Today we have seen the inaugural External Quality Assurance Report issued by The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) as we reach the first full year of EQA Providers carrying out audits and monitoring of End Point Assessment Organisations (EPAOs).

I started my own End Point Assessment (#EPA) journey when I joined Innovate Awarding (@Innovate_Awards) as Managing Director in June 2017, so this feels like an ideal place to start my reflections:

Since Innovate Awarding became approved to be an End Point Assessment Organisation (EPAO), we have been banging the drum for clarity on roles and responsibilities and for consistency of approach – particularly for resits, retakes and cancellations. These are areas I fully believe should not be competitive differentials – they must be applied consistently across all EPAOs.

The introduction of End Point Assessment (EPA) into new Apprenticeship standards brings a fresh challenge for apprentices, employers and, in particular, Assessors. However, as many Apprentice Assessment Organisations (AAOs) are already discovering, the new standards are creating opportunities for Assessors to make the transition.

The Register of Apprenticeship Providers (RoATP) has seen an increase in employers putting themselves forward to become employer providers, and it is likely this will increase when the new register entrants are shared in January. So, firstly, why would an employer wish to become a training provider? There are many reasons why employers may be considering applying for employer-provider status, whereby the employer delivers apprenticeship training directly to their employees rather than outsourcing to an external training provider: