Internal Assessment
For CPCAB qualifications at levels 2 and 3 a minimum of one tutor must be involved in all aspects of internal assessment. For CPCAB qualifications at levels 4 and above a minimum of two tutors must be involved in all aspects of internal assessment.
A list of general internal assessment requirements – together with a summary of internal assessment (IA) requirements in relation to each specific CPCAB qualification – is given in each of CPCAB’s Tutor User Guides.
To ensure that internal assessment is carried out to a national standard across all CPCAB-Approved Centres, CPCAB run free Standardisation Training Days for tutors each year.
A variety of example forms to help with internal assessment, together with a variety of guide-sheets for tutors, are available from the downloads section (and on the CD that each tutor receives when the learning group is registered).
The IA process
Internal assessment relates to all seven qualification units and is therefore the primary assessment method for all CPCAB qualifications. However, candidates must be Proficient in both Internal Assessment and External Assessment to achieve the qualification.
The tutor has two elements to his/her role: that of trainer and internal assessor. The internal assessor element of the role involves taking responsibility for assessing the trainee’s learning and deciding whether s/he is proficient in the qualification learning aim.
To do this the internal assessor examines the Candidate Learning Record, and its associated portfolio references, to assess whether their trainees are Proficient, Not Yet Proficient or Not Proficient. Each qualification has seven units based on the seven processes in the CPCAB model. Each unit has a learning outcome which defines what the trainee needs to learn for that unit. Each unit contains:
- Elements – an element is a group of related criteria.
- Criteria – these detail what the trainee needs to learn in order to achieve the unit learning outcome. Trainees can think of the criteria as the ‘learning tasks’ that they need to complete. In order for a candidate to be Proficient they must have completed the criteria and achieved the learning outcome for each of the seven units.
In order for a tutor to carry out an assessment, trainees need to complete a portfolio of their coursework and fill in the Candidate Learning Record (CLR) – normally placed in the front of the portfolio – referencing evidence of their learning for each criterion. For most qualifications they need to reference two examples of their learning for each criterion, but for ICSK-L2 they only need to reference one example. Please note that, if it is appropriate, the trainee can reference the same section of their portfolio, or the same piece of coursework, a number of times.
In the CLR within each Candidate User Guide there are – alongside each of the qualification criteria – brief notes to help trainees understand the criteria, together with pointers to how to best practise these and record their learning in their portfolio. In the CLR as given within each Tutor User Guide there are, additionally, guidelines on facilitating learning and pointers to how best to assess each particular criterion. Detailed information about the CLR is given in the Tutor User Guides.
Additionally the CLR must make reference to the following three types of coursework in the trainee’s portfolio:
- Documents.
- Tutor Observation.
- Testimony.
Assessment of the portfolio references:
The Centre tutor assesses whether or not the trainee has met the criteria – identifying any that s/he still needs to complete and providing brief feedback on the trainee’s learning needs. Tutors may assess the references in the candidate’s portfolio simply in terms of ‘yes’ (complete) or ‘no’ (incomplete).
The Centre tutor-assessor looks at the evidence referenced in the Candidate Learning Record and assesses whether the candidate has completed the unit criteria (identifying any that s/he still needs to complete – and giving brief feedback to the trainee on their learning needs), achieved the Learning Outcome for each unit, and met any other qualification requirements (including, for example, depending on the qualification concerned, assignments, workplace experience hours etc.) – see ‘Completing the assessment process’ below for more details. The tutor then fills in and signs the ‘Completion Statement for Candidate Learning Record’ (this is given at the end of the Candidate Learning Record within each Candidate User Guide), to reflect their overall assessment.
Special internal assessment needs (including pre-course assessment):
Centres must ensure that they have appropriate arrangements in place for trainees with special assessment needs. Please contact the relevant section of your training centre/college for advice and guidance on this.
Internal Verification and Internal Moderation:
During each teaching year an internal verifier must verify that the Centre’s programmes are properly in place and operating effectively. During each teaching year an internal moderator must also sample and confirm the tutor’s assessments for each qualification – but not necessarily for each course – that they are tutoring and assessing. Please contact the relevant section of your training centre/college for advice and guidance on this.
- Centres are required to have robust internal moderation and verification processes which are externally verified by CPCAB.
External verification:
Each teaching year CPCAB will externally verify the Centre’s internal assessment programmes.
Completing the assessment process:
Once the tutor has completed the assessment of the course group, s/he must fill in and sign the ‘Completion Statements for Candidate Learning Record’ (this is given at the end of the Candidate Learning Record within each Candidate User Guide), to reflect their overall assessment, with each trainee assessed as either:
- Proficient (P): the trainee has completed all the unit criteria, achieved the Learning Outcomes for the seven units and met all of the qualification requirements.
- Not Yet Proficient (NYP): the trainee has completed the majority, but not all, of the unit criteria and/or unit Learning Outcomes and/or qualification requirements:
- Centres may make appropriate arrangements with NYP trainees to complete outstanding work and/or address contra-indications (where identified), and then inform CPCAB if/when the trainee is subsequently assessed as Proficient. This process must normally be completed within a maximum of 3 months from the course end date.
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- Centres may allow extensions of up to 1 year (from the end of the course date) for completing workplace experience requirements (where these apply), provided that the other internal assessment requirements have been met.
- Not Proficient (NP): the trainee has not completed the majority of the criteria and/or unit Learning Outcomes and/or qualification requirements. The Centre would not normally extend the internal assessment process in the case of NP trainees. Candidates have access to Centre internal appeals procedures if they wish to contest an internal assessment decision.
- Left course – before completion of the internal assessment.
The internal assessment is then recorded (using a tick) on CPCAB’s Candidate Registration List (and Certification) Form (this is sent to Centres by CPCAB and lists all of the registered candidates for the trainee group concerned), which is returned to CPCAB.
The internal assessment process needs to be completed prior to the second (final) visit of the CPCAB external verifier, who will verify a sample of Candidate Learning Records and associated portfolios from a selection of the Centre’s course groups.
In the event of a candidate not completing the whole qualification – e.g. only doing Year 1 of the Level 4 Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling – the Completion Statement is still used to record the achievement of completed units. In this event the tutor’s internal assessment of the candidate’s portfolio must be independently confirmed by the CPCAB External Verifier. It is the Centre’s responsibility to ensure that the work of such candidates is presented for external verification during the EVA visit. The Completion statement must then be sent to CPCAB’s head office to be signed by the Head of Qualifications in order to validate and record the candidate’s achievement of completed units. The candidate may then use the Completion Statement as evidence of completed units, but will still have to achieve proficiency in the outstanding units – and in the CPCAB external assessment – to be awarded the qualification.