Procedures for investigating alleged malpractice

Transcription

1 Procedures for investigating alleged malpractice 1.1 Who can report suspected malpractice? Quality Assurance Officers, Independent Witness, Centre Course Managers, Tutor/Assessors, Internal Verifiers, candidates and members of the public must report allegations of malpractice to Sports Leaders UK. Sports Leaders UK as the Awarding Organisation will liaise with the Head of Centre (i.e. Head teacher, Principal or most senior manager of the Approved Assessment Centre) when investigating reported cases of malpractice, except where the Head of Centre is being investigated. In this situation Sports Leaders UK will liaise with the next most senior member of staff within the centre. Please note that centres must report any suspected malpractice to Sports Leaders UK and failure to co-operate can lead to non-issue of certificates and/or non-acceptance of registrations. 1.2 Malpractice discovered by a centre If a centre suspects malpractice, details of the case must be reported to Sports Leaders UK at the earliest opportunity using the Malpractice Report Form (see form at the end of this document). 1.3 Malpractice discovered by the Awarding Organisation If malpractice is discovered by a Sports Leaders UK member of staff, Quality Assurance Officer, or has been reported by a candidate or member of the public, the Centre Course Manager and Head of Centre will be notified. Sports Leaders UK is required to report all cases to the regulatory authorities of the Qualifications and Credit Framework (Ofqual, Welsh Government and CCEA) and will conduct a full investigation into the alleged malpractice and provide a written report of their findings to the centre. 1.4 Anonymous reports of alleged malpractice Anonymous reports of alleged malpractice will be investigated only if there is sufficient evidence or the nature of the report warrants it. In these circumstances the Head of Centre will be informed and Sports Leaders UK will conduct a full investigation. Page 1 of 5 Sports Leaders UK 2015 SL0720 Issue 1 09/15

2 2.0 Process of Investigation 2.1 Reporting to the Head of Centre Sports Leaders UK will notify the Head of Centre of all decisions on reports and investigations of alleged malpractice at the earliest opportunity after the decisions have been made, except where the Head of Centre is under investigation. It is the responsibility of the Head of Centre to communicate the reported decisions to the relevant staff, and or candidates, and to issue any disciplinary measures as appropriate to their internal standards and procedures by: Informing the accused individual of the reported suspected malpractice Know what evidence has been provided to support the claim Understand and explain the possible consequences should the suspected malpractice be proven Provide appropriate opportunities for the individual to prepare a response and seek further support where necessary Be aware of the appeals procedures should a decision be made against the individual 2.2 Reporting to Sports Leaders UK Sports Leaders UK may ask the centre to undertake initial investigations through their internal procedures, before deciding to carry out any further investigations with the centre and the staff or candidates. On receipt of information from the centre's internal investigations, Sports Leaders UK may either: Accept the centre's decisions and take no further action Make a decision based on the evidence provided by the centre Request the centre to undertake further investigations Conduct further investigations as an external Awarding Organisation and apply sanctions or withdraw accreditation as necessary The Head of Centre or next most senior member of staff must liaise with Sports Leaders UK's Quality Assurance Manager (QAM) during the investigations and reporting of evidence to maintain confidentiality and protect all parties' interests. The QAM will provide information to the Malpractice Committee and report information and evidence to the regulatory authorities where necessary. 2.3 Sports Leaders UK investigation Sports Leaders UK will undertake an initial evaluation of the reported malpractice and may decide to conduct a full and further investigation into the allegations and the qualifications concerned. Sports Leaders UK must report details of the identified centre and any investigations to the regulatory authorities and where public funding is involved, the regulatory authorities will inform the relevant funding agencies. Centres will be expected to co-operate with Sports Leaders UK in order to facilitate an effective investigation. Page 2 of 5 Sports Leaders UK 2015 SL0720 Issue 1 09/15

3 In exceptional circumstances the regulatory authorities may need to conduct an investigation themselves and will seek to work with the relevant Awarding Organisations. "Information supplied to the regulatory authorities to facilitate an investigation will be subject to the Freedom of Information Act in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act. The regulatory authorities are required to treat all requests under these acts on their merits; however, it is likely that public interest tests will deem much live investigation information exempt from disclosure". (QCDA, ACCAC, CCEA, SQA, 2006, p.7) 2.4 Communicating with staff and candidates Sports Leaders UK may need to speak directly with centre staff including Tutor/Assessors, Internal Verifiers and any other supporting staff, except when a member of staff is no longer employed or involved with the qualifications being offered by the centre. Sports Leaders UK may also choose to speak with candidates if this would benefit the investigations and/or provide further evidence. 3.0 Appeals against a judgement Any candidate and member of staff accused of malpractice must have the opportunity to respond to the allegations. He or she may appeal against a judgement should it go against him or her through the Sports Leaders UK Appeals Policy and relevant Malpractice Report Form. The centre must make the Appeals Policy available to all candidates and this is a condition of centre accreditation. However should this not be available to candidates for any reason they should contact the Sports Leaders UK QAM for assistance. 4.0 Malpractice Committee Sports Leaders UK will conduct all investigations using a Malpractice Committee comprising of technical staff members and external members that are experienced in the Sports Leaders UK awards and qualification procedures. Each case of malpractice will be judged on an individual basis using the information available. All details obtained through an investigation will be kept confidential to the individuals or organisation providing it and will be securely stored by Sports Leaders UK during and after the investigations have taken place. Members of the Malpractice Committee must make Sports Leaders UK aware of any personal connection or vested interest in the individuals or case being investigated. Suspected individuals, candidates, Heads of Centre and Centre Course Managers are not entitled to attend meetings of the Malpractice Committee. 5.0 Decision making In making a decision, members of the Malpractice Committee will ensure that the correct procedures have been followed during the investigations and that the suspected individuals have had opportunities to input into the investigation. The Malpractice Committee will ensure that: Page 3 of 5 Sports Leaders UK 2015 SL0720 Issue 1 09/15

4 They are able to identify the regulations or procedures that have been broken in relation to the malpractice Identify where the responsibility lies regarding the reported malpractice Identify appropriate measures to be taken to ensure the situation does not reoccur Apply suitable sanctions or actions in relation to the evidence provided from the investigation The Malpractice Committee will consider all the evidence and provide a written report with their decision to the Head of Centre, except where they have been investigated. In this situation the next most senior member of staff will receive the report. 6.0 Sanctions applied against centres and centre staff members It is the responsibility of the Head of Centre or senior employer to manage any required disciplinary action against a member of staff. Sports Leaders UK's role is to consider whether the integrity of the qualification has been jeopardised and to identify whether a member of staff is found to have indulged in unfair practice. Sports Leaders UK has the right to impose sanctions on the future involvement of that staff member and may refuse to accept registrations from a centre where malpractice is established or to accept the member of staff involved in future course registrations either at this or any other centre. Sanctions applied to a centre may include Providing a centre with an action plan identifying areas for improvement and timescales for implementation agreeing assessment tasks and methods used with candidates Increasing monitoring and verification of qualification delivery Insisting that centres can only claim for certificates through the approval of an Quality Assurance Officer Suspending candidate registrations until a specific issue has been addressed Suspending certification of candidates until a specific issue has been addressed Withdrawing the approval for the delivery of a specific Sports Leaders UK qualification Withdrawing centre approval for the delivery of any Sports Leaders UK qualifications 6.1 Sanctions applied against a candidate Sports Leaders UK reserves the right to impose the following sanctions against a candidate found guilty of breaking the regulations: The candidate is issued with a warning The candidate is disqualified from the qualification The candidate is barred from registering for one or more of the Sports Leaders UK awards or qualifications for a set period of time Page 4 of 5 Sports Leaders UK 2015 SL0720 Issue 1 09/15

5 The above penalties may not be appropriate to every type of Sports Leaders UK qualification. 7.0 Reporting Results Sports Leaders UK will record all activities undertaken during an investigation of suspected malpractice and provide a final report to the Head of Centre, except where they are being investigated. In this situation the next most senior member of staff will receive the report and a copy will be sent to the regulatory authorities to show the reported details, findings and outcomes of the investigation. 8.0 Appeals Sports Leaders UK will supply details of their Appeals Policy and procedures on request. These procedures can be used to consider appeals arising from malpractice decisions. 9.0 Contacts Further information, Malpractice Report Form and details of the Appeals Policy and Procedures may be obtained from Quality Assurance Manager via: Post: Sports Leaders UK Linford Forum Rockingham Drive Linford Wood Milton Keynes MK14 6LY Phone: Page 5 of 5 Sports Leaders UK 2015 SL0720 Issue 1 09/15