The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (the Institute) is looking for additional independent peer reviewers to provide an employer perspective by reviewing apprenticeship standards, assessment plans and technical qualification materials in a range of engineering professions.

Reviewers should have technical occupational experience and must not have been involved in the development of materials they review or be members of employer Trailblazer groups to preserve the independence of the reviews. Reviewers who have a contract with the Institute and undertake a range of reviews within their expertise receive a fee for their work.

The Institute works to improve access to high-quality apprenticeships and technical education in order to transform the skills landscape. We work with employers across England to develop apprenticeships and technical qualifications which meet their needs and those of apprentices and the economy as a whole. 

Apprenticeships
The Institute’s core role is to be the guardian of quality for apprenticeship standards and assessment plans. An apprenticeship standard describes an occupation and the knowledge, skills and behaviours that need to be developed to demonstrate full competence in that occupation and meets set criteria. Employers lead the development and the Institute manages the approval of apprenticeships, which includes peer review.  Apprenticeships are evaluated through an End point Assessment which is also peer reviewed and is externally quality assured.

The role of the Peer Reviewer
A Peer Review register has been created by the Institute in accordance with section A2G of the Enterprise Act 2016 which states that it must, “make arrangements for the carrying out of an examination of the standard or plan by an independent third party”. Independent Peer Reviewers play a vital role within the Institute by forming a register of experts who review and comment on apprenticeship standards, assessment plans and on T Level content as part of the approvals process and during route reviews.

Peer reviewers focus on key quality criteria set by the Institute and provide feedback on whether the learner would reach full occupational competence by completing the apprenticeship standard/ qualification, and whether an end point assessment validly determines occupational competence. The Peer Reviewer’s comments are anonymised prior to distribution and the Institute protects the identity of its reviewers.

The Peer Review Register
The workload for a peer reviewer who has a contract with the Institute would typically be to review one or two submissions up to several times a year, each review taking typically up to four hours (for which our contracted reviewers receive remuneration). A review takes the form of answers to questions about the submission and seeks your views based on your experience.  You are asked to give examples wherever possible.

If you are interested in joining our pool of a permanent Peer Reviewers to review standards across a Route please contact IFA.PeerReview@education.gov.uk.  If your application is approved, we will send you a contract for completion together with further briefing materials.