Introduction
This procedure identifies the requirements and specifies the steps to be taken in the event of our centre, a learner, or the postal system losing a learner’s portfolio of assessment evidence, in order to mitigate the potential issues that could arise for all parties including for the learner, our centre and our awarding organisation. Notwithstanding all of the information contained in this policy, we would take all reasonable steps to ensure the safety of learners’ work and portfolios, whether they are in transit or being stored either electronically, in storage clouds (i.e. goodle drive and dropbox) or in hard copies on our premises, adhering to confidentiality requirements at all times.
This policy is provided to assist all parties involved in the event of a learner’s work being lost.
For the purpose of this policy whether the word ‘portfolio’, ‘work’ or ‘file’ is used, it is to mean that the learner has either completed in full their portfolio/assessments across the qualification, or that a significant percentage of the qualification has been completed such that it would be impractical to redo it.
Initial actions to take when we become aware of potentially lost evidence
Before making any official or external reports, we would ensure that all possible searches for the work have been made including contacting any third parties that could have had access to the work or file. In the event that following a full and exhaustive search, the file remains lost, then the following procedure will be followed.
Dignity Should a learner’s evidence be lost and there is no other method of retrieval and if it would be impractical to redo the portfolio, the ASQ staff or assessor that becomes aware of this must inform the centre manager with immediate effect. The ASQ Centre Manager must contact the assessor and the IQA assigned to the candidate immediately so as to salvage any evidences of the assessment that they may have in ther possession. He must then complete the attached Lost Portfolio Notification Form in full, providing all the requested details on the form, stating the learner’s progression and/or achievement to date.
The Centre Manager will also provide the following additional information where applicable or available:
The notification form must be supported by supplementary evidence that is applicable, and always with a witness statement from the relevant assessors and IQA. The witness statement should provide an overview of the evidence the learner had created. Once the Lost Portfolio Form has been fully completed and signed by all parties, it should be submitted to the ASQ Centre Coordinator and/or the ASQ Managing Director who will be the one to notify the relavant monitoring body or awarding organisation of the loss. The ASQ Centre Coordinator and/or the ASQ Managing Director will do this within 20 working days of receipt of the completed Lost Portfolio Form and all supplementary information not minding if the investigation into the loss had been concluded or not.
The ASQ Centre Coordinator and/or the ASQ Managing Director may wish to interview all the persons involved including the relevant ASQ staff members, the Centre manager, the learner, the assessor and the IQA in order to build up a picture of the evidences gathered after the loss.
From collecting all of the above information, ASQ Centre Coordinator and/or the ASQ Managing Director will then be able to effectively relay the case and the situation to the relevant governing organisation or awarding body in line with their reporting procedure.
Stage 1 – The ASQ Centre Coordinator and/or the ASQ Managing Director acknowledge notification of the lost portfolio/s within two working days of receiving the ‘Lost Portfolio Form’
Stage 2 – The ASQ Centre Coordinator and/or the ASQ Managing Director will arrange for an appropriate member of quality assurance staff to review the application/form along with the evidences submitted. (This will normally be an IQA that is external to the particular centre i.e. either from another ASQ centre or entirely independent of the organisation)
Stage 3 – Quality assurance staff will review the evidences and will respond to the ASQ Centre Coordinator and/or the ASQ Managing Director within 5 days, confirming
Please note that in some cases the review process may take longer, for example, if meetings with centre staff, candidate, assessor and/or IQAa centre visit is required. Or if additional evidence is requested. In such instances, the ASQ Centre Coordinator and/or the ASQ Managing Director will contact all parties concerned, including the relavant monitoring body or awarding organisation, to inform them of the likely revised timescale.
Stage 4 – The ASQ Centre Coordinator and/or the ASQ Managing Director will inform the the relavant monitoring body or awarding organisation and the ASQ Centre Manager of the outcome within five working days of making decisions.
Stage 5 – When responces and decisiona re received from the the relavant monitoring body or awarding organisation, ASQ will review the decisions and will either accept or appeal the decisions in line with the relavant monitoring body or awarding organisation procedure.