Quality Assurance
- Version
- 1.0
- Approved
- September 2026
- Next review
- September 2027
DAIS-POL-029
Quality Assurance Policy
Data and AI School of London, NCFE Approved Centre
Policy Owner: Head of Centre
Version: 1.0 | Date: September 2026 | Review: September 2027
NCFE Risk Level: High
Mode of Delivery: Fully Online
29.1 Purpose and Scope
This policy sets out how the Data and AI School of London assures the quality of everything it delivers, from the decision to offer a qualification through to the certificate a learner receives. It applies to every qualification, every member of staff and every stage of the learner journey, and it applies in full to online delivery, which is the only way this centre teaches.
Quality assurance here means three separate things, and the policy keeps them separate because collapsing them is how centres lose sight of one: assuring the quality of assessment decisions, which is internal quality assurance; assuring the quality of teaching and the learner experience, which is review and observation; and assuring that the centre itself meets the standards of each awarding organisation it works with, which is compliance.
29.2 Quality Assurance Framework
The framework has four layers. Each has a named owner, a defined cycle and a document that records it, so that quality assurance produces evidence as a by-product of being done rather than as a separate exercise before an inspection.
| Layer | What it assures |
|---|---|
| Assessment quality | That assessment decisions are valid, reliable and consistent with the qualification specification |
| Delivery quality | That teaching, materials and learner support meet the centre standard |
| Centre compliance | That the centre meets each awarding organisation agreement and Ofqual conditions |
| Learner outcome | That learners progress, achieve and are supported to completion |
29.3 Assessment Quality
Assessment quality is assured through internal quality assurance, which is governed in detail by DAIS-POL-016 Assessment and Internal Quality Assurance Policy and delivered through DAIS-IQA-004 Assessment and Internal Quality Assurance Strategy. The standing rules of this centre are:
- Sampling is 100 per cent while a qualification has fewer than ten assessed learners.
- No assessment decision is released to a learner before the relevant standardisation has taken place.
- No member of staff internally quality assures their own assessment decisions.
- Every standardisation activity is recorded at the time on DAIS-SD-007, and every sampling event on DAIS-SD-006.
- Where the assessor and the internal quality assurer disagree, the qualification specification governs.
29.4 Delivery Quality
Every course is built against the current qualification specification and checked unit by unit before a learner is enrolled on it. The centre standard for teaching material is recorded in the course build documentation and covers the structure of each teaching page, the presence of an exemplar for every unit, and the declaration of authenticity on every assessed assignment.
The virtual learning environment is audited nightly for structure, and the audit reports a course whose sections or assessment points have drifted from the approved build. Structure is not the same as quality, and the audit is not treated as though it were: a passing structural audit says only that the shape of the course is intact.
29.5 Learner Voice
Learners are asked for their view at the end of every course through DAIS-SD-022 End of Course Questionnaire, and at any point through the learner support and complaints routes in DAIS-POL-009 and DAIS-POL-003. Feedback that identifies a fault in a course is actioned against the course, not filed: the change, the date and the person responsible are recorded in the Quality Improvement Plan.
29.6 Self Assessment and Improvement
The centre completes an annual self assessment review, DAIS-SD-016, which judges the centre against its own standards and those of each awarding organisation. Every weakness the review identifies becomes a numbered action in the Quality Improvement Plan, DAIS-SD-017, with an owner and a date. The plan is a live document reviewed at each governance point in the calendar, not an annual artefact.
Where a weakness is found outside the annual cycle, by an awarding organisation, by a learner, or by the centre itself, it is added to the plan when it is found rather than held until the next review.
29.7 External Quality Assurance
The centre cooperates fully with external quality assurance by every awarding organisation with which it is approved. Records, learner work, assessment decisions, internal quality assurance records and staff files are made available on request and within the timescales of the relevant centre agreement.
Where an awarding organisation issues an action or a recommendation, it is entered in the Quality Improvement Plan on the day it is received, with the owner and the deadline set by the awarding organisation rather than by the centre.
29.8 Working With More Than One Awarding Organisation
Where the centre is approved by more than one awarding organisation, each agreement is met in full and separately. The centre does not apply the requirements of one awarding organisation to the qualifications of another, and does not assume that approval by one satisfies any part of another. Qualification specific requirements, including registration deadlines, assessment rules and certification claims, follow the specification and the agreement of the awarding organisation that owns the qualification.
29.9 Responsibilities
| Role | Quality assurance responsibility |
|---|---|
| Head of Centre | Owns this policy, the self assessment review and the Quality Improvement Plan. Accountable to each awarding organisation for centre compliance. |
| Lead Internal Quality Assurer | Owns assessment quality, the sampling plan, standardisation and the release of assessment decisions. |
| Assessors | Assess to the specification, attend standardisation, and submit work for sampling before decisions are released. |
| All staff | Raise a quality concern when they see one, through the Head of Centre or, where the concern is about a person, through DAIS-POL-025 Whistleblowing Policy. |
29.10 Records and Review
Quality assurance records are retained for a minimum of three years, and learner achievement records for the period set in DAIS-POL-006 and the relevant centre agreement, whichever is longer. This policy is reviewed annually by the Head of Centre, and on any material change to an awarding organisation agreement.
This policy is reviewed annually. Next review: September 2027. Approved by: Head of Centre. Data and AI School of London.