is an important academic skill and therefore a key part of assessment for the PGCE.

In referencing work, the Harvard Referencing System must be used. A guide to the Harvard Referencing System is provided to learners on the VLE.

Correct use of referencing:

• ensures that the work of other authors is properly acknowledged (i.e. avoids plagiarism);
• enables the reader/marker to quickly locate the source of the material so they can consult it if they wish;
• indicates to the reader/marker the scope and depth of research.

Instructions for submission of assessments will be communicated to learners. Specific assessment criteria, such as grade descriptors, will be given with the instructions for each individual assessment.

It is a learner’s responsibility to ensure that assignments are successfully submitted by the deadline. Under Tes Institute’s validating partner’s regulations, learners are permitted to submit coursework up to 24 hours after the deadline; however, any coursework submitted within this 24-hour grace period will incur a fixed penalty of 5% of the total available marks unless there are extenuating circumstances, and the Extenuating Circumstances Form is completed within 24 hours of the deadline. If a learner does not complete any of the above steps within the timeframes, a "Non-Submission" will be recorded*.

*A learner will still have the opportunity to submit within the resubmission deadline but their grade will be capped at 50%.

It is the responsibility of the learner to comply with submission requirements and to submit the correct documents and failure to do either will not be accepted as grounds for appeal.

Late submissions may be penalised, or not accepted, in accordance with Tes Institute policy. Failure to submit or unsuccessful submission will be regarded as a non-submission of the assessment.

Failure to submit an assessment counts as an attempt and learners will be deemed to have failed that sitting. Failure to submit will result in the learner being deemed Cause for Concern, a formal process that is put in place to support learners who are struggling with the demands of the programme. Further details are available from the relevant Head of Programme.

Where a learner fails to submit an assessment component and subsequent repeat attempts they may be withdrawn from the programme.

It is the learner’s responsibility to be fully aware of the impact on their final award of failing to submit assessment components or failing to pass assessments at the first attempt.

The assessor and the candidate agree on an assessment date. The assessor will ask for a timetable for the day. A guidance timetable includes:

• two lesson observations. If a secondary learner, the lessons need to be in different age ranges; if a primary learner, then the lessons can be with the same class and at least one of the lessons observed will be in a core subject
• discussion with the candidate for approximately 45 - 60 minutes
• discussion with the Mentor for approximately 30 minutes
• discussion with the school’s Senior Manager for approximately 15 minutes
• discussion with the Headteacher for approximately 15 minutes.

The visit will last approximately 4 hours and the timetable should be sent to the assessor at least one week prior to the visit date. The school must provide a room in which the assessor is unlikely to be disturbed as it will be needed to hold private and confidential discussions. Prior to the assessment, the assessor will have read the candidate’s reflective evaluations to demonstrate where they are meeting the Teachers’ Standards.

If the assessor experiences any concerns on the day of assessment, the learner, Headteacher, mentor and senior leader would be informed and further guidance sought from the Assessment Only Head of Programme. The assessor is unable to confirm a recommendation for QTS at the time of assessment as the paperwork needs to be quality assured first.

The assessor will write a report to summarise all the evidence available and make their recommendation and the candidate will receive a copy of the report after the external moderation board.

If a candidate is successful in being recommended for QTS, they will go through internal moderation and an external review board before confirmation of the award. Candidates will be contacted by the Tes Programme Team about all outcomes.

Tes Institute will inform learners about results of assessments. Learners are responsible for ensuring that their transcript of results accurately reflects their performance to-date. Learners should alert the relevant Programme Team immediately if they have any queries regarding their transcript.

All learners receive written feedback on all formal, marked assessments and will be alerted in the case where they are failing to meet the required standards. Feedback includes a clear explanation of why the learner achieved the mark allocated and details of the strengths and weaknesses of the submission, which the learner can use to identify areas for improvement.

The aim of the assessment re-check procedure is to afford learners the opportunity to question the assessment process and outcome if the learner believes there was a computational error in the calculation of their overall assessment result.

A re-check of an assessment means the administrative operation of checking the recording and the addition of marks. A request for a re-check must be received by the Tes Institute Support Team no later than five working days after the posting of the result on the VLE. Requests for re-checks will be considered only if submitted by e-mail to the Tes Institute Support Team. institutesupport@tes.com

The aim of the Assessment Review procedure is to afford learners/candidates the opportunity to question the assessment process and outcome for all assessments. The only permissible grounds for an assessment review are as follows:

• the learner/candidate believes there was an irregularity in the manner in which the assessment was conducted - this may include but is not limited to:

○ failure on behalf of Tes Institute/assessor to follow the assessment process;

○ learner/candidate believes that he/she was unfairly disadvantaged by Tes Institute/assessor;

○ learner/candidate believes the assessment was not conducted in a fair manner;

• extenuating circumstances related to the learner’s/candidate’s situation which impacted on their performance and which were not communicated to Tes Institute in advance, and reasons for non- communication of the same.

It is emphasised that disagreement with the judgement of the assessor(s) does not constitute grounds for a review.

A request for an assessment review must be received by email by the relevant Tes Institute Programme Team no later than five working days after the learner/candidate has been informed by Tes Institute of the result. The learner’s/candidate’s request must be accompanied by appropriate documents and other evidence which support the request.

Extenuating circumstances are, by their very nature, circumstances that occur only infrequently.

They are circumstances which significantly impair the performance or capability of a learner/candidate to undertake or to complete assessed work to the required standard and quality by the due date for submission of the assessed work and which were:

• unforeseeable in that the learner/candidate could and did not have prior knowledge of them arising;
• unpreventable in that there was nothing that the learner/candidate could reasonably have done to prevent them occurring;
• were serious with significant impact on the completion and submission of assessed work.

The learner/candidate is expected to make reasonable plans to take into account commonly occurring circumstances, even those which, on occasion, may have been unforeseeable and/or unpreventable. Examples of circumstances which would not normally be considered to be extenuating circumstances include:

• minor illnesses - even if covered by medical certification;
• computer failure;
• transportation problems;
• moving house;
• holidays;
• inadequate planning, organisation or time management;
• misreading of assessment timetables;
• family, work, social, financial or other general problems.

Examples of circumstances, however, that might constitute grounds for a claim for extenuation (this list is not intended to be exhaustive) are:

• serious personal illnesses which are not permanent medical conditions (which are governed by other procedures): For example, an illness requiring hospitalisation;
• the death of a close relative immediately prior to the date of assessment.

In order for a claim for extenuation to be considered, the claim must:

• be submitted in writing or email to the relevant Tes Institute Programme Team so that it is received no later than one calendar week after the due date for submission of the assessed work to which the claim relates (for exceptions to this deadline, see below);
• for iPGCE and PGCE, be submitted on the appropriate extension or extenuation request form, as directed;
• provide clear and specific details of the precise circumstances which the learner claims to be extenuating circumstances and the reasons why they consider those circumstances to be extenuating circumstances;
• be accompanied by appropriate documents and other evidence which support and evidence the facts set out in the claim and which support and evidence the claim that the circumstances so described are extenuating circumstances.

A claim for extenuation must be submitted within one calendar week of the due date for submission of the assessed work. Normally, a late claim for extenuating circumstances will not be considered. However, it is recognised that there may be cases where a learner is unable to submit a claim for extenuation within the agreed timeframe (e.g. emergency in-patient hospital treatment occurring during the examination period). In this case, submission of the claim for extenuation at the earliest opportunity should be made. A late claim for extenuation must be accompanied by evidence as to why the claim for extenuation was submitted late. The Head of Programme will decide whether to accept the late submission and their decision will be final.

Claims for extenuation will be considered by an Extenuation Panel consisting of senior members of Tes Institute staff. The Panel will meet as frequently as is necessary to enable claims for extenuation to be dealt with promptly and effectively. All decisions and discussion of the Panel will be minuted.

No claim for extenuation may be submitted in respect of assessed work that is submitted on or before the agreed assessment due date for that specified assessed work.

If assessed work is submitted after the assessment due date but within one calendar week of the assessment due date, the assessed work will be marked but no mark will be awarded unless the learner has also submitted a claim for extenuation and such claim for extenuation is approved by the Panel.

If assessed work is submitted more than one calendar week after the assessment due date, the assessed work will not be marked unless the learner submits a claim for extenuation and such claim for extenuation is approved by the Panel.

There will be no appeal against the decision of the Extenuation Panel other than on the grounds that an administrative or procedural error has occurred. Appeals must be submitted within 10 working days of Tes Institute informing the learner of the Panel’s decision. The appeal will be reviewed by a senior member of Tes staff who has had no involvement with the original decision of the Panel.

Any extensions must be agreed by the Head of Programme. Learners who fail to successfully complete a school placement (either through poor performance or unauthorised non-attendance/non-completion) within the maximum repeat attempts are deemed to have failed the programme.

Where a learner fails a school placement as a result of concerns of a serious nature, including but not limited to breach of Tes Institute’s or the placement school’s code of conduct, no repeat opportunity will be offered and the learner will be deemed to have failed the programme. The Head of Programme is responsible for the final decision in respect of the seriousness of the cause of failure.

This appeals procedure applies to all learners of Tes Institute in respect of all academic assessments and decisions carried out in relation to any programme of Tes Institute, with the exception of written assessments (e.g. PGCE assignments) which are set out in the Assessment Procedures section above.

Where applicable, this academic appeals procedure is to be read in conjunction with the academic appeals procedures of any relevant awarding body.

Learners are advised that in submitting an appeal it is expected that they themselves have complied with the requirements of the Tes Institute learner code of conduct in relation to the matter concerned and complied with Tes Institute’s Disciplinary Policy, in particular that they have not raised the subject of their appeal in an inappropriate way, e.g. via social media. Tes Institute will not consider appeals that are of a vexatious nature or for the sole purpose of personal gain.

A learner may appeal against their removal or suspension from a programme by Tes Institute or against the decision to refuse a request for an extension, deferral or withdrawal from a programme. They must submit any appeal in writing to Tes Institute within 15 working days of receipt of the decision (decisions sent by email will be considered to have been delivered on the same day they were sent). The appeal should be supported with as much detailed evidence as possible.

Appeals must be submitted via email to the Tes Institute Support Team and set out in detail the grounds on which the appeal is being made, together with all supporting evidence.

Once received the appeal will be forwarded to the Head of Governance & Regulation, who will appoint an Investigating Manager to review the appeal. The review will take into account any evidence the learner has provided as well as external evidence, for example school, tutor or mentor evidence. A decision as to whether there is a substantive case for appeal will be conveyed to the learner within 15 working days of the date of submission of the appeal. Where the decision is made that there are grounds for an appeal an Appeals Panel will be constituted, consisting of two senior members of Tes Institute and a Head Teacher or other member of a school's Senior Leadership Team. Members of the Appeals Panel will not have been involved in any assessment decision relating to the learner.

The Appeals Panel will review the evidence submitted and other additional evidence submitted by any parties involved in the case. The learner will be offered the opportunity to appear in person (accompanied by one friend or professional body representative if they so wish) to speak in support of their appeal.

The Appeals Panel may wish to invite Tes Institute colleagues or other professionals who have contributed to the delivery of the programme to attend the hearing of the Panel. A note of the Panel attendees and the proceedings of the Appeals Panel will be taken and sent to the learner.

Following the Appeals Panel hearing, the Appeals Panel will deliberate and reach a decision based on all available evidence, including evidence provided at the hearing. The decision of the Appeals Panel shall be final as far as Tes Institute’s Appeals procedures are concerned and will be conveyed to the learner in writing within 10 working days of the date when the Appeals Panel sat. The possible outcomes of the Appeals Panel are:

• the appeal is upheld and the original assessment decision is overturned
• the appeal is not upheld – the Appeals Panel may determine, however, that further action is required, e.g. the provision of additional support to the learner
• the appeal is not upheld and no further action is taken.

All Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) assessment decisions are subject to confirmation in accordance with Tes Institute’s quality assurance processes, which include internal and external moderation and are set out below. Where a learner has failed an assessment against the Teachers’ Standards, the Assessment Board will review the assessment and determine one of the following:

• that the original assessment decision is upheld and no reassessment opportunity will be offered by Tes Institute;
• that the original assessment decision is upheld but the learner will be offered the opportunity for reassessment, such reassessment to take place no later than three months after the original assessment date; a different assessor to the one who undertook the first assessment will be appointed to undertake the reassessment;
• that the original assessment decision is overturned and the learner is deemed to have passed the assessment.

This decision will be conveyed to the learner in writing within 5 working days of the decision being made. The assessment report will be provided to the learner at this time.

If the learner fails the reassessment or withdraws from the reassessment process prior to the reassessment taking place, they may still submit a formal appeal, following the procedure set out below.

The learner may be required, at the sole discretion of Tes Institute, to bear the costs of any reassessment offered as a result of such a review; the learner may be required to bear these costs even if they withdraw from the reassessment process prior to the reassessment taking place.

16.1 Background

Below are set out the processes used by Tes Institute, in collaboration with its school partners, to monitor, evaluate and moderate all aspects of initial teacher training (ITT) provision, including iQTS and PGTA, in order to ensure continuous improvements to the quality of its provision and the outcomes for all its learners. It also covers the moderation processes used in relation to Tes Institute’s Assessment Only Route.

16.2 ITT

Rigorous monitoring and quality assurance of programme delivery at every level enables Tes Institute to secure high quality, consistent provision and informs training and improvement planning. Robust monitoring of learner progress throughout the programme enables rapid intervention to support learners to further develop their practice.

ITT Programme leaders closely monitor all aspects of programme implementation, including:

• Pathway Tutors, through their online feedback, visits and visit notes - feedback is given to individual tutors to inform and develop their practice and any trends are identified and used to inform training;
• Partnership Leaders, through observation of face-to-face training, learner forums and surveys, and regular monitoring visits, as well as through Pathway Tutor visits (conducted remotely in the case of the iQTS Programme);
• Mentors, through regular online monitoring of the effectiveness of lesson reflection, face-to-face tutor visits, feedback from learners, outcomes of learners and engagement with training and feedback. Mentors complete a detailed audit of Mentor competency and prior experience each September, which are analysed by Programme Leaders to monitor the experience and competency of mentors to inform training and support;
• ITT Coordinators, through a self-assessment prior to school placement, outlining programme expectations and assessing the schools’ capacity to train; rigorous discussion each September covering programme expectations as outlined in the partnership agreement signed by Tes Institute and each Lead Partner in the schools partnership, and highlighting programme priorities; engagement with ITT leaders’ meetings and training; feedback and discussion with partnership leaders; information about programme implementation from Tutor visit notes; learner feedback, progress and outcomes.

Detailed school profiles are made to record the effectiveness and quality of programme implementation in each school. A RAG rating system is used to prioritise additional training, support and quality assurance to consistently seek to improve provision. All schools new to the partnership are prioritised for additional training and regular monitoring.

Where a school or mentor’s support is assessed as ineffective or inadequate, programme leaders intervene through drawing up a “Risk Assessment”, putting additional training and support in place and tightly monitoring for improvements. If improvements are not made, the learner will be removed from the school and the school de-selected.

All Pathway Tutor visit notes are scrutinised to ensure consistent programme implementation and accurate and reliable assessment of learner progress and feed forward targets for development across all schools and partnerships.

Learner forums, Programme Committee and learner surveys are conducted regularly and are analysed to monitor programme implementation and take action where any needs are identified.

Learner forums and weekly reflections on the impact of training are used to analyse the impact of the curriculum and feed into programme improvements.

Partnerships regularly evaluate their face-to-face training through learner feedback and surveys and use this feedback to improve delivery.

Ongoing evaluation of all aspects of training underpin the drive for improvement and the delivery of high-quality training. All stakeholders feed into the annual self-evaluation of the programme and improvement planning process. Improvement planning is informed by stakeholder surveys and evaluations (learners, schools, mentors, Pathway Tutors, employing schools), outcome data, evaluation of in-school training, evaluation of the quality of mentoring, evaluation of core provision, evaluation of the effectiveness of Pathway Tutors, External Moderator feedback and outcomes from Internal Moderation.

The ITT, PGTA and Assessment Only Heads of Programme reports on progress and actions across the Improvement Plan, informing the Governance Board, Partnership Leaders and Heads of Programme on progress towards the improvement plan priorities. The action plan, designed to deliver the Improvement Plan priorities, is reviewed half-termly by the Heads of Programme and is updated and adapted as an impact of actions. Programme team members take responsibility for delivering the action plan priorities and regularly report to the Director of Programme Delivery on progress and priorities.

A similar process applies to iQTS, where the Head of Programme reports on progress towards the improvement plan priorities to the Director of Programme Delivery.

Programme leaders evaluate all aspects of training. End-of-programme assessments against the Teachers’ Standards are analysed to identify trends in achievement against the Standards, analysing the impact of the curriculum and drawing out any improvements for programme implementation.

During the training year, rigorous evaluations are made of:

• training sessions, to establish their fitness for purpose and to identify strengths and weaknesses across the different contributions to the Programme in implementing the intended curriculum. This evaluation includes observations of training, which are made by programme leaders, and feedback from learners, Pathway Tutors and Partnership leaders;
• the implementation of equality and diversity policies;
• the effectiveness of mentoring and school support;
• learners’ perceptions of the effectiveness of training;
• Pathway Tutors’ evaluations of their own training and the effectiveness of the ITT curriculum.

End-of-year evaluations are made of all aspects of training and take into account feedback from learners, school leaders, employing schools, Early Career Teachers, External Moderation, Ofsted and the DfE. Careful scrutiny is undertaken of feedback from internal and external moderation about the effectiveness and accuracy of the assessments of learners against the Teachers’ Standards at the end of training.

Comparative data from end-of-programme assessments is analysed and compared to national and, where available, local data to identify trends to feed into improvement planning. The impact of the curriculum and consistent implementation is analysed by all routes, subjects, partnerships and learner characteristics to ensure equality and consistent implementation. Detailed evaluation feeds into improvement planning.

The assessment and moderation responsibilities of schools are set out in the partnership agreement. Joint observations by Mentors, Pathway Tutors, ITT Coordinators (for ITT and PGTA), Partnership Leaders and Programme Leaders and detailed scrutiny of the work of learners and mentors across all schools ensure accurate and reliable assessments. ITT Coordinators, who are usually senior leaders in the school, complete joint observations with mentors. For international programmes such as iQTS, a senior leader or mentor, rather than ITT Coordinator, will take responsibility for quality assuring school provision.

Moderation of Pathway Tutor visit notes and feedback to learners occurs at five separate points during the Programme and detailed scrutiny of learner progress after each formative assessment point enables Programme Leaders to have clear, consistent, reliable data about the impact of the curriculum and learner progress. The mentor, ITT Coordinator and Pathway Tutor assess the learner against the Teachers’ Standards at the end of the programme.

The Pathway Tutor moderates the assessment made by the mentor and ITT Coordinator. Programme Leaders then moderate the judgements of Pathway Tutors and the schools they work with, as well as all final assessments and a sample of QTS evidence from learners across subjects, tutors and partnerships.

Assignments are moderated by UEL’s (the validating university) Link Tutor and externally moderated by the External Examiner. The QTS Assessment Board moderates a sample of final assessments and all assessments of borderline Pass/Fail learners. This includes moderation of a sample of QTS evidence against the Teachers’ Standards at the end of training. The final recommendation for QTS is made by Programme Leaders after moderation is completed at the QTS Assessment Board.

A suitably qualified and experienced Moderator is appointed by Tes Institute to work with them for a three-year period and is chosen carefully to ensure that they have the appropriate subject, curriculum or age-phase expertise to enable them to provide specialist feedback.

The Moderator scrutinises the programme provision, focusing on the accuracy and reliability of assessments at the end of training, and feeds back on the quality of provision seen. Programme Leaders demonstrate to the External Moderator the strategies used by Tes Institute to assure the accuracy and reliability of assessment at the end of training.

The External Moderator:

• works with Programme Leaders to review Programme implementation;
• rigorously scrutinises a cross-section of learners from different routes, different partnerships and different subjects;
• looks at all available evidence of learner progress and outcomes against the Teachers’ Standards at the end of the programme;
• moderates all learners on the pass/fail borderline.

Where possible, the External Moderator will observe learners teaching and complete joint observations with Programme or Partnership Leaders. They will also review internal moderation processes and discuss the impact of this moderation on assessments, programme provision and improvement planning.

The External Moderator’s report includes an evaluation of strengths and areas to develop, as well as the moderation of the accuracy and reliability of assessments against the Teachers’ Standards.

The Final Assessment process is a summative evidencing of learner practice against the Teachers’ Standards, organised across each of the 6 areas of Tes Institute’s curriculum which map to the 8 Teachers’ Standards and Part Two of the Standards, and drawing on the learner’s evidence of practice throughout the training year.

The areas of practice scrutinised and evidenced in Final Assessment are:

• summative assessment, including professional responsibilities and reflective practice;
• subject knowledge and curriculum pedagogy;
• high expectations and behaviour management;
• pedagogy including how pupils learn, planning for learning and adaptive teaching;
• assessment;
• quality of teaching over time;
• reflective evaluations of practice against the 8 Teachers’ Standards;
• Part Two of the Teachers’ Standards.

The Final Assessment is also a vehicle for identifying the learner’s developmental and training needs to support their transition into their early career in teaching. Transition targets are agreed during the final assessment which are then shared with the ECT employing school to form the basis of early induction support.

Training to prepare for Final Assessments

All stakeholders involved in the training programme are trained to understand the purpose and scope of the Final Assessment. Learners, Tutors, Mentors and ITT Leaders all attend training at the start of term 3 to understand the Final Assessment process and the responsibility of the recommendation for QTS.

The Final Assessment training includes:

• explanation of the final assessment process, the final assessment forms and prompts of practice to consider under each section;
• the training webinar is recorded so learners, mentors, etc can re-watch and listen to detailed examples of practice;
• discussion of where we may see evidence of practice in ITT, PGTA and iQTS – teaching, pupils learning, programme reflective practice through subject knowledge reflections, behaviour management reflections, assessment reflections, reflection on inclusive practice and professional behaviours, all recorded in programme toolkits; lesson planning, classroom practice reflections, deliberate practice records, professional practice conversations and assignments; in AO, evidence will be drawn from testimonies, observations of teaching, reflective evaluations against the Teachers’ Standards;
• training and guidance on writing QTS Reflective Evaluations against the Teachers’ Standards;
• all new tutors shadow an experienced tutor before conducting their first assessment.

Learner progress is rigorously tracked throughout the training year, through each formative assessment point and tutor visit. Assessment is against the programme objectives, measuring progress through the acquisition of knowledge, understanding and skills which are demonstrated through both classroom and reflective practice. At the end of the programme, an assessment is made against the Teachers’ Standards. These assessments are used formatively to identify priorities for training but are also used to identify any learner with significant gaps or deficits, who is falling below expected progress whereby supportive intervention can then be put in place.

The rigorous and detailed recording, analysing and tracking of learner progress ensures that Programme Leaders have robust and accurate information of each learner’s trajectory throughout the training year. This ensures that all stakeholders are aware of the expected outcome of the Final Assessment and can therefore approach it as a professional development activity to reflect upon evidence demonstrated against the Teachers’ Standards and identify targets and training that will support the learner’s transition to their early career.

Quality assurance relating specifically to the final assessment includes:

• activities to ensure the final assessment materials and exemplification, meet the standards and expectations of the Teachers’ Standards;
• robust training of Pathway Tutors, Mentors and ITT leaders, who will be the assessors of the award of QTS;
• rigorous internal quality assurance activities such as observing a stratified sample of final assessments; observing all new tutors final assessments; and reading and approving all final assessment reports;
• meticulous quality assurance by our experienced External Moderator;
• ensuring Programme Leaders are fully trained and apply nationally agreed expectations of the assessment standard for QTS as guided by the DfE and NASBTT, the professional body advising SCITTs;
• applying expectations of Ofsted as part of external evaluation.

Rigorous and robust quality assurance gives our partnerships and learners confidence in our judgements and provides assurance to partnerships and schools that all learners have been assessed in line with the Teachers’ Standards and are achieving in line with expectations.

Programme Leaders use a wide range of quality assurance activities across the training year to ensure that high standards are maintained and outcomes improved for learners, their schools and their pupils. These include monitoring, self-evaluation and improvement planning and since assessment is integral to training on the programme and the impact of our ITT curriculum, these quality assurance approaches apply equally to the quality of training as to the accuracy of assessment.

Consequently, Programme leaders attend a stratified sample of final assessments and quality assure tutors’ practice as well as moderating the evidence against the Teachers’ Standards and the recommendation for QTS.

Moderation describes the approach for arriving at a shared understanding of the award of QTS through a meeting of the Teachers’ Standards and expectations for early career teachers and involves Programme leaders, Tutors, Mentors and ITT Leaders working together, drawing on guidance and exemplification and building on existing standards and expectations to:

• plan training and assessment, meeting the core entitlement of addressing the ITTECF (Core Content Framework) through our curriculum and assessing against the Teachers’ Standards at the end point of the programme in the Final Assessment;
• check that the final assessment provides learners with fair and valid opportunities to meet the Teachers’ Standards and demonstrate expectations from across the programme;
• sample evidence from learners’ work and review tutors’ and school leaders’ judgements;
• agree strengths in learners’ performances and next steps in learning;
• provide feedback on learners’ work and tutors’ judgements to inform improvement planning.

External Moderation is carried out by an experienced External Moderator to ensure that:

• the Teachers’ Standards are being uniformly applied;
• assessments are accurately and consistently applied across all partnerships;
• feedback is provided on Pathway Tutor’s judgements to inform improvements in practices.

The purpose of the QTS Assessment Board is to moderate the Final Assessments for each programme. In ITT this involves moderating final assessments across the 11 Lead Partners, sampling assessments from different partnerships, subjects, and tutors and verifying the award of QTS.

There are QTS Boards in AO, ITT and PGTA; and iQTS. Where possible, when timings permit, there are joint Boards across all 4 QTS programmes. In AO the Board members are drawn from:

• Head of AO
• Head of ITT
• other Heads of from Tes Institute teacher development programmes
• school leaders including international school leaders.

The ITT and PGTA Assessment Board members are:

• Tes Institute ITT team – The Heads of ITT and PGTA, ITT and PGTA Programme Managers
• Tes Institute Director of Programme Delivery
• Lead Partners.

The Board formally receives the feedback from the External Moderator’s report including the confirmation of the effectiveness and accuracy of the assessments of learners against the Teachers’ Standards. External Moderator feedback also supports programme development through an analysis of the effectiveness of training provision in preparing learners to meet the Teachers’ Standards.

Programme Leaders present the final assessment recommendations, sharing feedback on the outcomes of any borderline learners, any fails (that would have been presented and upheld by the Programme Board), and the numbers being recommended for QTS in each partnership.

The Board samples and discusses a range of final assessments and all assessments of any borderline learners. The assessments are scrutinised for fairness, consistency, evidence against the Teachers’ Standards. The Board also identifies areas of strength and any areas of the Teachers’ Standards where attainment or confidence may be lower in order to inform improvement planning.

Board members are encouraged to challenge the evidence and scrutinise the assessment reports and justifications, for evidence of strong practice and the preparedness for early career teaching.

Upon agreement with the verification of the assessments, the awards of QTS are confirmed and recommendations are made to the DfE.

The Final Assessment process is a summative evidencing of the candidate’s practice against the Teachers’ Standards, organised across each of the 8 areas of the Teachers’ Standards in Part One and includes Part Two. The final assessment derives from the candidate’s evidence of practice throughout the Assessment Only Route and can include evidence from previous teaching experience which, as an example, may include teaching at a previous school prior to commencement of the Assessment Only Route of as this forms part of the eligibility criteria for entry to Route; however, final assessments of candidates against the Teachers’ Standards, and subsequent recommendations for the award of QTS, are not based solely upon evidence of prior experience and achievement. This evidence, whilst being valuable in its own right, must be verified during the Assessment Only Route period to ensure that candidates are continuing to meet the Teachers’ Standards, and that a subsequent recommendation for the award is secure. The areas of practice scrutinised and evidenced in Final Assessment are all areas of the Teachers’ Standards.

The Final Assessment is also a vehicle for identifying any future developments as candidates continue their teaching career, which for many will begin with a reduced induction period to build on their prior experience. Transition targets are agreed during the final assessment to form the basis of early induction support.

All stakeholders involved in the Assessment Only Route are well prepared to understand the purpose and scope of the Final Assessment. Candidates, Pathway Tutors, Assessors, Mentors, Senior Leaders and Headteachers are provided with information and guidance materials all to understand the final assessment process and the responsibility of each role in making the recommendation for QTS.

The Final Assessment information and guidance materials include:

• Candidate guidance on providing evidence against the Teachers ‘Standards
• An Assessment Only Route Process and Stages document
• An Assessment Only Route Final Assessment Process document
• Explanation of the final assessment process with recorded guidance for candidates
• Explanation of the final assessment process with recorded guidance for school stakeholders
• The Pathway tutor discusses where we may see evidence of practice i.e. teaching, pupils’ learning, lesson planning, reflections and professional dialogue during meetings with mentors, the senior leader, Headteacher and the Pathway Tutor
• Training for Pathway Tutors and Assessors which includes a ‘buddy’ system for all new Pathway Tutors and Assessors

Candidate progress is rigorously tracked throughout the assessment period by monitoring and reporting at points.
The first point is the Pre-entry assessment visit in which a candidate should present evidence already gathered to meet the Teachers’ Standards. A report is generated to confirm progress.
A ‘Final Sign off’ report is produced when the candidate, school stakeholders and Pathway Tutor agree that all standards have been met.
School stakeholders can contact the Pathway Tutor at any time with concerns.
Pathway Tutors can contact the Head of Programme at any point with any concerns.
These points are used to identify any candidate with gaps or deficits, who is falling below expected progress at points during the Route. Although training is not permitted, supportive intervention can be put in place if within the remit and duty of care to candidates.
The rigorous and detailed recording, analysis and tracking of candidate progress ensures that robust and accurate information of each candidate’s trajectory throughout the assessment period exists. This ensures that all stakeholders are aware of the expected outcome of the Final Assessment and can therefore approach it as a professional development activity to reflect upon evidence demonstrated against the Teachers’ Standards and identify targets and training that will support the candidate’s future teaching role.

Quality assurance relating specifically to the final assessment includes:

• activities to ensure the final assessment materials and exemplification, meet the expectations of the Teachers’ Standards
• robust training of Pathway Tutors who confirm that a candidate has met the Teachers’ Standards, and the Assessors of the award of QTS
• rigorous internal quality assurance activities such as observing a stratified sample of final assessments; observing all new assessor’s final assessments; and reading and approving all final assessment reports
• meticulous quality assurance by our experienced External Moderator
• ensuring that staff involved in the Final Assessment process are fully trained and apply nationally agreed expectations of the assessment standard for QTS as guided by the DfE and NASBTT, the professional body advising ITT providers
• applying expectations of Ofsted as part of external evaluation.

Rigorous and robust quality assurance gives candidates and schools confidence in Tes Institute judgements and provides assurance that all candidates are assessed in line with the Teachers’ Standards and are achieving in line with expectations.

22.1 Internal Moderation of Final Assessments

By Moderation, Tes Institute defines its approach for arriving at a shared understanding of the award of QTS through a meeting of the Teachers’ Standards and expectations for all teachers.

Moderation involves Pathway Tutors, Assessors and Mentors and Programme Leaders working together, drawing on guidance and exemplification and building on existing standards and expectations to:

• check that the final assessment provides candidates with fair and valid opportunities to meet the Teachers’ Standards and demonstrate expectations from across the programme
• assessing against the Teachers’ Standards at the end point of the programme in the Final Assessment is undertaken fairly and consistently
• sample final assessment reports and Assessors’ judgements
• provide feedback on candidates’ work and Assessor judgements to inform improvement planning.

External Moderation is carried out by an experienced External Moderator to ensure that:

• the Teachers’ Standards are being uniformly applied
• assessments are accurately and consistently applied
• feedback is provided on Assessors’ judgements to inform improvements in practices QTS Assessment Board

The purpose of the QTS Assessment Board is to moderate the Final Assessments from different schools, subjects, and Pathway tutors and verify the award of QTS. The Assessment Board Members are:

• Tes Institute Assessment Only Head of Programme
• School leaders.

The Board formally receives the feedback from the External Moderator’s report including the confirmation of the effectiveness and accuracy of the assessments of candidates against the Teachers’ Standards. External Moderator feedback also supports programme development through an analysis of the effectiveness of provision in preparing candidates to meet the Teachers’ Standards.

The Board presents the final assessment recommendations, sharing feedback on the outcomes of candidates and the numbers being recommended for QTS.

The Board looks at all final assessments, scrutinising them for fairness, consistency and evidence against the Teachers’ Standards before QTS is awarded.

Board members are encouraged to challenge the evidence and scrutinise the assessment reports and justifications, for evidence of strong practice and the preparedness for early career teaching.