Hi all,
Hope this is the right place and that you can help...
I am looking to return to some form of work after my maternity leave finishes in September and am interested in becoming an assessor.
I have started to look into what it entails, but would love to hear from anyone who has recently undergone training to give me a bit more of an insight - pros and cons welcome!!
RB x

I tried to do that a couple of years ago but found I needed to be in work to be able to train. As I wasn't, I couldn't!

Wow, how time flies, it doesn't seem that long ago since we were offering congratulations and now your maternity leave will soon be over.
I did my assessor training (I'm guessing you mean NVQ) over 10 yrs ago so can't share current experience. The then pro's and cons of assessing were;

cons;
Not enough allocated hours to do assessments.
Lots of paperwork
lots of candidate support to understand the 'jargon' of NVQ
Ambiguity in terms of level of knowledge and skills required of the candidate re: IV (internal verification)
my expectations were higher than fellow assessors (so caused moderation type queries)

My main grievance with NVQ is that it is supposed to be reflective, about embeded knowledge and skills yet in practice a candidate will have a training session one week and be expected to 'perform' on this learning the following week. It is 'bums on seats' funded and not as accecable to 'vocational practitioners as the 'spin' suggests due to te high excent of written and portfolio building work that is required of the candidate. I personally don't agree that candidates should go straight from level 2 to level 3 without some time given for consolodation.
Another difficulty is that candidates can be held back by the 'quality' of the setting they are working in, the support, or lack of, from employers.

Pro's;
Enabling / supporting candidates through a learning experience
seeing candidates progress and achievement of qualification
Varied settings, seeing how others work.
freedom to plan own work schedule.
pay above minimum wage
sense of driving forward quality
enables self to keep up to date with current practice.
providing workshops
Good supportive employers who offer a quality environment for candidates to work, learn and draw evidence from.

Good luck, let us know how you get on if you decide to follow this career path.

Peggy
p.s. just realised I've described pro's and cons of assessing rather than the training for assessing My training was through a LA project, short time scale, completed portfolio which was lost by the college so my main advice during training would be to KEEP PHOTOCOPIES AND BACK UP OF EVERY PIECE OF WORK YOU DO.

Hi RB

You could start by contacting your local college to see when the next assessors A1 award is running. If you are accepted you will probably be given 2 candidates and someone who will mentor you. To gain the award you need to have 3 units completed by the 2 candidates and someone will observe you giving feedback to your candidates.

I only assess part-time (I'm a full time childminder) and have just started with 2 level 4 candidates after a 12 month break but now have a parent on materanity leave so I have a couple of free slots every few weeks. I enjoy assessing and gain a great deal of satisfaction helping others to achieve qualifications.

Good luck, keep us posted

Cathy

Finished my assessors training about year ago...did mine through the local college assessing in my workplace and using candidates that were my staff. Not been out and about yet!!!

Enjoyed doing it but a lot of paperwork and once again not enough hours in the day....still glad I did it though. I would contact your local college (think this has already been suggested).

Thanks for your replies so far - I know a company that offers the NVQ online, with learners uploading all their work to an e-portfolio and me prompting them via email every so often, so I would be able to do most of the paperwork at home when Eva is asleep or at the weekends. I'd only do direct obs if they were in my area, so I may not even get to meet them! They may be prepared to support me with the training, and I'm in early conversation with them about this, so I won't even have to go to college, although I will need learners to support, obviously.

Peggy - thanks for all your pro's and cons - I can certainly see that my issue would be the quality of the setting the learner is placed in, so I'm glad that I may not have to visit them!!

By the way - my blog has been updated with photos of Eva, for those of you that want to have a nosey...!