ON QUARTERLY BASIS, EACH AWARDING BODY SHALL PAY A FEE AMOUNTING TO 3% OF ITS PROCEEDS FROM VALIDATION AND CERTIFICATION FEES. THE MINIMUM FEE AMOUNT SHALL BE PLN 1 FROM EACH ISSUED DOCUMENT CONFIRMING THE AWARDING OF A MARKET QUALIFICATION.
The act does not specify the frequency at which the AB is expected to carry out validation – this decision is left to the AB. Additionally, there is no set time-frame within which the AB must start performing validation.
Validation is performed against payment of a fee. Awarding bodies shall set the amount of fees payable for validation of a given qualification and shall collect all fees from candidates.
The fee amount shall depend on:
Validation fees may vary from one awarding body to another, even if they offer validation of the same market qualification.
Each awarding body shall publish information on validation costs on its web page.
It is not required of an awarding body (AB) to provide all the resources referred to in organisational conditions – e.g. equipment or its own premises. What is more, it is not required to employ personnel – such as assessors, advisers or validation designers – on fixed term basis.
What an awarding body must do is ensure the conditions for validation identified in the qualification description – regardless of its organisational structure or the principles of its cooperation with other entities.
In practice, it is often the case that awarding bodies cooperate with other entities responsible for validation (validating bodies) – for example when:
The interested parties determine the rules of cooperation between an awarding body and validating bodies – in a contract or an agreement. The act on the Integrated Qualifications System does not impose any specific requirements in this respect.
IN ANY CASE, AN AWARDING BODY IS RESPONSIBLE FOR:
An awarding body (AB) shall make sure to employ assessors who meet the requirements specified in the qualification description. Typically, the qualification description will also include requirements as to the number of assessors, who should participate in the validation process or sit on the committee.
In the event an awarding body intends to provide support of a validation adviser in the course of the validation process, it shall employ such an adviser and make sure that he/she had been properly prepared for this role.
Validation assessors are experts, who make sure that the candidate has the knowledge and the skills required in the case of a given qualification. An assessor verifies learning outcomes of individuals subject to validation.
Apart for the specific requirements related to a given qualification, assessors should be prepared, by the awarding body, for the validation process in such a manner, as to be able to ensure an appropriate quality of the process. Therefore, they must know work standards and procedures applicable in a given awarding body and proceed accordingly.
Validation advisers are experts providing support to individuals applying for a certificate at each stage of the validation process.
An important aspect of the role of a validation adviser is to support a candidate at the stage of identification of learning outcomes. An adviser supports the candidate in determining what the candidate already knows and can do and what he/she still has to learn in order to obtain the certificate.
In the event the analysis of evidence and declarations is used in the course of the validation process, an advisor may help the candidate collect relevant documents (at the stage of documenting the learning outcomes, i.e. preparing evidence and declarations to be assessed by assessors at the verification stage).
A validation adviser meeting the above-mentioned requirements is capable of effectively supporting candidates who decided to undergo validation. If additionally prepared, an adviser will be also fit to handle the responsibilities of a validation assessor.
Quality assurance is a priority for the Integrated Qualifications System (IQS).
This way, both employees and employers can rest assured that certificates confirming given qualifications are credible and valuable.
The high quality of awarded qualifications is important for:
Competent ministers supervise validation and certification of regulated and market qualifications incorporated into the IQS.
Every 2 years, each awarding body (AB) submits to the competent minister a report on its validation and certification activities.
Additionally, the system also provides for external quality assurance entities (EQAE). These entities cooperate with ABs as well as the minister. Their task is to analyse how ABs ensure the quality of qualification awarding (i.e. the quality of the validation process). Every 3 years, each EQAE submits a report on their work to competent ministers.
The ministers may decide to have an AB as well as an EQAE audited. They shall have the right to apply sanctions – for example to:
In each body, both validation and certification processes are subject to an internal as well as an external quality assurance system.
The internal quality assurance system is designed by the awarding body. The system affects rules of conduct, procedures, methods and organisational solutions.
Its objective is to ensure the correct course of validation and certification as well as improvement of both processes as performed by the awarding body. This is achieved by means of:
An external quality assurance entity (EQAE) supervises an awarding body (AB) in terms of execution of the external quality assurance role. This is achieved by means of:
EQAE functions are assigned to the appointed entity by the minister competent for a given qualification.
AN EXTERNAL QUALITY ASSURANCE ENTITY (EQAE) INSPECTS THE QUALITY OF VALIDATION AS PERFORMED BY THE AWARDING BODY (AB).
External quality assurance entities are institutions which have been granted a relevant license by the competent minister.
An EQAE supports an AB in validation and certification processes.
An EQAE is responsible for:
An external quality assurance entity (EQAE), among other things, shall have the right to:
The EQAE must inform the competent minister immediately if it suspects that the AB does not follow the applicable rules and does not meet the requirements specified in the qualification description.
THE COMPETENT MINISTER SUPERVISING THE QUALIFICATION SHOULD INITIATE A COOPERATION PROCESS AMONG ALL PARTIES INVOLVED IN A GIVEN QUALIFICATION.
This can be done by holding a meeting of representatives of: the ministry, the AB and the EQAE. Such a meeting provides an opportunity for initiation of partnership-like cooperation among the parties.
At this point, 22 entities, assigned to selected groups of qualifications, have been licensed as external quality assurance entities (EQAE).
Enrolment of EQAE takes place at least every 3 years and is announced by the Minister of National Education. The announcement is published on the website of the IQS.
In practice, the minister announces a contest when there is a need to do so. For example, in the event a qualification is being incorporated into the system, which belongs to a group, for which there:
The table below presents EQAEs assigned to particular groups of qualifications.
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