The head of centre is formally responsible for the management and delivery of BTECs at your school, college or training provider. Their main responsibility is to ensure that your centre acts in accordance with our conditions of approval, regulations and any other terms and conditions or policies.

Other senior managers will often work with the Quality Nominee to ensure that all quality assurance processes are conducted efficiently. They may be required to support putting actions in place in response to reports on quality assurance. 

Read our regulatory policies and guidance

The Quality Nominee is our point of contact at your centre for quality assurance. They are responsible for ensuring effective management of your BTEC programmes and actively promoting good practice within your centre.

As they are involved in monitoring and supporting the programme teams, the Quality Nominee usually has responsibility for the BTEC curriculum at your centre. 

In larger centres, you may have a dedicated manager who oversees quality across higher level programmes. This is fine, but only one Quality Nominee can be identified on our systems so the Quality Nominee will need to liaise closely with the HE Manager to ensure that messages relating to higher level programmes are communicated effectively.

The Quality Nominee contact details must be kept up-to-date on Edexcel Online.

Quality Management Review responsibilities

The Quality Nominee will be the main point of contact for the Centre Quality Reviewer. They will agree the agenda of the visit, negotiating when this will take place and which practictionors need to be involved, and complete the Centre Engagement Document.

Following the visit they will manage the resolution of any Essential Actions and Recommendations.

Standards Verification responsibilities

The Quality Nominee will be the initial point of contact for the Standards Verifier and will work with other centre staff to ensure that Standards Verification can take place.

The exams officer is our point of contact for administration at your centre. They’re responsible for ensuring learners are registered on time and correctly. Exams officers usually control who has access to what on our online administration system, Edexcel Online. 

A programme leader or programme manager has overall responsibility for the effective delivery and assessment of BTEC qualifications.

For Entry to Level 3 qualifications, the programme leader may also act as the Lead Internal Verifier if appropriate. 

Quality Management Review responsibilities

At the request of the Quality Nominee, Programme Leaders may be required to attend the Quality Management Review practitioners’ meeting to provide:

• verbal evidence of how centre systems and procedures are understood and implemented at programme level
• evidence of programme management of BTECs in their subject area (e.g. programme files, live quality assurance documentation).

Standards Verification responsibilities

For Level 4 to 7 qualifications, the programme leader also ensures assessment records and student work are retained for sampling and will work with the Standards Verifier to ensure that appropriate sampling takes place.

The Lead Internal Verifier (Lead IV) acts as a single point of accountability for the quality assurance across a Principal Subject Area. This means that they’re responsible for managing the assessment of units and qualifications as well as signing off assessment and internal verification decisions.

For BTEC programmes at Entry to Level 3, Lead IVs need to register through the online standardisation system, OSCA, each year. For QCF programmes only, OSCA provides Lead IVs the opportunity to gain accreditation,

Find out more about Online Support for Centre Assessors (OSCA)

Quality Management Review responsibilities

At the request of the Quality Nominee, Lead Internal Verifiers may be required to attend the Quality Management Review practitioners’ meeting to provide:

• verbal evidence of how centre systems and procedures are understood and implemented at programme level
• evidence of programme management of BTECs in their subject area (e.g. programme files, live quality assurance documentation).

Standards Verification responsibilities

The Lead IV ensures that all assessment and verification records are available for scrutiny by Pearson with learner work, which they'll need to confirm is authentic and valid. They are also responsible for authorising resubmissions fairly and consistently.

Internal Verifiers are responsible for ensuring that assessment decisions are consistent across the programme by checking that assignments are fit for purpose, standardising assessors and sampling assessment decisions.

Anyone involved in the delivery and assessment of the programme can be an Internal Verifier, but you can’t internally verify your own assessment.

Quality Management Review responsibilities

At the request of the Quality Nominee, Internal Verifiers may be required to attend the Quality Management Review practitioners’ meeting to provide:

• verbal evidence of how centre systems and procedures are understood and implemented at programme level
• evidence of programme management of BTECs in their subject area (e.g. programme files, live quality assurance documentation).

Standards Verification responsibilities

Internal Verifiers need to ensure that all assessment plans, assignments and assessment decisions have been internally verified and that assessors take appropriate action based on their feedback.

Assessors are responsible for teaching and assessing learners against the learning aims and assessment criteria of the course specification.

Quality Management Review responsibilities

At the request of the Quality Nominee, Assessors may be required to attend the Quality Management Review practitioners’ meeting to provide:

• verbal evidence of how centre systems and procedures are understood and implemented at programme level
• evidence of programme management of BTECs in their subject area (e.g. programme files, live quality assurance documentation).

Standards Verification responsibilities

Assessors need to provide assessment records and learner work for Standards Verification, and undertake any action required to bring the assessment in line with national standards.