NVQ Assessor
Kensington and Chelsea College
Alison S
00:00:03 My name’s Alison S, and I’m an NVQ Assessor in Child Care Learning and Development, for Kensington and Chelsea College. I go out to various settings, and I observe and assess students who are wanting to gain an NVQ qualification in child care. And I assess their level of competency within the workplace. I really enjoy seeing students complete their qualification, and handing over their certificates. So – that’s the best part of my job, I think. There’s one student who finished not that long ago, and I took her from the beginning of her qualification to the end. And she was really not confident at all. The difference in her was really extreme actually, and she became a deputy manager in her setting, so she progressed really well.
00:00:59 What motivates me to do what I do as an Assessor, is getting people to understand how important their job role is. And understanding that it’s not about sitting and playing all day, and changing a few nappies in between. It’s actually a lot more than that. It’s making sure that the students that I have understand that that’s exactly what they are, early years professionals.
00:01:28 When I was at school I had no idea what I wanted to do. I left school and I became – I worked in a travel agency, and did a BTech National in Travel and Tourism. Outside of working in travel, I did lots of things working with children, and at church where I go to ran the Sunday School for years. And I just thought, you know what, this isn’t what I want to do, I want to work with children. I went and did some voluntary work in a nursery, just to see if it’s what I wanted to do. And I loved it. And I thought, OK, time to change. So I changed career.
00:02:10 Along the way I’ve learnt that – if you want to do it, you can. I did a Foundation Degree in Early Years, because I wanted to move on. And I had a two year-old at the time, and I thought I’m never going to do this, it’s going to be too hard, I can’t study, and work, and have a child. Four years down the line and I’ve done it, and I’ve moved on, and I’m quite happy where I am.
00:02:36 I was really quiet at school. Always reading – I was usually found in the library, or in the bottom of the playing fields with a book. I was pretty much – not – I was friendly, so I had lots of friends, but wasn’t particularly outgoing at school.
00:02:55 There’s been lots of people who you see achieving. I mean lots of my friends, while they’re not career – totally career-orientated – they’ve all got really good careers, and they’re really great parents. So I kind of look to them to see – how are they doing it? And I hope that I can be half as good.
00:03:18 I’d like to move on to the next rung of my career, shall we say. ‘Cause the next area of development is to become an Internal Verifier, which means I’d be assessing other Assessors, and setting the standards for Assessors really. So that’s my next goal. The one thing that I would love to do if I could, is open the most amazing, all-encompassing, children’s family centre – that was around really. My one piece of advice for my children that would take them through their life. I think, would be to not underestimate the value of your education, and how far it will take you.
00:04:05 ENDS
Alison S is an NVQ Assessor in Child Care Learning and Development, for Kensington and Chelsea College, “I go out to various settings, and I observe and assess students who are wanting to gain an NVQ qualification in child care”. In the future she would like to open her own children’s family centre.
More information about Education advisers and school inspectors
The UK average salary is £29,813
There are 37.5 hours in the average working week
The UK workforce is 47% female and 53% male
Future employment
- Advises on all aspects of education and ensures that all statutory educational requirements are being met;
- Plans and advises on the provision of special schools for children with physical or learning disabilities;
- Appoints and controls teaching staff;
- Verifies that school buildings are adequately maintained;
- Arranges for the provision of school medical and meals services;
- Observes teaching, assesses learning level and discusses any apparent faults with teachers, heads of department and head teachers;
- Prepares reports on schools concerning teaching standards, educational standards being achieved, the spiritual, moral and social development of pupils, resource management etc.
