May 1, 2023
Which IQA qualification do I need?
If you’re looking to start or advance your career in Internal Quality Assurance (IQA), then you might be wondering which is the best qualification to suit your needs. After all, there are several IQA qualifications available – all with deceptively similar titles! This leaves a lot of people wondering – which IQA qualification do I need?!
Fortunately, our team answer this question on a daily basis. So If you want to kickstart or advance a career in an IQA and you’re unsure what qualification you need, consider this your go-to guide!
The best way to figure out which IQA qualification you need is to consider your existing IQA role or the role you are hoping to achieve. Establishing this makes it much easier to work out which qualification would be most beneficial to you.
There are three IQA qualifications available depending on your future goals for your career in quality assurance. We’ll break down each of these into the desired outcomes to help you work out the best IQA qualification for your needs.
Want to understand the IQA process?
If you’re looking for an introductory IQA qualification, the Level 4 Award in Understanding the Internal Quality Assurance (IQA) of Assessment Processes and Practice (RQF) could be a good fit for your needs.
This IQA award covers Unit 1 from the two other IQA qualifications mentioned below.
Unit 1: Understanding the principles and practices of internally assuring the quality of assessment.
This unit provides a good working knowledge of the IQA process without needing to carry out any practical IQA work. It covers the background knowledge needed to become an IQA, including legal requirements, how to plan and review your work and how the IQA role fits with other areas of teaching and quality assurance.
This theory-only IQA qualification is ideal if you’re considering becoming an IQA, but you’re unsure whether you need to be involved with the practices of internally assuring within an organisation. It’s also a cheaper and quicker route to gaining a recognised quality assurance qualification.
Want to become a qualified IQA?
If you’re hoping to become an IQA within an organisation such as a college, training company or even the training department of your existing company, the Level 4 IQA Award in the Internal Quality Assurance of Assessment Processes and Practice is the best qualification to accomplish this.
An IQA helps to ensure that the assessments of candidates within an organisation are effective, fair and unbiased. As a qualified IQA, you ensure that your employer complies with the Awarding Body (like City & Guilds or Ofqual) requirements to have a suitably qualified IQA on the team.
Most prospective IQAs find they are seeking employment in quality assurance at organisations that already have assessors and tutors dealing with candidates. However, these organisations usually need additional IQAs to support their quality assurance processes or don’t have a qualified IQA in place and need one to comply with their Awarding Body’s requirements.
To actively carry out IQA work, you need to have both a broad background knowledge of the IQA role and the practical skills needed for the frontline IQA work you’ll be doing.
Both of these areas are covered in a full IQA course, which can be taken online, and it’s composed of two main units:
Unit 1: Understanding the principles and practices of internally assuring the quality of assessment.
This covers all the background knowledge you need to be an IQA, including all the legal requirements and how the IQA role fits in with those of assessors, tutors, managers and External Quality Assurers. You’ll also find out how to plan and review your IQA work.
Unit 2: Internally assure the quality of assessment.
In this unit, you carry out the practical part of an IQA role. This includes sampling assessors’ decisions, checking their work, providing feedback and monitoring the whole learner journey from enrolment to qualifying.
Once you’ve gained this qualification, you’ll be considered a fully qualified IQA. This provides you with a nationally recognised certificate to enhance your CV and the knowledge and practical skills to carry out your role as an IQA role.
Become a Lead IQA
If you’re hoping to be in a leadership or management position within Internal Quality Assurance at your organisation, where you are carrying out IQA activities and managing and leading a team of IQAs, then Level 4 Certificate in Leading the Internal Quality Assurance of Assessment Processes and Practice could be for you.
This course covers both the units in the full IQA course, setting you up to handle the IQA role yourself, plus an additional third unit.
Unit 1: Understanding the principles and practices of internally assuring the quality of assessment.
In this unit, you learn how to plan and review your work as an IQA, how the role fits with other teaching and assessing roles, and essential foundational information on Internal Quality Assurance.
Unit 2: Internally assure the quality of assessment.
In unit 2, you put all your IQA knowledge from unit 1 into practice, including reviewing decisions, checking work, providing feedback and monitoring learner journeys from enrolment to qualifying.
Unit 3: Plan, allocate and monitor work in own area of responsibility
In this final unit, you will plan and manage the whole quality assurance process by leading the other IQAs at your workplace. You’ll be involved with monitoring IQAs’ work, checking their decision-making and sampling, and organising your team’s CPD and development.
This lead IQA course is also a great “top up” option for those who have taken Units 1 & 2 already, as you can use these towards your lead IQA qualification without having to repeat them. Essentially, a qualified IQA only needs to take Unit 3 of this course to qualify as a lead IQA and advance their career.
“So, which IQA qualification do I need?”
If you’re hoping to kickstart your career as an assessor, you may find the Level 4 Award in Understanding the Internal Quality Assurance (IQA) of Assessment Processes and Practice (RQF) a good fit for “dipping your toes” into the world of internal quality assurance. However, if you’re looking to become a qualified IQA and actively carry out IQA work at an organisation, we recommend the Level 4 IQA Award in the Internal Quality Assurance of Assessment Processes and Practice.
For those of you ready to take the next step in your career as an IQA, or to jump straight in the deep end, taking the Level 4 Certificate in Leading the Internal Quality Assurance of Assessment Processes and Practice and qualifying as a lead IQA is the best course for you to take.
If you’re still not sure which IQA course is the one for you, then please contact our friendly team at Carlton Training who are more than happy to guide you in the right direction for your future career goals.
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