Jargon Buster
These are specially designed programmes which help learners to develop the necessary skills and knowledge to progress to Universities and other institutions offering higher education.
Access to Higher Education
The process of applying quality assurance procedures to learning opportunities. Courses are approved and certified to demonstrate delivery against a national standard of quality.
Approved Internal Verifier Status – an tutor or internal verifier who can sign off learners as achieving units or qualifications at a Recognised OCN Centre. Please note that AIVS cannot currently be applied to Access to HE provision.
Accredited Prior Learning – using skills and learning already achieved to count against a qualification or unit so that learning does not have to be repeated
Assessment is the way in which a Tutor/Assessor can measure what a student has achieved. Assessment is done through a range of activities, or assessment tasks, such as a written assignment, practical work or exams. Each activity is designed to cover specific learning outcome(s).
Each Learning Outcome has a set of assessment criteria; these describe how students can demonstrate what they have learned. They enable a judgement to be made about whether or not the learner has achieved the Learning Outcomes.
Access Validating Agency: OCN North East Region has been awarded this status by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education, which regulates the development and accreditation of Access to Higher Education programmes.
An organisation approved by the Ofqual to offer national qualifications. In the case of QCF qualifications there may also be Awarding Organisations.
The process by which the OCN awards credit to learners and provides them with a validated certificate as evidence of their learning.
Course and Learner Registration Form
The defined period of study
The credit value of a unit indicates how much work is involved. A credit is equivalent to a “notional” 10 hours of learning, which includes time spent in class and private study.
A credit value is given to each unit, to describe the number of credits which will be awarded when a learner successfully completes the unit and achieves the learning outcomes.
Department for Children, Families and Schools
Provides a recognised centre with the ability to claim certification from OCN North East Region. The status is conferred on recognised centres that operate robust internal quality assurance systems and have individuals who have gained AIVS.
Department for Innovation, Universities & Skills
Electronic Data Interchange
External Verifier
Further Education - Further Education Colleges offer students an opportunity to continue with, or come back into, Education after the age of 16. They offer a wide range of opportunities to study through the F.E route, including courses such as A Levels, National Certificates and Access to HE Courses, but can also include trade qualifications for a range of vocational subjects such as electricians, hairdressers, plumbers etc. Generally FE courses are certificated by National Awarding Bodies or Award Boards.
Higher Education - This includes all degree level courses, which currently must all be accredited by a university. HNCs (Higher National Certificates) and HNDs (Higher National Diplomas) are also classed as higher education qualifications. Most HE qualifications are assessed where they are taught.
The total number of credits a learner is expected to achieve on a course.
The internal process that checks and samples learners’ work to ensure consistency and fairness.
An individual appointed by the centre to check and sample learners’ work to ensure accurate and consistent standards of assessment between assessors operating within a centre.
Internal Verifier
Internal Verifiers Award – a NOCN qualification that aims to increase the knowledge and skills of participants on internal verification processes
Each Unit is split into a number of Learning Outcomes. The Learning Outcomes describe what a learner will know, understand or be able to do after they have completed the unit, for example “Solve problems involving potential and kinetic energy”.
Level describes the difficulty of the work required to achieve a unit.
NOCN
National Open College Network – the awarding body that acts as a licencing body for OCNs throughout England and Northern Ireland
A combination of units of that have been developed and approved to meet particular requirements. If units are achieved within the specified rules of combination a qualification will be awarded.
National Qualifications Framework
OCN
Open College Network
Open College Network North East Region
Regulator of qualifications, exams and tests in England only.
A specified group of units within a much larger qualification or accredited programme– used mainly in Access to Higher Education programmes.
The signing off of Recommendation of Award of Credit forms remotely by a Quality Reviewer. Used with centres to address multiple programme runs. Approved when internal quality systems applied to the programme are proven to be rigorous, robust and effective.
Quality Assurance Agency - an independent body funded from subscriptions from UK Universities and Colleges of Higher Education and through contracts with the main UK Higher Education Funding Bodies to safeguard the public interest in sound standards of Higher Education Qualifications. The regulator of universities and Access to Higher Education courses
Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency - maintains and develop national assessments, qualifications, tests and examinations.
Qualifications and Credit Framework - a new framework for recognising and accrediting qualifications in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Quality Reviewer - OCN member of staff responsible for the quality auditing of Recognised OCN Centres.
Units within qualifications can be achieved and accredited individually. This makes NOCN qualifications flexible, because learners will receive their unit accreditation on achievement and can then build on that achievement to complete the full qualification over time.
The quality assurance process used by OCNNER to ensure the consistent and appropriate award of credit, through audit of the operation of internal moderation systems.
Recommendation for the Award of Credit
The new agency set up by the Government to fund and regulate adult skills training in England
Secure portal/website which contains all the documentation for an individual OCN-Recognised Centre
SSC
Sector Skills Council
OCN member of staff appointed to take responsibility for the quality auditing of specific subjects when required.
Tutor Assessor Award - NOCN accredited qualification to increase knowledge and skills around delivering and assessment for participants.
A unit defines key areas that students will study and be assessed against in a specific subject area. Each unit has a Credit Value and Level.
Some Access to HE units will be given an overall grade at the end of the course.
Bespoke units are written and recognised to reflect particular needs. They are written in the same format as qualification units using the same definitions of credit and level. They are also subject to the same quality assurance process. This type of unit can be used in tailored courses where no appropriate qualification is available or where a bespoke unit is required by the centre. Bespoke units can also be delivered alongside qualification units to enhance the learning experience of the learners.
Voluntary and Community Sector
