DOCUMENT CONTROL
| Policy number |
PDTT22/23 (007) v1 |
| Approval date |
November 2022 |
| Review date |
October 2023 |
| Policy owner/s |
Head of Skills and Training
Curriculum and Quality Manager |
| Scope: applies to who |
Students, Teaching, Internal Quality Assurers, Support Staff and Managers |
Introduction
This policy and procedure are intended to promote and maintain assessment practices that are fair and consistent for all learners, preventing any learners and tutors becoming disadvantaged or treated unfairly through the decisions and judgements being made.
The appeals procedure is a mandatory and standardised process which provides the individual with a time bound, systematic, and documented procedure that we will implement and follow in the event of a formal appeal being made.
All Learners and Tutors have agreed to abide by its appeal procedure via the learner or employee induction. If this access is to be meaningful the Learner and Tutor must have the right to appeal against assessment decisions which are unclear or seem unfair. The Appeals Procedure must provide an appropriate audit trail of the process and be clearly logged with concise details at each stage. There are three stages in the Appeals procedure and each stage must be exhausted before proceeding to the next one.
Policy Aim
· To enable the learner/tutor to enquire, question and appeal against any assessment decision/judgement that has been made.
· To offer a process that enables the learner/tutor to reach an amicable agreement with their learning provider at the earliest opportunity.
· To maintain and promote standardised procedures that allow all appeals to be promptly investigated, discussed, and evaluated resulting in accurate and valid records of the processes followed.
· To promote openness, fairness, and confidence in the assessment practices.
· To facilitate an individual’s ultimate right to appeal to the relevant awarding organisation where appropriate.
· To protect the interests of the learner/tutor and maintain the integrity of the Centre procedures and the assessment of the various qualifications being delivered by the learning provider.
· This appeals procedure is designed to offer the learner/tutor a formal and structured process to make an appeal against assessment decisions and judgments, this policy and procedure provides a mechanism that will allow any assessment decision, judgement to be revisited, investigated, and rectified if required.
Scope
The appeals policy and procedure ensure that all learners and staff involved in the delivery and assessment of programmes offered by PDTT are fair and consistent for all involved.
Roles and Responsibilities
A Learner Appeal
· The Learner: Will initiate the appeals procedure within the agreed time frames when they believe they have a reason to appeal about or against an assessment decision/judgement that been made against the evidence they have presented.
· A learner can appeal directly to the Awarding Organisation, but they firstly need to contact the Centre Administration Manager who will inform the learner about the next steps.
· Learners may request a remark enquiry and can contact the Assessment Manager at the Awarding Organisation. The Appeals Forms are available on the relevant awarding Organisation website. However, Awarding Organisations will normally refer learners back to the provider where the internal appeals have not been followed through to the final stage first.
· The Tutor: Is responsible for providing the learner with accurate and constructive feedback regarding their achievements and basis for their assessment decisions and judgements have been made.
· The Tutor will firstly discuss the nature of the appeal with the learner, which will always remain confidential, seeking a satisfactory solution with any issues that have led to the appeal. When any appeal becomes formal it is the Tutors responsibility to process the appeal within the agreed time frames.
· The Internal Quality Assurer (IQA): Is solely responsible for judging whether the assessment decisions, judgments are valid, fair, and unbiased.
A Tutor Appeal
· The Tutor: Will initiate the appeals procedure within the agreed time frames when they believe they have a reason to appeal about or against an IQA decision/judgement that been made against the evidence they have assessed.
· The IQA Is responsible for providing the tutor with accurate and constructive feedback regarding their assessment decisions and judgements have been made.
· The IQA will firstly discuss the nature of the appeal with the tutor, when any appeal becomes formal it is the IQA responsibility to process the appeal within the agreed time frames with the Lead IQA / Curriculum and Quality Manager.
· The Lead Internal Quality Assurer (IQA) / Head of Skills and Training: Is solely responsible for judging whether the assessment decisions, judgments are valid, fair, and unbiased.
· The Head of Skills and Training: Is solely responsible for submitting the appeal in writing to the relevant Awarding Organisation if the tutor remains dissatisfied with the outcome of the centre’s internal appeals process.
Procedures
A Learner/Tutor can appeal against any assessment decision, on one or more of the following grounds:
· Assessment/IQA procedures not correctly carried out
· A Learner does not understand why they are not yet regarded as competent, due to lack of or unclear feedback from the Assessor
· The Learner believes that they are competent, and their Assessor has misjudged them, or has missed/misinterpreted some vital evidence
· Inconsistent assessment
· What appears to be unfair demands
· What appears to be Assessor bias
· Material irregularities in the conduct of assessment or verification
It is the individual’s responsibility to appeal as soon as any irregularity has occurred. The appeal on assessment will be invalid if received after internal verification has validated the work concerned. Before submitting an appeal, the Learner/Tutor will need to discuss the appeal initially with their Assessor and follow the guidelines as listed below. Please also refer to Appendix A the flow chart which also outlines the process below:
Stage 1
An individual, having received a decision and feedback as to their claims to competence with which they are not satisfied, has a right to appeal directly to the Tutor who carried out the assessment.
The Individual should raise the issue with the Tutor within five working days of assessment / IQA activity taking place.
This appeal must be in writing and clearly indicate:
· The points for disagreement and reasons
· The evidence in the portfolio which the individual believes meets the requirements of the Criteria for claiming competence
The Tutor must reconsider the reasons underpinning the decision and provide clear feedback. If the Tutor is upholding the original assessment decision, then the individual must be provided with full information describing what is required to demonstrate their competence. This should be provided in writing, within five working days and relate specifically to the standards relevant to the assessment decision.
If the individual remains unhappy with the decision, an Appeals Form must be completed and submitted to the centre.
Note: Individuals are advised to keep copies of all documents centrally on the shared drive used in the Appeals Procedure.
Stage 2
An individual who is not satisfied with the outcome of their Stage 1 appeal can escalate the appeal to Stage 2. This appeal must be in writing but need not repeat the detail provided at Stage 1 as all the documentation used as Stage 1 will be passed to the IQA. This must be submitted within 5 days of the outcome of Stage 1.
The IQA will investigate the appeal and consider all aspects of the assessment process. Interviews with both the Learner and Tutor may be required. The outcome of the appeal will be responded to within seven working days of receiving the appeal, with the learner/tutor being informed in writing using the appropriate section of the Appeals form.
Stage 3
The third stage involves the right of appeal to the Centre Manager. The Internal Quality Assurer will pass all records to the Head of Skills and Training who will convene an Appeals Panel consisting of:
· The Curriculum and Quality Manager
· The Internal Quality Assurer
· An Independent Assessor
Interested parties may be invited to make their case to the Panel.
The Panel will reach its decision within ten working days, with all parties being informed in writing using the appropriate section of the Appeals Form. Details of the appeal will be made available to the Standards Verifier.
Summary
The Appeals Procedure aims to ensure the following
· The operation of the Appeals Procedure, and results arising from it will be monitored to determine future policy
· All concerns will be acknowledged and investigated to establish the facts and evidence supporting the Appeal. If the appeal is considered justified, remedial action will be taken.
· All individuals who register an appeal will receive a formal reply from PDTT within the time frames stated days. It is intended that the response will be to the mutual satisfaction of the Learner and PDTT.
The Appeals procedure must be communicated/available in writing to all Learners as well as the action they need to take to make use of it.
Stage 4
A learner may appeal directly to the Awarding Organisation or funder should they remain unhappy with the outcome of the appeal.