News

NOCN Qualifications Eligible for ALR Funding

Posted 28 June 2010

The NOCN QCF qualifications listed below have been approved for ALR funding for the remainder of 2009-2010 and for 2010-2011.

New qualifications approved in the QCF

Posted 14 June 2010

Events

Sector 14 Standardisation Event 7th October 2010

26 August 2010

Please contact any member of the Quality Team for further details

Functional Skills - Follow up event on 30th June 2010

04 June 2010

Information/Support Materials from our event on 30th June 2010

Glossary of Terminolgy

Terms	Description
Accreditation	Confirmation that learner’s evidence meets the assessment criteria.
Accreditation of prior learning (APL)	The process of identification, assessment and formal acknowledgement of prior learning and achievement.
Approved Internal Verifier Status (AIVS)	AIVS is the mechanism whereby the OCN approves named individuals to authorise the award of credit for specific courses at a Recognised Centre. Please note that AIVS cannot currently be applied to Access to HE provision.
Assessment	The process of making judgements about the extent to which a learner’s work meets the assessment criteria for a unit or part of a unit. Formative assessment provides feedback to learners to help improve their performance/achievement. Summative assessment takes place at the end of a defined period of learning.
Assessment criteria	The requirements that learners need to meet in order to achieve success for a unit or part of a unit.
Assessment evidence	Proof that the learner has achieved or is working towards the achievement of assessment criteria. Satisfactory evidence for all assessment criteria enables the Internal and External Verifier to confirm the award of credit.
Assessor	The person who assesses a learner’s work.
Awarding Body	An organisation that awards qualifications. An Awarding Body must meet the criteria laid down by the Qualifications Regulators e.g. Ofqual.
Benchmark assessment	Provides a set of tasks that should be used to assess the unit. Tasks can be designed by the Centre, but these must use the benchmark assessments as a guide and must cover all the assessment criteria.
Centre recognition	A process through which a Centre wishing to offer accreditation is confirmed as being able to maintain the required quality and consistency of assessment and comply with other expectations of the Awarding Body.
Certification	The procedure by which NOCN recognises the award of credit to learners and issues certificates and credit transfers.
Course approval	The process by which OCN’s approve coherently organised units into a course, submitted by NOCN Recognised Centres.
Credit	An award made to a learner in recognition of the achievement of the designated learning outcomes in a unit.
Credit accumulation	The process of putting together a combination of credits to meet the achievement requirements of the qualification.
Credit target	Is the achievement aim for learners taking a course.
Credit value	Is the measurement of notional time that a learner, on average, will take to achieve the learning outcomes in the unit. Credit value is calculated in terms of total learning time and can be made up of contact and self study time. 1 credit = 10 notional hours of learning.
Curriculum plan	NOCN document that sets out to give an understanding and agreement regarding which qualifications/courses and units a Recognised Centre will be running, to give an indication of the business relationship with the Centre and inform the Quality Improvement Plan.
Direct claims status	Provides a Recognised Centre the ability to claim certification from OCN. Status conferred on Recognised Centres who have AIVS and operate robust internal quality assurance systems.
Evidence portfolio	An evidence portfolio is usually a file or folder in which evidence is presented for assessment. An index should be included showing where each evidence requirement has been met.
External assessment	A form of independent assessment, where assessment tasks are set (externally to the Centre) and a learner’s work is assessed by the Awarding Body. This can either be internally or externally marked depending on the qualification assessment specification.
Guided learning hours (GLH)	The number of hours of teacher-supervised or directed study time required to teach a qualification, or unit of a qualification.
Intended credit value (ICV)	The total number of credits a learner would be awarded for full achievement of a particular course.
Internal verifier (IV)	An individual appointed by the Centre to ensure accurate and consistent standards of assessment, between assessors operating within a Centre.
Level	An indication of the relative demand, complexity and/or depth of achievement and/or the autonomy of the learner in demonstrating achievement.
Learning outcomes	Express the knowledge, skills and understanding learners are expected to acquire.
Mandatory units	Are units through which credit must be achieved in order to meet the requirements for the qualification.
National Occupational Standards (NOS)	Statements which describe the outcomes of competent work in an occupational field. NOS’s are developed and recognised by Sector Skills Councils or recognised bodies.
New Course Notification Form	NOCN form which sets out which units of assessment a Recognised Centre will be using on a particular course.
Optional units	Units that learners may select in order to achieve credits that meet the requirements of the qualification.
Policy	A policy provides the principles and system on which procedures can be built, it is fixed and concise. A policy reflects philosophy, values and fundamental aims. A policy tends to be established and agreed at a higher executive or managerial level.
Procedures	A set of step by step instructions to enable a task or job to be completed.
Quality reviewer (QR)	OCN role responsible for the quality auditing of Centres on behalf of NOCN.
Quality systems	An umbrella term that includes the key aspects of the way in which a Centre is operated.
Qualification guides	Published by NOCN, the qualification guides set out the quality assurance arrangements for nationally accredited qualifications.
Recommendation for the Award of Credit (RAC)	The OCN form on which Centres indicate the achievement of their learners.
Recognised Centre	A process through which a Centre wishing to offer accreditation is confirmed as being able to maintain the required quality and consistency of assessment and comply with other expectations of the Awarding Body.
Rules of combination	A description of the credit accumulation requirements for the achievement of a named qualification.
Sector	Defined by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authorities break down of sectors.
Standardisation	A process to ensure that the assessment criteria for a qualification, unit or part of a unit are applied consistently by assessors and verifiers. Standardisation is carried out within Centres as well as across Centres.
Unit	The smallest part of learning that can be accredited in its own right. Units may be designed as part of a qualification or designed independently. Units do not have to be taught or delivered as discrete entities.
Unit Code	NOCN assigned unique code for a unit.
Unit Title	Must be relevant, clear and unambiguous and reflect the content of the unit.