Agored Cymru uses a number of terms to describe particular elements of the accreditation process. Some of the terms maybe used differently by other organisations, or are used by us to describe things which are not in common use in other organisations
| The Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Academic standards (AHE) | The standards set and maintained by AVAs for their courses and expected for their awards. |
| Access to Higher Education (AHE) Diploma | A nationally recognised qualification that is credit-based and graded in accordance with the terms of the AHE Diploma and credit specifications and the standard grading scheme. Each AHE Diploma has its own approved set of units of assessment, governed by rules of combination. The AHE Diploma is a level 3 qualification which prepares students for study at degree level. The Access to HE Diploma is widely recognised by UK universities, and many actively encourage applications from Access to HE students. |
| Accreditation | The process through which the qualifications regulators confirm that a qualification conforms to the requirements of the QCF regulatory arrangements. |
| Accreditation of Prior Experience and Learning (APEL) | The recognition of previously gained experience, which can be checked and verified, and set against the demands of a new course with a view to arranging exemption from some of its content. (see RPL) |
| Accreditation of Prior Learning (APL) | The recognition of previously gained knowledge and skills, usually in the form of qualifications or credits, which may be used to gain remission for some of the content of a new course. (See RPL) |
| Adverse effect | An act, omission, event, incident, or circumstance has an adverse effect if it – (A) gives rise to prejudice to Learners or potential Learners, or (B) adversely affects – (i) the ability of the awarding organisation to undertake the development, delivery or award of qualifications in accordance with its Conditions of Recognition, (ii) the standards of qualifications which the awarding organisation makes available or proposes to make available, or (iii) public confidence in qualifications. |
| Annual statement of compliance | The qualification regulator (Welsh Government) requires the governing body of each awarding organisation to provide an annual statement confirming its compliance, or otherwise, with the regulatory requirements. In the case of any non compliance, the statement must describe each instance of non-compliance, how the awarding organisation expects to implement corrective action and by when. |
| Approved Internal Verifier (AIV) (note – amend from Approved Internal Verifier Status (AIVS) | An approved internal verifier is a named individual who is approved by Agored Cymru to authorise the award of credit at his/her recognised centre. Please note that an AIV cannot authorise the award of ân AHE Diploma. |
| Assessment | The process of making judgements about the extent to which a learner's work meets the assessment criteria for a unit or part of a unit. Formative assessment provides ongoing feedback to learners that can help them improve their performance / achievement during the remaider of a course. Summative assessment takes place at the end of a defined period of learning. |
| Assessment Criteria | Statements that enable a judgement to be made about whether a learner has achieved the specified learning outcomes at a particular level. |
| Assessment Specification | Descriptions of the requirements a learner is expected to meet to demonstrate that a learning outcome has been achieved. |
| Assessor | The person who assesses a learner's work |
| Authenticity Statement | A statement confirming that the work has been produced by the learner who is putting it forward for assessment. Where work has been produced as part of a collaborative effort an authenticity statement also confirms the learner's role in the work. |
| Authorised Validating Agencies | Agencies including Agored Cymru that are licenced by QAA to to recognise Access to Higher Education courses and to issue certificates to successful learners |
| AVA annual self evaluation report (ASER) | (i) to enable QAA to assure itself that the AVA is meeting the terms of its AVA licence (ii) to provide the primary written evidence base for the AVA relicensing process, and a mechanism for the AVA’s response to recommended actions (and required actions, for AVAs receiving a low risk judgement) from relicensing reviews (iii) to provide an overview of outcomes of the AVA’s self-evaluation processes and progress during the report year for the AVA’s stakeholders. |
| Award | A qualification in the QCF with a credit value between 1 and 12. |
| Award of Credit | A certificate (electronic or paper-based) issued to an individual that recognises their achievement. |
| Awarding | The process by which learners results are determined on the basis of the evidence produced through their assessment. |
| Awarding Organisation/body | A body recognised by the qualifications regulators against the requirements set out in these regulatory arrangements to award credits and qualifications. |
| Benchmark Assessment | A set of tasks that should be used to assess the unit. Individual tasks can be designed by the Centre, but these must use the benchmark assessments as a guide, and they must cover all of the assessment criteria. |
| CATS | Credit Accumulation and Transfer System |
| Centre | An organisation undertaking the delivery of an assessment (and potentially other activities) to Learners on behalf of an awarding organisation. Centres are typically educational institutions, training providers, or employers. |
| Centre Recognition | A process through which a centre wishing to offer accreditation is confirmed as being able to maintain the required quality and consistency of assessment and comply with other expectations of the Awarding Organisation. |
| Certificate (1) for a unit or qualification | A record of attainment of credit or a qualification issued by an awarding organisation |
| Certificate (2) | A qualification in the QCF with a credit value between 13 and 36. |
| Certification | The procedure by which Agored Cymru recognises the award of credit to learners and issues certificates. |
| Course | A coherently organised learning opportunity through which learners may achieve credit awards. |
| CQFW | The Credit and Qualification Framework for Wales enables recognition and comparison of achievements from all types of education and training activity. The framework recognises full and partial completion of qualifications and the diverse range of education and training activity within and outside of the regulatory and funding arrangements. |
| Credit | Credit is an award made to a learner in recognition of the achievement of designated learning outcomes at a specified credit level. |
| Credit Accumulation | The process of accumulating credit towards an identified target. |
| Credit Level | The credit level is an indicator of the relative demand, complexity, depth of learning and learner autonomy derived from agreed generic level descriptors. |
| Credit transfer | The process of using credit awarded in the context of one qualification or course towards the achievement requirements of another. |
| Credit Value | The number of credits that may be awarded to a learner for the successful achievement of the learning outcomes of a unit. |
| Criterion Reference Assessment | The setting of an assessment where achievement is measured against approved assessment criteria |
| DfES | The Department for Education and Skills is responsible for education and skills in Wales. The aim of DfES is to raise the standards of education and training provision, attainment and infrastructure across Wales so that everyone can reach their potential; delivering a suitably skilled workforce with high-quality opportunities for all learners, supporting individuals, families, communities and businesses in improving economic and social well-being and reduce inequality through education and training. |
| Diploma (1) | A qualification in the QCF with a credit value of 37 or above. |
| Diploma (2) | See Access to Higher Education (AHE) Diploma. |
| Direct Claims Status | This provides a Recognised Centre the ability to make a direct claim for certification from Agored Cymru. It is only conferred on Recognised Centres which have Approved Internal Verifier (AIV) and have robust internal quality assurance systems. |
| e assessment | The end to end electronic assessment processes where ICT is used for the presentation of assessment activity and the recording of responses. This includes the end to end assessment process from the perspective of learners, tutors, learning establishments, awarding organisations, regulators and the general public. |
| e portfolio | An electronically based file store and information management system which is modelled on the working method used for paper portfolios, but which takes advantage of the capabilities of ICT. The learner builds and maintains a digital repository of artefacts, which they can use to demonstrate competence and/or reflect on their learning. |
| Equivalence | The matching of levels of awards with each other, in order that realistic comparisons can be made nationally about levels of study. |
| European Qualifications Framework for Life Long Learning (EQF) | The EQF is a European wide framework of eight reference levels of learning, to which the National Qualification Frameworks of member states should be referred. It is intended that it will act as a means to compare the qualifications levels of different countries and different education and training systems. |
| Evidence | Proof that a learner has achieved or is working towards the achievement of assessment criteria. Satisfactory evidence for all assessment criteria enables the internal verifier to confirm the award of credit. |
| Exemption | The facility for a learner to claim exemption from some of the achievement requirements of a QCF qualification, using evidence of certificated, non-QCF achievement deemed to be of equivalent value. |
| Expiry date of a unit | The date a unit will cease to be part of the unit databank and after which the unit will become archived and learners can no longer be registered. |
| External Assessment | A form of independent assessment where the assessment tasks are set externally to the centre and a learner’s work is assessed by the awarding body. |
| External Verifier (EV) | A person appointed by Agored Cymru to review a particular area of provision, sector or subject delivered by a Centre, as part of the Agored Cymru’s external quality assurance systems. |
| General Conditions of Recognition (GCoR) | Each awarding organisation is subject to conditions of recognition. These are the requirements it has to meet on an ongoing basis. The qualification regulators (Welsh Government in Wales) apply general conditions of recognition to all awarding organisations. In addition they can impose conditions of recognition for certain qualifications or descriptions of qualifications and for certain descriptions of awarding organisations. They also have the power to place specific conditions on any individual awarding organisation. |
| Grade | A point on a scale of performance used to differentiate achievement within a qualification |
| Grade descriptors (AHE) | Statements about what a learner is expected to know, understand and/or be able to demonstrate in order to achieve a particular grade for a unit of study. |
| Grading (AHE) | Systematically ascertaining whether students have met the learning outcomes of a unit, and, if so, whether they have done so at level 3 (pass), or at a sufficient standard for a merit or distinction, following the process and regulations of the AHE grading scheme. |
| Guided Learning Hours | The number of hours of tutor supervised or directed study time required to deliver a unit or qualification |
| Internal Assessment | Assessment where the assessment tasks are set and the learner's work is assessed, within the learner's centre, subject to external verification. |
| Internal Verifier (IV) | An individual appointed by the Centre to ensure the standard of quality assurance within a Centre and particularly to ensure accurate and consistent standards of assessment, between assessors operating within the centre. |
| Learner | A person who is registered to take a qualification and to be assessed as part of that qualification. |
| Learner achievement record | An authoritative record of all credit and qualification achievements made by an individual learner within the QCF |
| Learning Outcome | A statement which clearly identifies what the learner will know, understand, or be able to do on completion of the learning process. |
| Learning Support | The facilities offered by an organisation which provide the support necessary for a learner to achieve the outcomes of a programme. |
| Level | An indication of the relative demand, complexity and / or depth of achievement, and / or the autonomy of the learner in demonstrating that achievement. |
| Level descriptor | The description or definition of a level. |
| Maladministration | Ineffective management, lack of care, poor judgement, dishonesty, neglect, inattention and or incompetence. The behaviour may be unintentional but it adversely affects the integrity of a qualification or award of credit and results in not complying with the regulatory requirements for the delivery of the qualifications. |
| Malpractice | The deliberate corrupt, illegal or unethical professional behaviour or neglect of professional duties which adversely affects the integrity of a qualification and results in not complying with the regulatory requirements for the delivery of the qualifications. |
| Mandatory Units | Units that must be achieved in order to meet the requirements of a Qualification, which are specified in the rules of combination for a qualification. |
| Mapping | The relationship between one piece of learning and another that highlights equivalence between them and / or opportunities to demonstrate additional skills such as Basic Skills, Key Skills or PHSE. |
| National Occupational Standards (NOS) | Statements of skills, knowledge and understanding needed in employment which clearly define the outcomes of competent performance. National Occupational Standards are developed and recognised by Sector Skills Councils or recognised organisations. |
| National Open College Network (NOCN) | An Awarding Body recognised by the Quality and Curriculum Authority (QCA). Many NOCN qualifications are offered in Wales thorough a third party agreement with Agored Cymru. |
| Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulator (Ofqual) | The Regulator of Qualifications, Examinations and Tests in England. |
| Personal Learner Record | The Personal learning record (PLR) records verified participation and achievement records of individual learners from when they were at school, college or a recognised further education training provider from 14+ years. See Wales Learner Record |
| Plagairism | Using or copying the work of others (whether written, printed or in any other form) without proper acknowledgement in any coursework. |
| Qualification | An award made to a learner for the achievement of the specified combination of credits, or credits and exemptions, required for that award. |
| Qualification Specification | A detailed statement defining the purpose, content, structure and assessment arrangements for a Qualification. |
| Qualifications Regulators | Government designated statutory organisations required to establish national standards for qualifications and secure compliance with them. The regulatory authorities for Wales, England and Northern Ireland are respectively Welsh, Ofqual, Government and CCEA. |
| Quality Assurance | A commitment by a provider regarding the quality of all aspects of their provision including, preparation, delivery, assessment, documentation and certification. |
| Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) | An independent authority funded by UK universities and colleges of higher education and higher education funding bodies. QAA’s mission is to safeguard standards and improve the quality of UK higher education. QAA licenses Authorised Validating Agencies (AVAs) to award the AHE Diploma. |
| Quality Assured Lifelong Learning (QALL) | A mechanism within CQFW to recognise the knowledge or skills gained, measure the learning that has taken place, quality assure it and award credit for it. |
| Reasonable Adjustments | Reasonable steps which are approved in advance of assessment to ensure that candidates with either a permanent long-term disability or learning difficulty, or a temporary disability, illness or indisposition is not put at a disadvantage in comparison to a person without such a disability or difficulty. |
| Recognised Body | Bodies that have been recognised to submit units into the Quality Assured Lifelong Learning (QALL) pillar of the Credit and Qualification Framework for Wales (CQFW). |
| Recognition of prior learning (RPL) | A method of assessment that considers whether a learner can demonstrate that they meet the assessment criteria of a unit through knowledge, understanding or skills they already posses and do not need to develop through a course of learning. |
| Regulatory Bodies (for qualifications) | Government designated statutory organisations required to establish national standards for qualifications and secure compliance with them. The regulatory authorities for Wales, England and Northern Ireland are respectively Welsh Government, Ofqual and CCEA. |
| Reliability of assessment | The extent to which assessment results are an accurate measurement of a learner's achievements against the requirements of a unit - reliable assessment repeatedly produces the same outcome without inherent bias or variability in the assessment instrument. |
| Responsible Officer | The responsible officer serves as the authoritative point of contact for Welsh Government as the qualifications regulator in Wales in relation to all activities undertaken by the awarding organisation. The CEO acts as the responsible officer. |
| Rules of combination | A rule specifying the combination of units which may be taken to form a particular qualification, any units which must be taken and any related requirements. |
| Sector | Sectors have been developed to categorise qualifications for use across relevant education agencies and bodies in Wales, England and Northern Ireland. Sectors are designated in the Sector Subject Area Classification System (SSACS) copies of which are available through the Ofqual website. |
| Sector Skills Councils (SSCs) | Sector Skills Councils are independent, employer-led, UK–wide organisations. The SSCs and the UK Commission for Employment and Skills are committed to working in partnership across the four nations to create the conditions for increased employer investment in skills which will drive enterprise and create jobs and sustainable economic growth. There are 18 Sector Skills Councils and 5 Sector Skills Bodies who work with over 550,000 employers to define skills needs and skills standards in their industry. |
| Special Consideration | Procedures implemented at the time of an assessment to allow attainment to be demonstrated by learners who have suffered from temporary illness, injury or indisposition at the time of assessment. |
| Standardisation of assessment | A process to ensure that the assessment criteria for a Qualification, unit or part of a unit are applied consistently by assessors and verifiers. Standardisation can be carried out within Centres as well as across Centres. |
| Target group | Those learners whose needs a course is primarily intended to meet. |
| Tutor | Trainer, lecturer, or facilitator of a course. |
| Unique learner number (ULN) | A 10-digit reference number which is used alongside and to access the Personal Learning Record of anyone over the age of 14 involved in UK education or training. |
| Unit | A unit is the smallest part of learning that can be accredited in its own right. A unit has an explicit and coherent set of outcomes which describe what a learner will be able to do along with appropriate assessment criteria, credit value, level and title and unique unit identification code. Units may be designed as part of a qualification or be independent. Units do not have to be taught or delivered as discrete entities. |
| Validation Panel (AHE) | A team of experts appointed by ân AVA to scrutinise proposals for new or existing AHE Diplomas. |
| Validity of assessment | The fitness of purpose of an assessment tool or scheme - valid assessment gives an accurate measurement of what it is supposed to measure. |
| Wales Learner Record | The ULN in time will enable a lifelong record of achievements to be built in a Wales Learning Record. Learners will be able to view their records online, share information with learning providers, and advice and guidance professionals. |