Interview with Caroline Walton: We Did It! ELS secure Ofqual recognition
Caroline Walton is Head of ELS’s End-Point Assessment, Ofqual recognised Awarding Organisation and when she visited B4’s offices recently she was bursting with excitement, celebrating the fact that ELS has been recognised as an Ofqual approved Awarding Organisation.
Hear more from Caroline in this podcast with B4’s Richard Rosser, where she explains more about the two year journey to this point and the blood, sweat and tears invested by the ELS team. An ex (twice) apprentice herself, Caroline is the perfect ambassador to lead apprentices and her energy and enthusiasm for the role shines through. As Caroline mentioned ‘I probably drive everyone mad at work but I live and breathe apprentices and have such passion for everything we do.’
For more information about ELS and EPA, visit: https://www.elsbusinesstraining.co.uk/end-point-assessment/
To contact Caroline, e-mail: cwalton@explosivelearningsolutions.onmicrosoft.com
What is EPA?
End-Point Assessment (EPA) is the final stage of an Apprentices journey through their Apprenticeship programme. EPA are the final assessments that allows an apprentice to demonstrate their required knowledge, skills and behaviours for the apprenticeship standard and role they have been training for.
After the Apprenticeship “In-Training ” stage, which the apprentice undertakes with their Training Provider or Employer-Provider, the apprentice will go through a process called the ‘Gateway’ . This is a formal meeting between the apprentice, employer and the training provider. During this process the apprentice is signed-off by their employer as being ready for their End-Point Assessments. The employer will only sign off the “In-Training” stage during the Gateway process if all the components of the apprenticeship standard and all pre-requisites have been completed including any functional skills qualifications or workplace qualifications required to meet the full apprenticeship. Knowledge tests, presentations, project, practical demonstrations are some of the assessment methods used in end-point assessment.
Assessments are carried out with an independent end-point assessor (IEPA) who grades the assessments. The IEPA conducts the assessments on behalf of the independent, registered End-Point Assessment Organisation like ELS. The EPAO must be independent to the apprentice, employer and training provider.
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