Training Charter

Equal Opportunities Policy

Aim:

• To ensure fair and appropriate treatment of all learners and Blended First Aid Training Staff.

• To prevent discrimination.

• To provide for learners with particular requirements and make adjustments where possible.

• To have an effective process for dealing with learner appeals.

Blended First Aid Training is committed to recruiting learners with integrity and without discrimination.

Blended First Aid Training will not discriminate against age, disability, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation or gender.

In order to do this Blended First Aid Training will:

• welcome applicants without discrimination.

• allow learners to register for courses provided they are over 16 years of age (as required by Edexcel).

• will request learners to tell us about any special requirements they have for the course and will

• endeavour to make any reasonable adjustment necessary as long as standards of attainment and integrity of the qualification are not compromised.

• make available detailed information about the qualifications prior to learners booking the course and will advise learners if there is a more appropriate qualification.

• will maintain and implement a learner appeals and complaints procedure (see Blended First Aid Training Appeals Policy).

Appeals Policy

Aim

• To enable the learner to enquire, question or appeal against an assessment decision.

• To attempt to reach agreement between the learner and the assessor at the earliest opportunity.

• To standardise and record any appeal to ensure openness and fairness.

• To facilitate a learner's ultimate right of appeal to the awarding body, where appropriate.

• To protect the interests of all learners and the integrity of the qualification.

In order to do this, Blended First Aid Training will:

• Inform the learner at enrolment, of the Appeals Policy and procedure.

• Allow appeals to be made against the conduct of the assessment and the assessment decision.

• Allow appeals to be made within 14 days of the learner being informed of the assessment decision.

• Allow one appeal to be made per assessment that covers all issues requiring resolution.

• Record, track and validate any appeal on the Blended First Aid Training database against the learner page.

• For Edexcel courses- forward the appeal to Edexcel when a learner considers that a decision continues to disadvantage her/him after the internal appeals process has been exhausted.

• Keep appeals records for inspection by the awarding body for a minimum of 18 months.

• Take appropriate action to protect the interests of other learners and the integrity of the qualification, when the outcome of an appeal questions the validity of other results.

• Monitor appeals to inform quality improvement.

• Ensure the appellant has the right of representation.

• Have a staged appeals procedure as below:

• 1. The appellant should first discuss their concerns with the assessor. The assessor will need to respond to the appeal within 14 days (under normal circumstances).

  2. If the issue remains unresolved an Internal Verifier (who is not the trainer or Examinations Officer for that learners course) should attempt to provide a mutually acceptable solution. This may include upholding the assessment decision, second marking of an assessment by an alternative assessor or reassessment. These are examples and not exhaustive. Each case will considered individually. This will be completed within 14 days of referral to the Internal Verifier (under normal circumstances).

  3. If the issue still remains unresolved, the Head of Centre becomes involved and will attempt to provide a mutually acceptable solution. The Head of Centre will also ensure that all appropriate measures have been carried out at stages 1 and 2 and take into account the views of the Assessor and Internal Verifier. This will be completed within 14 days of referral to the Head of Centre (under normal circumstances).

  4. For Edexcel courses, if the issue remains unresolved after stages 1 to 3 have been completed, Edexcel is then informed. This will be done within 14 days of referral to the Head of Centre (under normal circumstances) if a resolution is not achieved at stage 3.

• The Assessor, Internal Verifier and Head of Centre will establish the facts in a fair and open manner.

• Possible decisions as a result of the appeals procedure might be:

• 1. That the evidence presented does demonstrate competence and the original decision should be reconsidered by the original Assessor;

  2. That the original decision is upheld;

  3. That the learner be reassessed by the original Assessor; or

  4. That the learner be reassessed by a different Assessor.

• The decision of the Head of Centre is final, unless the assessment is for an award/certificate issued by an external body. In such circumstances, appeals to the awarding body should be made via their procedures.

• The learner will be informed of the outcome in writing within 14 days of referral to the Head of Centre (under normal circumstances).

Special Consideration and Reasonable Adjustment Policy

Aim

• To ensure all reasonable steps are taken to ensure that learners requiring special considerations can still complete Blended First Aid Training Courses without discrimination.

• To ensure that reasonable steps to allow the above do not negatively impact on the standards required for successful completion of Blended First Aid Training Courses or detract from the quality and integrity of the qualification attained.

Definitions:

Reasonable Adjustment: This is special measures taken in cases where a learner has declared prior to assessment a difficulty or disability that may otherwise place the learner at substantial disadvantage in the assessment situation.

Special Consideration: This is an allowance made post- assessment to reflect a temporary disadvantage that occurred at the time of the assessment such as a temporary illness, injury or indisposition at the time of assessment.

In order to achieve the above aims Blended First Aid Training will:

• Recruit with integrity onto all Blended First Aid Training Courses.

• Consider all declared disabilities or potential difficulties prior to the learner commencing the course and plan for any reasonable adjustments to be made.

• Confidentiality and dignity will be respected at all times and information regarding a candidates declared disability/ difficulty only be shared amongst Blended First Aid Training Staff and Trainers where necessary to facilitate the reasonable adjustment and in the learners best interest.

• Any reasonable adjustments made or special considerations must not give the learner an assessment advantage over other learners undertaking the same or similar assessments.

• Any reasonable adjustments made or special considerations must not affect the reliability or validity of the assessment results.

• Any reasonable adjustments made must not negatively impact on the learning experiences of the other learners in the classroom.

• Any reasonable adjustments made or special considerations will not influence the final outcome of the assessment decision.

• In cases where the recruitment process identifies that the learner may not be able to demonstrate attainment and thus gain achievement in all parts of assessment for the selected qualification, this will be communicated clearly to the learner in a timely and professional manner.

• Reasonable adjustments may include allowing extra time, the provision of amanuensis, practical assistance, the provision of readers, reorganization of the physical environment. These examples are not exhaustive and each case will be considered individually.

• All reasonable adjustments made and special considerations are recorded on the learner page for that candidate on the Blended First Aid Training database and will be available for review during both Internal Verification and External Verification visits.

• The Reasonable Adjustment and Special Consideration Policy will not be abused and the Blended First Aid Training Malpractice Policy will be adhered to.

• The Assessor will discuss the specific circumstances of a learner where special consideration may be applied with an Internal Verifier, and agree any reasonable adjustments that can be made. If there is no agreement then the matter will be referred to the Quality Nominee to resolve who may liase with the Head of Centre.

• It is recognized that it may not be possible to apply special considerations in practical assessments and in areas where criteria have to be met fully. In the case of on- line assessments and written papers a learner may be given the opportunity to complete the assessment at a later date.

• Special consideration may be appropriate in learners who are fully prepared and present for a scheduled assessment and their performance is affected by circumstances beyond their control- for example they are incapacitated by serious illness or injury, involved in an accident or bereavement. These examples are not exhaustive and each case will be considered individually.

• A special consideration must not cause the user of a certificate to be misled regarding a learner's achievement. The learner's results must reflect real achievement in assessment and not potential ability. To this end, special considerations can only be a small post-assessment adjustment to the mark or outcome.

• Where a learner disagrees with any decision regarding reasonable adjustment or special considerations they have the right to appeal and the Blended First Aid Training Appeals Policy will be adhered to.

Assessment Malpractice Policy

Aim

• To identify and minimise the risk of malpractice by staff or learners.

• To respond to any incident of alleged malpractice promptly and objectively.

• To standardise and record any investigation of malpractice to ensure openness and fairness.

• To impose appropriate penalties and/or sanctions on learners or staff where incidents (or attempted incidents) of malpractice are proven.

• To protect the integrity of the centre and BTEC qualifications.

Definitions and examples:

Malpractice involves those acts which undermine the integrity and validity of assessment, the certification of qualifications and/ or damage the authority of those conducting the assessment and certification processes.

Examples of learner malpractice include plagiarism, collusion- producing work in collaboration with others and then submitted as individual learner work, copying, fabricating results or evidence, deliberately destroying or sabotaging another learners work, submitting false personal identification, impersonation, facilitating

impersonation, disclosing their details that allow another person to logon to the Blended First Aid Training e-learning portal under their user details, learners seeking to influence assessors during practical assessments and learners  seeking to influence assessors of on-line assessments.

Examples of staff/ trainer malpractice include improper assistance to learners, inventing or changing results for the purpose of influencing internal or external verification, failure to submit practical assessment outcomes, facilitating and allowing impersonation, false declaration of ID checks, misusing the conditions where reasonable adjustments have been put in place (such that the support given unfairly influences the outcome of assessment), falsifying records, falsifying trainer logs.

The above examples are not exhaustive and other instances of malpractice may be considered by Blended First Aid Training at its discretion.

In order to achieve the above aims:

• Blended First Aid Training does not tolerate actions or attempted actions of malpractice by learners, assessors and verifiers.

• Blended First Aid Training is vigilant regarding assessment malpractice and will deal with any suspected instances in an open and fair manner.

• Blended First Aid Training seek to avoid potential malpractice by making the Assessment Malpractice Policy available on our website as part of the Blended First Aid Training Charter. Candidates are required to declare they have read it as part of the enrolment procedure.

• Learners are asked to declare that their work is their own.

• In cases of suspected or alleged malpractice, Blended First Aid Training will conduct an investigation supported by the Head of Centre and all personnel linked to the allegation. The investigation will be fully documented on the learner page of the Blended First Aid Training database.

• Blended First Aid Training will inform a learner or staff member in writing if it is felt they have been involved in malpractice and the individual made aware of the possible consequences should malpractice be proven.

• The individual will be given the opportunity to respond, preferably in writing to allegations made.

• The individual will be informed of the appeals procedure should a judgement be made against them.

• Learners who are deemed to have undertaken malpractice will fail the course.

• Blended First Aid Training will inform Edexcel of any suspected or proven malpractice cases that involve an Edexcel course.

Copyright

All rights reserved. These materials (including without limitation all images, text, articles, logos etc.) are Copyright © 2020 Blended First Aid Training Ltd®. Blended First Aid Training endeavours to ensure that the information on this charter is correct but does not accept any liability for error or omission.