AMAP for Retail Institute (formerly Retail ITO) [Ref: 0225]

 

Review of Retail Institute's AMAP

 

The Retail Institute has completed the review of the Accreditation and Moderation Action Plan (AMAP) above.

 

Date new version published                                                             May 2009

 

The next AMAP review is planned to take place during 2014.

 

Summary of review and consultation process

 

The AMAP has been reviewed to:

·         reflect Retail ITO's name change to Retail Institute

·         to incorporate a requirement for accredited organisations to ensure that the numeracy and literacy needs within the industry are addressed as part of any training programme

·         expand on the industry specific accreditation criteria to ensure clarity

·         to incorporate changes to the Retail Institute's national external moderation system.

 

Industry-wide consultation was undertaken with key stakeholders in two phases during the review of this AMAP.  These stakeholders have endorsed the new version of the AMAP and have been made aware of the impact of the proposed changes.

 

Compliance with new requirements

 

Accreditation requirements will apply for new applications from January 2010.

 

Moderation system requirements will apply with effect from January 2010.

 

Accredited organisations will be audited for compliance with AMAP requirements from January 2011 onwards.

 

Main changes resulting from the review

 

ACCREDITATION INFORMATION (AI)

 

Industry or sector-specific requirements for accreditation

 

·         Criterion 1 - Requirement for applicant organisations to ensure teaching programs are relevant, structured and purposeful and include embedded literacy training to meet the identified literacy demands of the required unit standards.  This has been added to the criterion as a result of recent initiatives by TEC.

 

·         Criterion 3 - Specific qualification and experience requirements, for trainers and assessors, have been added.

 

·         Criterion 4 - Requirements of accredited organisations to ensure that all trainees have sufficient English language skills have been added.

 

·         Criterion 7 - The requirement for all assessment materials to undergo pre-assessment moderation by the Retail Institute before they are used has been added.

 

MODERATION INFORMATION (MI)

 

Moderation System

 

This section has been updated to reflect that a Quality Assurance Manager has been appointed.  All moderators including the National Moderator report directly to the Quality Assurance Manager.

 

Post assessment moderation is now selected on a risk-based system using the following criteria:

 

·         the unit standard falls into the moderation cycle

·         the accredited organisation has assessed against that unit standard

·         the result of the last moderation report done by Retail Institute

·         the number of assessments completed by the accredited provider for each unit standard.

Annual moderation visits will now be conducted for any accredited organisations delivering an entire national qualification where Retail Institute is the standard setting body.

 

A five-year moderation cycle has been introduced for both pre- and post-assessment moderation.  Accredited organisations will be sent a copy of this cycle annually.

 

Funding

 

·         The charge for pre-assessment moderation has been changed.  Previously Retail Institute charged $75 plus GST for initial checking the assessment materials plus $50 per hour for subsequent resubmissions; however this did not cover the costs for this service.  Charges have increased to $75 per submission plus $50 per hour for subsequent resubmissions.

 

Non-compliance with moderation requirements

 

·         Non-compliance visits have been introduced for accredited organisations who are continuously non-compliant with the Retail Institute's national external moderation system.

 

Appeal

 

The appeals section has been updated to reflect the current appeals process, including that an appeal fee of $80 + GST applies to all appeals.  This fee is refunded in full if Retail Institute finds in favour of the appellant.