Technical Notice: Changes to the STA Level 3 Award in Pool Plant Operations Assessment and Resources
Posted on 13th November 2019
In accordance with Safety Training Awards’ commitment to ensuring qualifications continue to meet the needs of the industry, employers and learners, the team are pleased to announce changes to the STA Level 3 Award in Pool Plant Operations assessment and resources.
These changes will be mandatory from 1st January 2020.
New Assessment to STA Level 3 Award in Pool Plant Operations
Following feedback from learners, tutors and Approved Training Centres (ATCs); Safety Training Awards along with education assessment experts have developed a new multiple-choice assessment to replace the portfolio worksheets.
The multiple-choice assessment covers all of the theory assessment criteria to an appropriate thinking level. The assessment consists of 6 units and 80 questions with a timeframe of 1 hour 35 minutes to complete. Learners must achieve the minimum pass mark for each unit to pass the assessment.
The new multiple-choice assessment has been extensively piloted and feedback has been positive. It is a robust assessment and learners may find it more challenging than previous multiple-choice assessments they have sat. To help learners prepare, tutors are advised to use the adapted revision portfolio worksheets as a learning tool throughout the course. These don’t count towards the final result of the assessment and do not need to be marked or stored officially, but they do make a useful revision activity. There is a new mock assessment paper to prepare the learners for the style of questions. ATC’s are reminded to contact Safety Training Awards with sufficient notice if reasonable adjustments are required.
The revision portfolio worksheets and mock multiple-choice assessment paper will be available to download in the pool plant tutor resources section of STA Online from 16th December.
Assessment packs will be sent out two weeks prior to the assessment to the course organiser, tutor or training venue and will include:
• Practical Test Record Sheet (x 1)
• Multiple-Choice Assessment Paper (x number of learners)
• Multiple-Choice Learner Answer Sheet (x number of learners)
• Multiple-Choice Tutor Marking Scheme (x 1).
Full details on the assessment will be found in the updated assessment strategy downloadable via STA Online from 16th December.
Resource Manual and PowerPoint Presentation
The new high-quality book-bound resource manual features vibrant new images and easy-to-follow chapter layout, as well as technical amendments and rewording to make the manual more learner friendly.
The PowerPoint presentation follows the flow of the resource manual and continues the vibrant theme; it also includes several new videos to boost the learner experience (available to download via STA Online, from 16th December).
New updated resources include:
• Online Multiple-Choice Assessment (alternative to paper only)
• Practical Test Record Sheet for Practical Water Testing Assessment
• Resource Manual
• PowerPoint presentation
• Assessment Strategy
• Learner Revision Pack
• Revision Pack Answers
• Suggested Timetable
• Qualification Specification.
All resources will be available to download and the new resource manual available to purchase from 16th December.
The new assessment and resources will be mandatory for courses registered from 1st January 2020, so ATC’s are urged to use up any stock of manuals before then as replacements will not be offered.