Recognising and Recording Progress and Achievement
Adopted: January 2016
Reviewed & updated: 19th December 2022.
To be reviewed: 18th December 2023.
SB Skills Solutions recognises the importance in assessing the quality and level of achievement of its funded provision (none regulated training). It is important to know that learners are progressing both personally and within the wider community context as a result of the learning they have invested in and also that our tutors are able to best support them. RARPA is a process which enables us to monitor achievement and progress within non accredited learning.
RARPA stands for Recognising and Recording Progress and Achievement and is a staged approach to ensure that the learner is at the centre of quality teaching & learning and the learner’s goals and expectations are recognised and count towards the success of their learning.
This staged process has been designed to:
- Focus on and promote the needs and interests of our learners;
- Take account of learners’ diverse and sometimes multiple purposes in learning;
- Allow for negotiation of the content and outcomes of learning programmes
- Encourage learners to reflect on and recognise their own progress and achievement, thus increasing their confidence;
- Promote and support informed learner self-assessment, peer assessment and dialogue about learning and achievement between learners and tutors/trainers, as well as employers;
- Enable both the achievement of planned learning objectives and learning outcomes not specified at the outset to be recognised and valued;
- Promote good practice in teaching, learning and assessment
- Enhance our internal quality assurance and improvement practices.
The staged process consists of five elements.
- Aims: appropriate to an individual learner or groups of learners
As the learner applies for a course, aims are identified for the learner’s course. These are based on the needs of the learners as assessed by the tutor, learners and families and the core aims of the course. - Initial Assessment: To establish the learner’s starting point an Initial Assessment is completed either at a 1-1 induction or first-class lesson identifying their starting point, any support needs and clarifying course content.
- Challenging Learning Objectives/Outcomes:
Identification of appropriate objectives for the learner is an outcome of the assessment process. Depending on the length of the course appropriate medium term objectives may be devised that link well to the long term goals and recorded within the learners’ Individual Learning Plan (ILP). These are reviewed and updated as appropriate throughout the learner’s course. - Formative Assessment:
Recognition and recording of progress and achievement during the programme takes place for all learners, through a range of methods. Tutors’, learners, support and therapeutic staff, employers record progress against short/medium/long term objectives. Learners are supported to record achievements using the provided paperwork but usually within their ILP, as well as e-portfolio system. - Summative Assessment:
End of programme review of overall progress and achievement. This may include recognition of learning outcomes not specified during the programme and discussion about ‘next steps’ for the learner.
RARPA Target Setting Principles and Processes
- All targets set should move learners towards their goals
- Targets are identified from skills gaps on Baseline Assessments
- All targets should be SMART and detail the level of support the learner is expected to achieve
- Targets should be achievable in a realistic timeframe, following our minimum target expectations benchmarks
- All targets should be purposeful, challenging and aspirational
- Targets should be written in appropriate, learner-accessible language
- All targets should be broken down into appropriate and manageable objectives and agreed upon by all involved
- E-portfolio system (smart Assessor) and appropriate paperwork to be individualised.
- Targets and objectives should be written following our standard format