Internal verification process - an understanding

What is internal verification?

Internal verification refers to the systematic process of evaluation and verification done by the staff within educational centres with the standards established by the external awarding body. The purpose of carrying out this procedure is to ensure that the assessing procedures are In line with the set standards and criteria to support the external verification process. Moreover, it protects the assessors from any form of challenges during questioning and builds a strong collaboration with the external staff. Therefore, internal verification ensures that internally assessed units contain suitable assignment briefs and are constantly assessed and graded across the program.

Despite differences in the curriculum and qualifications, internal verification is typically linked with courses that have properly assessed coursework and those that require the learners to present pieces of evidence for their work in education colleges, university technical colleges, and private training providers.?

Theoretical groundworks

The internal verification process arises from Vygotsky’s socio-cultural theory which suggests the importance of social interaction and that the learning process is a collaborative effort. The same should apply to internal verification in which the process must be a collective decision among the educators to improve the quality of the assessments.

Stages of internal verification

When it comes to the marking process, there are usually two markers where the second marker also known as a moderator rechecks the work of the first marker to ensure he/she has displayed accuracy and consistency when providing the marks and feedback. Afterward, the internal quality assurance function provider acts as the internal verifier and carries out many activities. Some of them are; reviewing assessment needs and strategies, preparing to visit the external parties and liaising with external verifiers, observation of assessment planning and feedback, maintaining records, training staff, and supporting verification and moderation processes.

Taking the above into consideration, there are three main stages involved with internal verification.

1. Pre-delivery

In this stage, there is a planning process of managing and coordinating internal assessment as well as internal verification activities. In addition, it is made sure that the standards are well understood by all the involved individuals by agreeing to the assessment approaches. Moreover, the candidates are also prepared in this stage and are later guided by the internal verifier.?

2. Support and sampling during delivery

This is the stage where the standardization activities and sampling of the assessed work of candidates take place. Furthermore, internal verifiers provide feedback to the assessors and this feedback is reviewed by the SQA external verifiers. Later, the results are finalized by the internal verifiers before being sent for external verification. The assessment procedure must take place in a fair, reliable, and consistent manner. Some main factors that need to be considered to carry out sampling are: a unit is delivered for the first time, major revisions have been made to the unit, the presence of a new assessor, and an assessor is teaching a unit for the first time. It should be noted that before issuing a Sampling Request Form the internal verifier must check the assessment schedules. Afterward, the assessor must provide materials such as unit specification, instruments of assessments, completed Assessor marked assessments, candidate feedback forms, and marking guidelines within a timeframe and submit them one day before the deadline.

3. Post-delivery reflection and review

In the final stage of internal verification, assessors reflect on the assessment process and how to improve the delivery of a course in order to support the learners. Then, the internal verifiers collaborate with them to review the assessment approach so that the assessors can make necessary changes in their assessment approaches, while the internal verifiers could make the relevant changes where required in terms of internal verification processes including sampling in the future sessions.?

Retention of documents

The internal verification document as well as other related documents like assessment plans, assignment briefs, assessment records, learner authentication records, and assessment tracking of learner development must be stored for a minimum period of 3 years after the date of certification either as hard or soft copies. In addition, the work of learners also must be stored for 3 months or more under any specific condition after the same date.

Assessor’s appeal

An assessor would put forward an appeal when there are any disagreements with the internal verifier’s decision.

Stage 1

When there is a disagreement between the assessor and the internal verifier, an informal discussion must take place to resolve the situation. If the disagreement still persists, then proceed to the next stage.

Stage 2

?In this stage, if the assessor is still unhappy with the decision, then a written appeal must be submitted to the internal verifier within 5 working days. Afterward, the internal verifier must respond to that appeal within 5 working days. Then a copy of the appeal must be immediately granted to the Curriculum Leaner Managers who appoint competent internal verifiers.

Stage 3

If the assessor needs further clarification, then the Assistant Principal (AP). Then, the AP will respond to the appeal in another 5 working days. This is the last stage in the assessor’s appeal process.

Challenges in Internal Verification

Workload and time

As internal verification is a lengthy process, it carries a lot of workload, especially in larger educational institutes. In addition, the process requires a lot of time and needs to be completed within a given deadline. Therefore, balancing the work with the time restrictions is a major challenge.

Maintaining consistency and standardization

To maintain consistency in the internal verification process is another challenge. This is because there can be differences of opinion among the assessors as well as the internal verifiers which can also drag the process. Apart from that, for all relevant individuals to follow the same set of standards can get complicated if not implemented methodically. Hence, appropriate training and support would be beneficial in the long run.

Best practices during internal verification

Collaboration and communication

To ensure a successful internal verification process, there should be open communication and collaboration between the assessors, internal verifiers, and other relevant individuals. For this reason, there can be regular meetings and feedback sessions to express ideas.

Training and support

Training and support are vital aspects of internal verification. By doing so, a high standard of assessment practice can be maintained making sure that the relevant individuals maintain consistency and follow similar standardizations.

Conclusion

Internal verification is a process that is typically present in educational institutes to make sure there is an ethical and fair procedure carried out by the assessors. Due to its major importance, educational institutes must adapt to the latest trends related to internal verification and maintain the quality of their assessments.

References

BTEC Centre Guide to Internal Verification (2023). https://qualifications.pearson.com/content/dam/pdf/Support/Quality%20Assurance/btec-centre-guide-to-internal-verification.pdf

Internal and External Verification Procedure. (2021). https://www.borderscollege.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2021-08/Internal-External-Verification-Procedure-2021.pdf

NQ internal verification toolkit https://www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/74670.html#:~:text=Internal%20verification%20is%20an%20 approach,assessment%20from%20 start%20to%20 finish?

QA: Internal and External Verification Lecture. (2018). https://www.ukessays.com/lectures/education/best-practice/qa/verification.php?vref=1?