Application: the written submission a provider develops to allow assessment, providing a narrative of evidence statements against each of the Indicators in the Training Quality Standard.
Approaches Criteria: those criteria concerned with policies, processes and practices, specifically: A.1 Fundamentals, A.2 Respond, A.3 Deliver, A.4 Relate, A.6 Improve, B.1 Understand and B.2 Deploy.
Assessment: the process of submitting an application for assessment and verification; the process is necessary if a provider wishes to receive Certification.
Certification: the process by which a provider is awarded the badge of the Training Quality Standard, after a successful assessment journey.
Conditional Certification: A possible outcome of the Certification Panel, where the Approaches scores for a Part under consideration are fit for Certification, but where there is insufficient Results evidence to make the recommendation. The concession is available for new applications received before 30 June 2009 and Certification Decisions made within 6 months of that date. A recommendation for Conditional Certification can only be made where the Assessors are satisfied that a framework for performance measurement is in place to remedy this situation. Organisations with Conditional Certification will be subject to a Certification Revisit within 10-12 months of the Certification Decision.
Criterion: a first-element of the Training Quality Standard, weighted according to its importance within either Part A (Employer Responsiveness) or Part B (Sector Expertise) of the Standard, and composed of a number of Indicators against which providers test their approaches or outcomes, depending on the Criterion.
Deferral: A possible outcome of the Certification Panel, where an organisation is given a further 3 months to resubmit all or part of its application to resolve specific issues before it is reconsidered. A Deferral may be offered in two situations: where aside from one, two or three Indicators scoring low, the organisation was within reach of Certification; or where the entire application as submitted was found to be a poor reflection of the organisation.
Eligibility: the prerequisites that will be tested to identify whether an organisation is eligible for assessment under the Training Quality Standard.
Employer Responsiveness: Part A of the Training Quality Standard, certificating primarily around common criteria concerned with the form of training solutions, and looking at the capability of a provider to build and manage customer relationships with employers to whom they successfully deliver training solutions.
Feedback Report: the document provided by a lead Assessor on the basis of External Verification and Employer Validation, identifying strengths, areas for improvement and a recommendation (or not) for Certification.
Key Concepts: the three process loops of flexibility in meeting employer needs, relevance in developing products and services, and continuous improvement, around which the Training Quality Standard certifies providers' approaches and results.
Indicator: a second-order element of the Training Quality Standard, against which providers test their approaches or outcomes, by comparison with the accompanying Indicator Statement.
Indicator Statement: an evaluative statement linked to an Indicator, against which providers test their approaches and outcomes.
Lead Assessor: an independent trained Assessor who will manage a provider's progress through the testing phase, and conduct the External Verification process, including both a desktop assessment and a Verification Visit.
Results Criteria: those Criteria concerned with results and performance, specifically: A.5 Perform and B.3 Perform.
Scoring: the activity by which a Lead Assessor finalises the Assessment against each Indicator, arriving at a numerical judgement on its performance across all Criteria and Indicators of the Standard. The scoring mechanism is derived in part from the RADAR Scoring Matrix used in the EFQM Excellence Model copyright © 1999 - 2003 EFQM.
Sector Expertise: Part B of the Training Quality Standard, certificating primarily around sector-specific criteria concerned with the content of training solutions, looking at the provider's practice and outcomes in delivering training solutions to meet employer needs and sector expectations.
Unit of Assessment: the scope of the organisation cited in an application for assessment - the organisational unit or boundary against which a provider will be assessed; this can differ for Parts A and B, although the unit of assessment for Part B must fall within that determined for Part A.
Validation, Employer: the process of seeking feedback from a provider's employer customers, to test whether employers endorse the provider's certification.
Verification Visit: the day-long visit to a provider's premises by a Lead Assessor and at least one other Assessor, where they will talk to staff and check evidence against their assessment of the Application.