DfE apprenticeship standard criteria

Trailblazer group criteria

The trailblazer must be a group of employers recognised by the Institute and reflective of those who employ people in the occupation, including small employers

Occupation criteria

• Is transferable
  • In demand in the labour market
  • Transferable to a range of other employers and secures long term earnings potential, greater security and capability to progress
  • Meeting the standards of a range of employers rather than the needs of one employer
• Is sufficiently broad, deep and skilled
  • Sufficiently skilled in terms of breadth and depth to require employment and training of at least a year’s duration with 20% of the time in off-the-job training
• Provides full occupational competence for new entrants
  • The occupation and occupational profile fully define occupational competence for a new entrant to the occupation rather than only part of this
• Is recognised and stands alone
  • Recognised by a range of employers and people practising the occupation.
  • One occupation relates to one level only at 2 to 8
  • Aligns with an occupation within the relevant occupational map
  • Recognised by relevant professional bodies and/or regulators

Occupational standard criteria

• Is short, concise and clear and written to the Institute’s format
• Is based on a clear occupational profile setting out the duties carried out by employees in the occupation and including the skills, knowledge and behaviours which will be applied in the workplace and are derived directly from the duties
• Defines the full competence in an apprenticeship occupation so that, on completion, the new entrant to the occupation is able to carry out the role in any size of employer across any relevant sector
• Aligns with regulatory requirements and professional recognition and allows the individual to apply for this

End-point assessment criteria

• Deliver valid and accurate judgements of occupational competence. The methods of assessment must be fit for purpose and appropriate to the content of the occupational profile. They must include a synoptic assessment delivered using a mixture of valid methods that will lead to an integrated EPA at the end of the programme.
• Produce consistent and reliable judgements – the assessment methodology and tools used must ensure that employers can have confidence that apprentices assessed in different places, at different times, by different assessors have been judged in the same way and to have therefore reached the same standard of occupational competence
• Ensure independence of the organisation delivering the assessment and of the individual assessors making assessment decisions. For integrated degree apprenticeships the organisation does not have to be independent but the individual assessor should be.
• Apprenticeships should be graded using at least one level above pass for the EPA as a whole
• Feasibility, manageability, and affordability within the constraints of funding policy
• Does not override or compromise an EPAO’s ability to make reasonable adjustments for conducting an EPA under the Equalities Act