Empowered Learners
We offer inspirational learning products and support career pathways in active leisure, learning and wellbeing. Our products consist of regulated vocational qualifications, learning experiences and recognition schemes which you can choose from to enhance your education pathway and employment prospects. You can register onto our products through expert education providers which we term recognised centres. If you need advice or would like to be registered onto one of our products, we will help you to source a recognised centre near you. This portal is designed to provide you with guidance into our services.
You can make an enquiry or request advice at any time. We have an expert team in place to acknowledge enquiries within one working day of receipt. Where technical information is required, we provide a detailed response within five working days after the acknowledgement.
Please note that we are not obliged to disclose information if to do so would breach a duty of confidentiality or any other legal duty.
We believe you should have control over your education and employment choices. We recognise that you are unique. We have experts ready to provide you with valuable advice. We will consult with you and may advise that you register onto one of our products. Alternatively, we may sign post you to another provider. We will always give advice that is in your best interest. We will help you to understand your options before leaving you to make your own decision. One which suits your unique needs, lifestyle and vision.
Our products are designed to engage you as a lifelong learning and industry ambassador. We inspire, motivate and believe in unique learning pathways that lead to further development and fulfilling careers.
Successful leaners are those who we believe will contribute to behaviour change and result in industry transformation!
Our products are advertised through expert providers called recognised centres. Each recognised centre is required to conduct a fair and unbiased initial assessment before they will allow you to register with us. They will check your eligibility against the entry requirements for each product and will work with you to identify any access arrangements. You should expect that your centre will:
- Authenticate your identity
- Review your eligibility against the product entry requirements
- Review your access needs and request adjustments as appropriate
- Require you to commit to a learning agreement
- Register you onto the product and report this to us
- Manage your transferal to another centre (if appropriate) in liaison with us
- Withdraw your registration with us if this is required
Your recognised centre will communicate your delivery programme. For all products, this will include induction and learning activities. For regulated qualifications, this will include all aspects of assessment and moderation.
Learners who are registered onto regulated products may require special consideration. This refers to the consideration to be given to you if you have temporarily experienced an illness, injury or other event outside of your control which has or is reasonably likely to have had a material effect on:
- your ability to take an assessment or
- your ability to demonstrate the level of attainment in an assessment.
Your recognised centre will review your needs and is responsible for making a request to us on your behalf. You will be required to provide evidence to support each request. Evidence examples include medical reports, diagnostic tests or testimonies. We will review each request on a case by case basis in accordance with our policy. We will confirm results via your recognised centre who will then implement the arrangements. We will monitor all results for validity purposes and to check that your needs were effectively met.
All assessment on regulated provision may be subject to moderation by the centre and by us. This is to make sure that assessment is being managed consistently across assessors in accordance with the required standards. Moderators may observe your assessor in practice or may look at assessment paperwork. They may wish to interview you. In all cases, your assessment results will not be confirmed until moderation of assessment for you or your peers has taken place.
If you have been registered onto one of our products or you are a parent of a learner who is under 18 years of age your feedback is very important to us. Please complete our product evaluation to provide us with valuable information which will help us to make sure our products are fit for purpose and accessible.
Every product is developed and reviewed by a consultation committee. We actively encourage our learners to engage with us in our consultations to ensure each product is fit for purpose and accessible.
We pride ourselves on a quality service and we expect the same of our recognised centres.
To make sure that we collectively achieve this and make continuous improvements year on year please report your satisfaction levels to us.
If you are under 18 you may wish to ask your parent to do this on your behalf.
All outcomes are reviewed daily, monthly and published annually. Feedback which suggests there is an issue is subject to immediate review, investigation and corrective action is taken where required.
Our recognised centres are required to provide you with a high-quality service in accordance with the Transcend Centre Recognition Conditions.
Each centre will publish a Learner Complaints Procedure, which addresses the fair and considered handling of issues upon receipt of centre services. You should therefore make all complaints directly to your recognised centre in accordance with their complaints procedure. If you remain dissatisfied upon receipt of the outcomes you are then eligible to report the details of your complaint to us.
We endeavour to ensure high-quality service is provided to all stakeholders and are confident of the delivery of exceptional service. However, should an individual feel they have encountered a level of service that is below our expectations in line with our published standards, strategy, policy or process, a customer service complaint may be reported. In completing the report, it is important to provide:
- full description of your complaint including the subject matter, dates, times and any reference numbers, if known
- names of any people involved in the matter
- names of any people you have dealt with
- copies of any documents or letters connected with the complaint.
Evidence in support of the complaint to facilitate effective evaluation of the situation should be forwarded via email to services@transcendawards.com. We will acknowledge receipt of a complaint within five working days and aim to investigate the complaint in accordance with the Transcend Investigations Policy within 20 working days. Where the complaint is more complex, we will extend this timeframe and provide an update or outcome within or every 20 working days.
Investigations are carried out rigorously and objectively by an independent person of appropriate competence who has no personal interest in the outcome. This serves to prevent conflict and to maintain objectivity in the investigation activities. In situations where a complaint has been upheld, or where an investigation following notification from a regulator indicates a failure in our processes, we pay due consideration to the outcome and will, as appropriate, take appropriate action. If you remain dissatisfied with our response to the complaint you may request a procedural appeal.
We are committed to the safeguarding of children and vulnerable people. We operate in accordance with Working Together to Safeguard Children (DfES, 2017), the Children Act (2004) and the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act (2006) and expect the same from our partners. Safeguarding is paramount! It is our collective duty to protect our learners, our industry and wider society.
We adopt a child and vulnerable person centred and coordinated approach to safeguarding which is underpinned by two key principles. These are considered in every aspect of the development, delivery and awarding of our products due to the needs of our learners and nature of our industry. We believe:
- safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility. For services to be effective each organisation, professional and individual should play their full part in a child and vulnerable person-centred approach. For services to be effective we should all have a clear understanding of the needs and views of children and vulnerable groups.
As a learner we expect you to engage with and champion these principles.
If you identify a safeguarding concern in the development, delivery or awarding of any of our products please report this to us immediately. It is critical that this is done in a confidential manner to protect all those involved. We will acknowledge reports within one day of receipt, confirming timescales for investigation and communications with relevant authorities as appropriate.
We are committed to ethical practice and comply with all relevant legislation and regulation. Failure to abide with law, regulation and our policy is considered as non-compliance; categorised as malpractice or maladministration dependent upon the circumstances. Malpractice and maladministration definitions and scenarios on the part of the learner may include:
- Cheating
- Plagiarism
- Collusion
- Impersonation
- Disruptive behaviour
- Aggressive behaviour
- Bullying or inappropriate comments
- Inappropriate, offensive or obscene material or language
- Producing assessment which is not authentic
- Impeding or damaging the work of others
We expect that all learners and any other third party to disclose any suspicions of malpractice and maladministration to us as soon as this is detected. In all cases, we will log the matter and will oversee the investigations.
Upon receipt, the matter will then be referred to the Strategic Management Committee to manage the investigation in accordance with the Transcend Investigations Policy, which can be located within the Policies section of this website. All those involved will be informed of the situation within five working days of receipt of any allegation with timescales for investigations. Updates or outcomes will be reported every 25 working days. In all cases, we will take action proportionate to the offence and notify relevant authorities as appropriate.
We expect you to conduct yourself in an appropriate manner. Confirmed misconduct, maladministration or malpractice will lead to disciplinary action and penalties proportionate to the offence. Our penalties matrix diagram demonstrates a stepping stone approach. However, we will not hesitate to act proportionately to the offence in realisation of any adverse effects without issuing warnings where we are required to do so to protect other learners and our integrity. It is noted that recognised centres are eligible to have their own penalty scheme in place. If you do not comply with a reasonable learning agreement your recognised centre is within their rights to terminate the agreement.
We endeavour to ensure a fair and unbiased service is provided to both potential and registered learners. We believe it is important that you have an opportunity to appeal a procedural decision where you believe that our decision-making process was not handled ethically and in line with established procedures. All appeals are handled objectively and by individuals who have no personal interest in the decision being appealed. Procedural appeal scenarios for potential and registered learners might refer to:
- decisions related to a complaint against the recognised centre
- decisions related to an appeal against the recognised centre
- decisions related to a complaint against the awarding organisation
- decisions related to eligibility to be registered onto a product
- decisions related to access via reasonable adjustment
- decisions related to access via special consideration
- decisions related to an allegation concerning a safeguarding issue
- decisions related to an allegation of malpractice
- decisions related to an allegation of maladministration
- decisions related to a learner penalty
If you believe you have appropriate grounds for an appeal, please report this to us within 20 working days of receipt of the original decision. We will validate the intel and review the grounds for the appeal. This is checked and challenged by the Governing Body for independence purposes. An acknowledgement will be sent within five working days to agree on the grounds for the appeal and to explain the next steps. Alternatively, we will confirm a rationale as to why the grounds of the appeal have not been accepted. Potential adverse effects and the scale of the threat is evaluated, driving the independent review priorities and any escalations to the regulator or other organisations as necessary. The grounds on which to base an appeal must have either information and/or evidence to contravene and potentially change the original procedural decision or information and/or evidence to demonstrate that the original decision-making process was not handled in line with the established procedure.
We are committed to maintaining compliance with regulatory conditions and promptly notify the regulator, other awarding organisations and the authorities where appropriate when there is a cause to believe that any event has occurred or is likely to occur which could have an adverse effect.
We conduct independent reviews and where you remain dissatisfied will refer the matter to an independent panel. If you are dissatisfied with the outcomes of our independent panel and you believe you have grounds to confirm that we did not follow our established procedure you may then make a complaint to our regulator The Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual). If you complain to the regulator, they ask that it is within twelve months of the action you are complaining about, and that you have completed all stages of the awarding organisation’s complaint process. But, when the matter appears to us to be urgent or in the wider public interest, they may choose to look at a complaint before the awarding organisation’s final decision.