Assessment quality under the spotlight: what recent announcements mean for training providers

Recent announcements from Ofqual, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency and Skills England all point towards the same conclusion: effective vocational assessment depends on competent people, reliable evidence and quality systems that work in practice.

For training providers, awarding organisations, assessment centres and employers, assessment records are not simply an administrative requirement. They must show how decisions were reached, allow those decisions to be checked and provide a dependable record if an appeal, malpractice investigation or regulatory review takes place.

Assessment evidence must be retained and retrievable

On 14 October 2026, Ofqual published regulatory action concerning the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music. The issues included the retention of assessment evidence, reviews of marking, an investigation into suspected malpractice and the accuracy of certificates issued to learners.

Although this action concerned one awarding organisation, the lessons have much wider relevance. Any organisation involved in regulated qualifications needs clear arrangements for:

• retaining and retrieving assessment evidence;
• recording assessment and internal quality assurance decisions;
• managing appeals and reviews;
• investigating suspected malpractice;
• ensuring certification information is accurate; and
• reporting significant events promptly.

Digital assessment does not remove these responsibilities. It makes the design of the system, permissions, audit trails, retention arrangements and access to historical evidence even more important.

Occupational expertise alone does not make an assessor

The MCA’s updated Approved Engine Course guidance provides another useful reminder. The requirements apply to training for small-vessel sectors that include fishing vessels, yachts, tugs and workboats.

The guidance states that instructors and assessors should understand assessment methods and practice and have practical instructional and assessment experience. Competence is to be assessed throughout the practical elements of the course, with independent marking required for the final written assessment. Training centres must also include their arrangements within their quality-management systems and maintain staff knowledge through continuing professional development.

This distinction matters. A person may have extensive technical knowledge and occupational experience but still need support to plan assessment, collect appropriate evidence, make consistent decisions and provide constructive feedback.

Apprenticeship reform will bring assessment closer to the workplace

Skills England continues to promote more flexible training, shorter apprenticeship units and more proportionate assessment while retaining full occupational competence, particularly in safety-critical roles.

As apprenticeship assessment evolves, employers, workplace supervisors and training providers are likely to make a greater contribution to evidence collection, progress judgements and the verification of occupational behaviours.

This does not mean that every supervisor automatically becomes a qualified assessor. It does mean that people making or contributing to these judgements need clear responsibilities, suitable preparation and effective quality assurance.

Digital systems can support this process by making it easier to capture workplace evidence, record feedback, track decisions and maintain an audit trail. However, technology supports professional judgement; it does not replace it.

A useful prompt for every organisation

These announcements give training and assessment organisations an opportunity to test their own arrangements. Useful questions include:

1. Could we retrieve the evidence behind an assessment decision if it were challenged?
2. Are assessors occupationally competent and trained in assessment practice?
3. Can we demonstrate effective IQA, standardisation and corrective action?
4. Are appeals, malpractice concerns and significant incidents escalated properly?
5. Can our systems preserve evidence when standards, programmes or assessment requirements change?

RI Training supports organisations with assessor, IQA and EQA development, assessment-system reviews and practical quality-assurance consultancy. We also use SwiftTrack to support structured evidence collection, assessment decisions, feedback and secure quality-assurance processes.

Strong assessment requires more than forms and procedures. It requires competent people, sound professional judgement and evidence that can stand up to scrutiny.

Sources

• Ofqual: Notice of monetary penalty and costs recovery—ABRSM
• Ofqual: Undertaking—Training Qualifications UK
• MCA: Approved Engine Course guidelines
• Skills England: Annual skills report 2026