Standards, qualification and curriculum services

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Professional standards

We help develop and quality assure professional standards and competency frameworks, drawing on global best practice (for example benchmarking against similar professional bodies’ approaches in other jurisdictions) and reflecting moves away from purely knowledge toward skills, attitudes and behaviours in modern frameworks.


Occupational standards

We have developed over 100 occupational standards – job role descriptions that help establish industry-wide standards and underpin the design of modern qualifications.


Certification strategy

Deciding how qualifications should work – what assessment steps a candidate should go through, how scores are given, how results on different assessment elements combine, and how grades and outcomes are awarded – can be complex and have unexpected consequences. We support our certification body clients (in professional and academic sectors) in harnessing global best practice and local requirements to produce highly trusted and defensible certification routes.


Qualification design and development

We advise on different approaches to designing qualifications, frameworks and standards, and help develop and deliver these in vocational, professional and academic disciplines, often while ensuring they fit within regulatory standards. Deciding how the required knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviours are articulated within a qualification (and how assessments will be made to ensure successful candidates meet the required standard) are critical in determining the content and style of curriculum.

Our team of professional qualification and assessment specialists work alongside subject experts to develop fit-for-purpose qualifications that meet regulations and work for learners and training providers. Our qualifications also meet validity and reliability requirements and provide a sound platform for writing assessments.


Curriculum design and learning resources

AlphaPlus provides a full-service design and development package for learning programmes – from professional standards and competency frameworks to learning resources, delivery support and professional assessment and accreditation.


Training and capacity building

We provide training, consultancy and support for certification agencies, helping them to meet the needs of their 21st-century candidates.

Our services include:

  • Support for HR and performance management in certification bodies
  • Functional Skills services – all aspects of designing, delivering and awarding Functional Skills.
  • Regulation, compliance, policy and regulatory documentation services
  • Vocational Qualifications development services – designing qualifications from the bottom up, including for new and complex regulatory and market requirements
  • Assessment Quality Improvement service – a packaged fixed price service for managing test performance using a variety of statistical and qualitative approaches
  • Review and benchmarking
  • SecurePDF – a new web service to distribute exam papers electronically to centres, improving on security and greatly reducing distribution costs

Policy and governance

Many exams take place in highly regulated environments where the stakes are high for the candidate, their training centre, the certification body, and the people who trust and rely on the certification awarded. We support certification bodies in ensuring that their qualifications are worthy of that trust – ensuring that regulatory compliance, governance processes and the performance of the assessments themselves meet global standards.