Certification

This section describes the things that need to be done for learners to achieve the certification that The National Youth Agency and ASDAN have developed jointly for this programme.

This has necessarily been designed to be as light touch as possible, yet still be capable of being counted towards a more substantive system of certification, should that be required. This certification meets the requirements of an accredited outcome as defined by The NYA and follows all published guidance on this. Partial completion of Act by Right can also satisfy the requirements of a recorded outcome where applicable. There are a number of ways in which Act by Right Certification works:

1. Internal (centre assessed) certification
2. The accruing of ASDAN credits which are transferrable into ASDAN Awards and qualifications
3. Using Act by Right as a vehicle for achieving Wider Key Skills qualifications – especially Working with Others.

The Act by Right Programme has 50 hours of active learning built within it. If centres wish to certificate the programme then they should plan for an additional 10 hours (over the life of the programme) spent putting together an organised evidence log. This should contain all of the work that the young people have produced during their journey through Act by Right together with any additional material they might gather as they go along.

When the programme is completed the Act by Right programme coordinator should complete the certificate request form and forward it to ASDAN. Guidance on completing the form is given on the reverse. The certificate request form acts as a summary of the young people’s achievement in that it serves as a record that each young person has completed all of the required activities as defined in the Act by Right journey log. The worker who has supported the young person through the process initials the form to confirm that that individual has fulfilled the requirements. The certificate request form refers to this worker as the assessor. No qualifications or particular experience are required to act as an assessor in this programme.

Before the form is forwarded to ASDAN, centres are required to go through a process of internal checking (verification). This might take the form of a meeting where all the young people’s evidence logs are looked at collectively in order to achieve some form of parity of achievement within the centre. This is especially important where there is more than one worker facilitating the process. Once this is done, an internal verifier’s signature is added to the bottom of the form. This person is a worker who was not involved in the original process of certifying that the programme requirements have been met i.e. their initials do not appear as an assessor on the form. The internal verifier may be a co-worker of the Act by Right coordinator; a worker from another centre or project, or a team leader. No qualifications are needed for this role but the person must be familiar with the needs of the award.

The independent internal verification is required for the programme to be considered an accredited outcome. Partial completion of Act by Right may be considered as a recorded outcome. Further guidance on this is available from The NYA in the document Recording Young People’s progress and Accreditation in Youth Work (Wendy Flint, December 2005), which is also available to download from the NYA website. Local authorities are no longer required to report against recorded and accredited outcomes as Best Value Performance Indicators although the measures are often still used as local indicators of youth work. The NYA encourages organisations and local authorities to continue to use the indicators as they support the development of quality youth work that is focused on outcomes for young people and provide a means by which youth work can describe and quantify some of its work.

ASDAN reserves the right to ask for a sample of evidence logs from any delivery centre in order to maintain consistency of achievement across the country. The number of evidence logs looked at by ASDAN would not exceed 5% of the total numbers all candidates across the country. The cost of internal certification is £4.90 per certificate and no further centre registration is required by ASDAN. Payment details are on the certificate request form.

ASDAN is a Government (Qualifications and Curriculum Authority) approved awarding body offering a number of programmes and qualifications that recognise and develop personal and social development. Over 6,000 registered centres operate ASDAN awards and qualifications. The NYA and ASDAN have worked closely together in order to get as much as possible out of this programme. By completing the additional Plan, Do and Reviews (PDR’s) detailed below it is possible to achieve three ASDAN credits which can then be banked into the main ASDAN award. This is via either the Bronze/Silver/Gold/Universities route or the FE Level Up/ Level 1/Level 2/Level 3 route. This can also apply to the Youth Achievement Awards which are a separate suite of awards operated jointly by UK Youth and ASDAN.

In order to bank these credits, those using Act by Right will need to be involved in the ASDAN award programme. This may be operating in their school or college or within any other registered ASDAN centre. The table below shows the contribution that Act by Right can make towards both the ASDAN awards and the Certificate of Personal Effectiveness (CoPE) qualification. Both the award scheme and CoPE are approved for use by 14-16 yrs and the CoPE carries LSC funding 16-19yrs via both Section 96 and 97 of the Learning and Skills Act (2000) and has a points rating (equivalent to a GCSE or AS Level) within school and college Achievement and Attainment (league) tables. Both ASDAN awards and CoPE require ASDAN centre registration. Both the Awards and the CoPE qualification are internally assessed and externally moderated.

The Wider Key Skills are QCA qualifications that combined are the equivalent to 2 and 1/4 GCSEs at Level 2. They are 100% tutor assessed by portfolio (no tests or examinations) and are moderated by an awarding body. There are a number of awarding bodies approved for Wider Key Skills accreditation and ASDAN is one of them.

The Wider Key Skills are available in:

• Working with Others
• Problem Solving
• Improving Own Learning and Performance.

Portfolios are built using the Plan, Do and Reviews mentioned in the above table and would use the activities from within Act by Right. Working with Others lends itself to the Act by Right programme, but any (or all) of the three Wider Key Skills could be developed and assessed through the programme. Workers who are considering the Wider Key Skills as outputs should contact ASDAN for further advice, training and centre registration.

The Wider Key Skills are approved for use 14-16 yrs and carry LSC funding 16-19yrs via both Section 96 and 97 of the Learning and Skills Act (2000) and have a points rating for use within school and college Achievement and Attainment (league) tables.

There are 6 Personal, Learning and Thinking Skills:

• Independent Enquirers
• Creative Thinkers
• Reflective Learners
• Team Workers
• Self Managers
• Effective Participators

These 6 skills can be accredited using the Wider Key Skills and the NYA Act by Right programme.

ASDAN has recently produced a Guidance Document for DCSF entitled Ways To Accredit Generic Learning. The Guidance is written as a staff training manual for those who are assisting learners to achieve the development of personal, learning and thinking skills (PLTS) from a range of settings both in and outside the classroom. Although the Guidance initially focussed on Key Stage 4, it is equally applicable for Key Stage 3.

The PLTS are a central feature of both the new Diplomas and the revised National Curriculum at Key Stage 3, and the Guidance Document shows how small steps of achievement for these skills can be developed and accredited through the Wider Key Skills standards:

• Problem Solving
• Working with Others
• Improving own Learning and Performance.

These qualifications, which are equivalent to GCSEs, also count points towards School and College Performance Tables, and can be yielded from pupil engagement in a wide range of motivational learning activities and settings.

The Guidance Document also includes case study examples of effective practice identified from nine local authorities which demonstrate how active and experiential learning and project work (e.g. raising money for a charity, undertaking mini-enterprise challenges, involvement in personal and social development programmes including adventure and residential experiences) can lead to achievement. The document takes staff through the stages of using such motivational and active learning to yield evidence of the achievement of learners from those experiences.

Ways To Accredit Generic Learning is available to download from the QCA website (after the introductory text on Curriculum Engagement scroll down and click on Item 4).

For more information contact: ASDAN, Wainbrook House, Hudds Vale Rd, St George, Bristol, BS5 7HY

Tel: 0117 941 1126

E-mail: info@asdan.co.uk

Website: www.asdan.co.uk