Website Policies

Equal Opportunities

KM Academy is an equal opportunities organisation. At all times we shall ensure that we do not discriminate against anyone by virtue of their sex, sexual orientation, race, ethnic origin, disability, marital status, religious belief or other unjustifiable factor within the constraints of available resources and current legislation.. We shall endeavour to provide access to assessors, assessments and training as required.

Centre Malpractice

In relation to Internal Assessment of SQA qualifications, malpractice means any act, default or practice (whether deliberate or resulting from neglect or default) which is a breach of SQA assessment requirements including any act, default or practice which:

Compromises, attempts to compromise, or may compromise the process of assessment, the integrity of any SQA qualification, or the validity of a result or certificate; and/or Damages the authority, reputation or credibility of SQA or any office, employee or agent of SQA.

Malpractice can occur for a number of reasons:
Intentional – with the aim of giving an unfair advantage or a disadvantage
Ignorance – of SQA requirements, carelessness or neglect (maladministration)

Malpractice can include both maladministration in the assessment and delivery of SQA qualifications and deliberately being non-compliant with requirements from SQA.

All instances of suspected malpractice will be investigated and acted upon as necessary.

Examples of Centre malpractice include (non-exhaustive):

  • Undue pressure being put upon by Managers or Staff to pass candidates who may not yet
  • meet the requirements of the award
  • Deliberate falsification of records in order to claim certificates
  • Excessive direction from Assessors to candidates to meet standards
  • Failure to assess internally assessed units or course work assessments fairly, consistently and in line with national standards
  • Failure to apply specific SQA assessment conditions
  • Misuse of assessments including repeated re-assessment or inappropriate adjustments to decisions
  • Failure to apply appropriate processes to ensure fairness in assessment arrangements
  • Insecure storage, transport and use of assessment instruments, materials and marking instructions resulting in a breach of security
  • Failure to comply with GDPR and SQA requirements for accurate and safe retention of candidate records
  • Failure to comply with SQA procedures for managing and transferring accurate candidate data
  • Failing to register candidates within a qualification’s accreditation period
  • Making late registrations to the awarding body for qualifications in their lapsing period
  • Requesting late certification of learners after the certification end date
  • For all SQA qualifications, failure by a centre to notify, investigate, and report allegations of suspected centre malpractice to SQA
  • Deliberately withholding information about circumstances which may compromise the integrity of any SQA qualification and/or credibility of SQA
  • Failure to act as required by SQA or to co-operate with an SQA investigation in relation to concerns of malpractice
  • For qualifications subject to regulation by SQA Accreditation, failure by a centre to notify, investigate, and report to SQA allegations of suspected candidate malpractice.

Suspected malpractice can be reported by candidates or other staff.

  • Any suspected cases of centre malpractice must be reported to SQA. Candidate malpractice concerns for internal assessment need only be brought to SQA’s attention if:
  • The concern came to the centre’s attention after submission of internal assessment marks.
  • The concern relates to candidate malpractice for a qualification regulated by SQA Accreditation.
  • The Candidate wishes to exercise their right of appeal to SQA
  • Other exceptional circumstances i.e. the malpractice involves a criminal act

Any criminal acts must be reported to the police

Candidate Malpractice

Examples of this include (non-exhaustive):

  • Security of assessment materials – including removing a paper from the exam room
  • Collusion with others – helping another candidate when it should be a task done solely by the candidate
  • Copying from another candidate
  • Misconduct – inappropriate behaviour during the assessment
  • Frivolous content – submissions unrelated to the assessment work
  • Offensive content – using bad or discriminatory terms and language
  • Impersonation – assuming another’s identity during an assessment
  • Plagiarism – using someone else’s work as your own
  • Prohibited items – using items in an assessment which may give them an unfair advantage i.e. tablet, smart watch, mobile phone (unless approved in advance by the centre).

Suspected malpractice can be reported by other candidates or members of staff.
Any assessments will not be passed until after any investigation is completed.

Investigation, Actions & Appeals

All cases of malpractice will be investigated.

There are 3 steps to a Malpractice investigation: initial screening, investigation and the decision.

  • The SQA Head of Centre shall make the decision as to the action taken. Staff/Candidates should report any instances to one of the Directors as soon as possible.
  • Actions may include some or all of the following: review of assessment evidence & records, second opinion by an Internal Verifier, interviewing other candidates or members of staff.
  • The outcome including any actions to be taken if malpractice is proven will be notified to all interested parties (person being investigated, assessor/manager etc) in writing either by post or by email. This should be within 28 days after reporting however Ambition can request an extension to this if needed.
    If malpractice is identified, action can be taken in the form of:
  • The candidate being withdrawn from the programme. SQA should be notified.
  • The candidate may be issued with a warning and asked to re-do the work.
    Invoking the disciplinary procedure.

Candidates and staff have the right to appeal any malpractice decision. This can be done by writing to the Office Manager within 7 days of the original outcome being received. Centres have the right to appeal a decision where a case of reported malpractice by the centre has been confirmed through investigation by SQA.

Centres also have the right to appeal a decision in the case of suspected malpractice by a candidate reported by the centre to SQA. The outcome of an appeal will be notified to all interested parties (person being investigated, assessor/manager etc) in writing either by post or email. This should be within 28 days after appealing, however Ambition can request an extension to this if needed.

Candidates have the right to appeal to SQA where:

  • The centre has investigated, the candidate disagrees with the outcome and has exhausted the centre’s appeals process.
  • SQA has investigated and the candidate disagrees with the decision

Appeals Procedure
While all our assessors are trained and qualified to assess candidate’s performance and knowledge at National Standards level, it is possible that a candidate may feel that there is a reason to disagree with an assessment decision.

All candidates have the right to appeal against any decision made by an assessor. In such an instance the candidate must follow the correct procedures, as follows:The trainee/candidate will have 7 days to appeal any assessment decision whereupon the assessor will discuss any concern regarding the assessment decision. If the concern is discussed and no satisfactory outcome has been reached, then the trainee/candidate should request an Appeals Report Form.

The Appeals Report Form must be completed to show: the nature of the appeal; persons involved; place and time of any discussions which have takenplace.(Stage 1)
The report should then be passed to the Internal Verifier within 14 days of the assessment decision which is being challenged.

The appeal will be considered by the Internal Verifier who may arrange a meeting with the persons involved to solve the problem, this must be organised within 7 days of receipt (Stage 2).

If agreement is not reached, then it may be necessary to involve an independent third party, who must be an appropriately qualified person who is experienced in the area which was being assessed- they will then investigate the details of the appeal.(Stage3). The independent third party may agree or decide to overrule the assessor’s decision

If the trainee/candidate is still not satisfied then the appeal will be referred to the SQA who will investigate the claim and take action accordingly.(Stage 4), The result will be recorded on the Appeals Report Form and the trainee/candidate will be notified by letter. This decision will be final. The Appeals process must be resolved within a timescale of 28 days from the date of the assessment decision

Possible grounds for appeal.

  • Dissatisfaction regarding the manner in which the assessment was performed.
  • Discrepancy regarding the validity of the evidence supplied.
  • Inadequate opportunity allowed to demonstrate a competence.

Regulated qualifications only

Candidates and centres have the right to request a review by the appropriate regulator (SQA Accreditation) of the awarding body’s process in reaching a decision in an appeal of a malpractice decision for qualifications subject to regulation.