Guidelines For Assessors

Thank you for volunteering to help a young person with their Award - your time and enthusiasm are appreciated.

The criteria for gaining an Award is individual improvement based on each participant's starting point and potential. There is no competition between participants and no benchmarked standards to achieve.

An adult assessor (this is you) of each Award Section records a participant's progress and achievement in the Record Book.

Participants have some flexibility around how long each Section is done for (3, 4, 5, 6, 12 or 18 months depending on The Award level). Please check with the participant how long they will be doing the Section for when you first meet with them.

As an assessor you are looking for evidence that :

1. The participant has shown adequate evidence of voluntary effort and a sustained contribution of their leisure time. They should be undertaking the activity for an average of at least an hour each week (slightly longer for the Service Section) and this should be verified in your report.
2. The activity has been done regularly for the time period required.
3. The participant has made a genuine effort, individual progress and achieved to the best of their ability.

When writing the assessment please ensure that:

1. You encourage the participant by commenting on anything they did particularly well.
2. The date entered in the Record Book is the actual date on which the final assessment is done (this means you sign the book at the end of the required time period).
3. Please state any relevant qualifications you may hold when signing the Section off.

Remember as an assessor, if you are not satisfied, the Record Book should NOT be completed or signed, and the participant encouraged to undertake further effort.

Please note that:

• The Service and Adventurous Journey sections require training/briefing to be undertaken before the activity is started and the training/briefing is noted in the Record Book, signed and dated.
• The Skills section participants choose the appropriate programme for their level of experience and knowledge. For example: beginners, those with some knowledge and the more advanced.
• Participants are free to select as broad or as restricted an aspect of the chosen interest as they wish. The programmes available are not rigid syllabi except where safety is concerned.
  

Achievements and activities prior to enroling in The Programme cannot be counted towards an Award. The permitted start date will be written in their record book.

Involvement in the Adventurous Journey Section will require that you are in communication with the participants Coordinator to ensure that you are aware of all the requirements around this Section.