Who should be on your TQS team?

There’s a simple answer to this question.

It depends.

It depends on where you are in your TQS development journey. It depends on how large your organisation is. It depends on how you are approaching the way you use the TQS. It depends on how quickly you aim to gain the TQS.

You might need more than one team, or you might need to change your team during the life of your TQS project.

However, you will need the following at some point in the development process.

The big guns

You will need senior management support for your work with the TQS. Some of the changes that you are likely to need to make must be made at the highest level, so you need backing and support at that level.

This might mean that your most senior person is on your team. It might mean that a member of the SMT is on your team.

The beavers

You will need people who will just keep on working on the TQS. They will be building up people’s understanding of what you are doing. They will be keeping their teams and their colleagues moving in the right direction. They will be modifying their practice to ensure you meet the requirements of the standard. They might be rewriting your processes. They might be reworking your employer journey.

They might not have a high profile, but their work will make all the difference to your success.

The promoters

Some people are good at helping other people to understand what your organisation is trying to do. These people are your promoters.

Your promoters might be working with people within your organisation. They might be working with your employers. They might be working with your stakeholders, including the relevant Sector Skills Councils.

Whoever they are working with they keep on explaining why it’s important to gain the TQS, what your organisation will gain from being certificated, how your reputation will be built as a result of certification and how you will be even more responsive to the needs of employers as a result of your success.

You need a number of promoters on your team.

The application writing team

The application writing team is an important team. It is this team that makes or breaks your application.

There are four principal roles in this team: the principal writer, the principal reviewer, the principal evidence gatherer and the project manager.

You need a minimum of two people in your application writing team. This team needs time and space to allow it to succeed.

I’ve written before about the application writing team. There is a link to that post below.

The whole organisation team

Sooner or later you need to ensure that you take every one with you, so that you can be confident that every one endorses your work with employers and with the TQS.

So now’s the time to think about who is on your team and if you need to shake it up.

See also:

Preparing the senior team
What, no team? – big mistake number three

Preparing the Senior Team

Senior staff in your organisation are likely to be involved in the TQS verification visit. You will need to ensure they understand their role in the process leading towards TQS certification.

Here are five actions to take sooner rather than later.

Explain the differences . . .

TQS assessment is different. Let senior people know this. Explain that other assessments senior people may have taken part in are rather different.

Use briefings, newsletters and one-to-one meetings to help you to get your message across.

Produce clear messages and repeat them often

It’s not enough to produce your wonderful guide to the TQS. Make the messages more personal.

“Everything you need to know about . . .” is a possible heading for your guide.
“Three things you need to remember about ….” could also help you.

However, reiterating your messages often is even more important.

Don’t let people forget their role in the TQS assessment and verification process.

Go through the application with senior managers

Make sure senior managers understand that it is your application that is assessed. Then make sure they are aware of what has been said in the application about aspects of your work for which they are responsible.

Think about who you would speak to in order to verify practice with the different parts of the TQS. Then discuss the specifics of the application with those people.

Use the magic words often

In the TQS world the words consistency and standardisation have magical qualities. So much of the TQS is about proving you have systems and processes in place and operational. Talk to the relevant senior managers about some of the issues about standards and systems they need to be aware of.

Ask managers the: “How do you know …” questions.

How do you know that every employer who receives a visit from the college has an organisational needs analysis?
How do you know that employers really do value programme x or y?
How do you know that employers are gaining more from our programmes now than they did three years ago?

Spend time explaining that the TQS is about more than what you achieve. It’s about the systems and processes you have in place to help you to deliver what you promise to employers consistently.

Preparing your senior team for the TQS assessment and verification process will be a lot simpler, if you follow this advice.

See also:

What ... no team ...
TQS assessment is different
Build a good TQS portfolio . . .

TQS assessment is different

When I deliver sessions of TQS assessment I show a slide about the different stages in the assessment process. People listen and nod, but in many cases, they don’t really think too much about what I am saying.

Most people in provider organisations know what to expect in assessments. They know what inspections are like. They know what is coming.

Or do they?

Well, in many cases, they don’t.

Remote assessment

Lots of people still think that the assessment takes place on-site. They think TQS assessment is like Investors in People, or Matrix or OFSTED. It still comes as a shock when they realise that the assessment is completed prior to the on-site visit.

That’s one big difference between TQS assessment and other assessments.

Teaching and learning – who cares?

Another big difference is that the assessors aren’t that interested in the teaching and learning process. All of us who come from the teaching and learning world are drawn back to teaching and learning. We understand the language. We understand the objectives. We understand the issues.

The majority of TQS assessors don’t have that background. They are not steeped in the teaching and learning process. They don’t know the sort of things those of us who have taught for many years take for granted about teaching and learning. They don’t want to read about teaching and learning in TQS applications.

Thus, if you’ve been tempted to cut and paste information from documents you have produced for other audiences and to place it in your TQS application, there can only be one piece of advice. Don’t.

Write about your business

When you write your TQS application, you’re writing about your business. You’re writing about how you help employers either individually or in particular sectors.

Other assessments do not really have this sort of emphasis.

I try to make these points in that slide I mentioned earlier. I reinforce the slide with two questions about how to influence the on-site visit, which is about verification.

• How are you going to drive the assessment in a particular direction?
• How are you going to make sure the assessor has the right information?
  

The answer, of course, is: “Write what’s needed in the application.”

If that doesn’t get the message across, I know that, when I get the application to review, I’m going to be making quite a few suggestions for changes.

See also:

Never mind about the application
Underestimating the job – big mistake number two
Writing for the wrong audience - big mistake number four

An Assessor’s View on the TQS

Most of the readers of this blog are thinking about TQS assessment when they apply the advice they find here. Therefore, the opportunity to receive guidance from a TQS assessor will always be welcome.

During August I spoke to Peter Hillman, a licensed assessor with Investors in Excellence.

We discussed assessment and captured below are some of his personal insights into the assessment process together with lots of useful guidance to every one working with the Training Quality Standard.

What do you think is the main value of TQS assessment to providers?
I think there are several aspects of the assessment which really add value to providers.

The assessment helps a provider to focus on the employer and the benefits that employer gains as a result of working with that provider.

The assessment offers an independent objective review of how the provider works with employers, - plus feedback. The feedback is from the perspective of how employers’ business needs are identified and met, rather than from the educational experience of the learner; this is likely to involve assessing how organisation-wide processes and performance are measured and managed. That’s what makes the TQS different from many of the other assessments with which providers may be familiar.

The assessment also makes providers look at the data they hold about employers. Their learner data is usually a lot more accurate than their employer data! There are understandable reasons for this, and TQS helps to show providers that by applying the same rigorous processes as for learner data, they can do just as much with their employer data.

How is assessing against the TQS different from assessing with reference to other standards?
The TQS assessment is application based.

It’s the application that is assessed and if some of the good practices that the provider has in place are not in the application they will not be included in the assessment. This makes the application critical to the assessment process and it needs to be a comprehensive “story” of how Employer Responsiveness is managed from Strategy through Application to Demonstration of Performance through a range of Results.

If it is not in the application it does not get assessed.

The aim of the verification visit is for the assessment team to resolve any questions they may have about the information in the application – it is not an opportunity for the provider to present the “ (new) evidence they did not include in the application”. Many providers have not yet caught up with this or the implications and how this makes the TQS different to other assessments and inspections!

It is also worth remembering that essentially the only information the assessors have about the applicant is what is in the application (and what may be on their website). Therefore it is important not to make assumptions about assessors' understanding of “how you do things”. Once providers realise the importance of the application it should raise questions with them about who should write it and who the audience is. It needs to be someone who knows the organisation, not just “someone who has the time”. The person who writes the application needs to be able to write well in order to present clearly how the organisation delivers employer responsiveness. The writer’s job is to explain how the provider does things and how they know they are happening and working.

This means that the writer must be able to write concisely and clearly.

The application itself needs to show how the provider is employer responsive. The strategy for working with employers should describe the “business” that you are in and why, together with a range of SMART objectives to support this. This provides the context for the assessment and for the application.

What are the various stages of your work as an assessor?
The assessment team has a lot to do even before seeing the application. Once Registration is complete and an “assessment agreement” finalised it’s usual for the lead assessor to call the provider and introduce himself or herself and to set up the actual dates (within the agreed window) for the verification visit as quickly as possible. It’s important to make sure, as soon as possible, that the key people will be around when the visit takes place.

Prior to the verification visit the assessors will review the application. They will do this independently including identifying Strengths, Areas for Improvement, issues to be discussed during the verification visit and then score the application. They would then share their views and arrive at a consensus on the information including the key issues to be addressed during the verification visit. When they’ve finished this part of the process, the desktop review will go to the certification body.

The preparations for the verification visit come next. The lead assessor produces a visit plan including people they wish to talk to and documents they want to see. The assessors may, for example, want to see some documents such as Employer Responsiveness Strategy, Employer Surveys, completed ONAs and reviews of outcomes. It’s fine, if they’re stored electronically. There’s no need to create copies just for the assessor.

This verification visit plan is shared with the applicant prior to the visit.

When the assessors visit, they will spend their time addressing the issues that emerged when they did the desktop review. Following this they review their findings - Strengths, Areas for Improvement - and arrive at a consensus of the evidence and hence the score - whether or not to change the scores in the desktop review. Remember the assessors will not provide you with any feedback at the end of the verification visit – no matter how many times you ask!

After the visit the lead assessor will produce the feedback report and agree this with the other assessor.

Where validation happens it is managed by the certification body and the assessors are not involved.

Following the decision on the outcome of the assessment process the lead assessor meets with the provider to discuss the feedback report which will have been sent to the provider about a week before the feedback meeting

What is enjoyable about being a TQS assessor?
You get to meet a range of people in different types of organisations – large and small, FE Colleges and Independent Training Providers. – It’s challenging, rewarding and you have many opportunities to see examples of good practice in action

You put yourself in the employer’s shoes at some points in the process and in the applicant’s shoes at other points. You check out the system the provider uses for managing work with employers. You look to see if it’s suited to its purpose.

You also have the opportunity to tell providers what they’re good at. That’s very enjoyable

What is challenging about being a TQS assessor?
The biggest challenge is avoiding giving advice to providers.

You have to remain objective, and you are not there to tell people what they should be doing. They ask. Of course, they ask for advice, but you can’t step over that boundary. You’re there as an assessor and not as an adviser. You have to be very clear about your role and about the boundaries to your role.

Also, TQS is a framework and you have to constantly be aware of what is “appropriate” for the size and complexity of the organisation you are assessing

. . . And a final thought . . .

Whether or not you apply for certification, I believe the TQS provides a world class framework for developing an effective employer responsive business and is an excellent development tool – “it is a route map for the journey to a successful future”.

Peter Hillman has been a TQS assessor for over two years and has conducted over 50 assessments including employer organisations involved in TQS for Employers.

If you have any questions you would like to ask Peter, please post them as a comment. Peter will reply via the comments, too.