Course feedback and complaints procedure

Through continual discussion and debriefing we hope to work out any issues that a student may have before it becomes a problem. If the Instructor thinks there is a problem, he should contact the Chief Instructor for guidance.

Feedback is taken seriously and is looked upon positively as a way to improve. Feedback forms will be offered to students when they finish a course and reviewed afterwards. An online version of the form is available if required. Feedback forms will be kept on file for 12 months after the course.

Complaints

“A Complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction by a customer about our actions, lack of action or about the standard of training provided.”

The Directors will make every effort to resolve any complaints as quickly as possible, complaints maybe made in person, by phone or by email. If the complaint requires investigating, the complainant should submit their complaint in writing by email or post. SeaRegs Training will acknowledge receipt of the complaint by return, or if this is not possible, at the earliest possible time informing them that SeaRegs Training will investigate the complaint and when they should expect to receive a response.

Included in the complaint should be details of your name, course attended, course dates and a description of your complaint. Detail your specific concerns starting with the most important and be clear as to what you are hoping to achieve (for example an apology, explanation etc). To investigate, the instructor and other course students will be contacted to get a balanced view. We will deal with your complaint in an honest and open way and will make sure that your interactions with us in the future do not suffer just because you have made a complaint.

We will aim to resolve concerns as quickly as possible and expect to deal with them within 30 working days. If your complaint is more complex we will let you know within this time why we think it may take longer to investigate and tell you how long we expect it to take. We will provide regular updates at least every 20 days.

The response to the complainant will be polite and objective, offering any appropriate compensation if deemed necessary. If we find that we got it wrong, we will tell you what and why it happened. If we find there is a fault in our systems or the way we do things, we will tell you what it is and how we plan to change things to stop it happening again. If we got it wrong, we will always apologise.

If we didn’t do something well, we will aim to put it right. If you have lost out as a result of a mistake on our part we will try to put you back in the position you would have been in if we had got it right.

Course Assessment Complaint or Appeal

If a candidate wishes to make a complaint or appeal against or about a course assessment, the candidate’s first point of contact is the Assessor. Full details of the appeal should be provided to the Assessor who will advise the candidate of the outcome within 10 working days.

If still unresolved, the candidate may take their appeal to the Internal Verifier (IV). The IV will review the details of the appeal provided by the candidate and assessor. The IV will endeavour to respond to the candidate within 10 working days. The IV will discuss the complaint or appeal with the assessor concerned and, if appropriate, with other instructors who have witnessed the assessment. Every effort will be made by the IV to resolve any complaints as quickly as possible.

The IV will then either inform the candidate that the assessment has been fairly and correctly carried out, or arrange for another assessment to be carried out by a different instructor.

If the candidate is dissatisfied with the decision of the IV, he or she may appeal in writing to the SeaRegs Training Directors within 10 days of receiving the decision.

The letter of appeal should contain full details of the assessment, when where, involving whom etc, the nature of the complaint or appeal, copies of any supporting documentation relating to the assessment outcome, action, plans, reports etc and copies of any previous correspondence regarding the complaint. The Directors will review the appeal and inform the candidate of their decision within 10 working days. Should the candidate still be dissatisfied with the decision, he or she may appeal in writing to the relevant external body.

Complaints for SQA Courses

In line with the SeaRegs complaints policy SQA learners have additional options available to them to support them. A candidate cannot complain about an assessment judgement, the SeaRegs appeals procedure should be used in this instance. There are two stages of complaint,

Stage 1 – Informal Complaint – A candidate can complain to the organisation and in the first instance they should address their complaints to their course tutor. If they’d rather not do this they must complain to the Operations Manager. This could initially be a verbal communication, but will need to be supported in writing.

Stage 2 – Formal complaint - If the nature of the complaint is too serious for the candidate to speak to the centre, or they feel that they are unable to speak directly to the centre, then they have the option to complain without actually communicating with a member of the SeaRegs team. The complaint should be addressed to admin@searegs.co.uk or SQA Co-ordinator, SeaRegs Training, Turnchapel Wharf, Barton Road, Plymouth PL9 9RQ.

Complaints must be sent to the centre within 10 working days. When the complaint has been received, it will be acknowledged and an investigation launched and a formal reply will be sent to the complainant within 10 days. When a complaint is received it will be reviewed by the Operations Manager and the Director / SQA Coordinator.

Appeals

Candidates have the right to appeal against the outcome of a complaint. Appeals must be received within 1 calendar month of a complainants final decision, and addressed to the SQA co-ordinator (address above). All appeals will be logged and reviewed by the SeaRegs Directors, who will make a judgement according to the grounds of the appeal. The appeal decision will be sent, in writing back to the person raising the appeal within 20 days.

Candidates can also appeal about assessment decisions. In the first instance, the candidate should speak to their tutor, as the feedback may need to be explained to them in more detail. If following this meeting, the candidate is still not satisfied, then they can write to the SQA Co-ordinator, within 10 days of the assessment marking date. The assessment decision will then be reviewed by the IQA and a decision will be made on the assessment decision.

Candidates can complain to the SQA directly, the parameter of what the SQA will or will not accept are detailed below, along with their contact address.

SQA will deal with complaints about:

• assessment — in the broadest sense, including the conduct of, preparation for, and environment for, assessment.

• dissatisfaction with the way in which the centre handled the complaint.

SQA will not deal with complaints about:

• assessment decisions (use assessment appeals process above)

• the wider experience of being a candidate (eg support services, funding)

SQA Complaints Address:

SQA

The Optima Building

58 Robertson Street

Glasgow

G2 8DQ

Candidates also have the right to complain to Ofqual. Although Ofqual do not have the right to overturn an academic decision they can investigate the assessment process (including assessment setting, marking, internal quality assurance and external quality assurance) and management of the centre and the centres procedures. The address for Ofqual is below, and should only be used once the process above has been followed and the candidate still feels they have grounds for appeal.

Ofqual

Earlsdon Park

53-55 Butts Road

Coventry

CV1 3BH

Apprenticeships

The complaints procedure for apprentices is as outlined above. Funding for apprenticeships is provided through the Education Skills Funding Agency. In addition to following the above procedures, apprentices may contact the ESFA Apprenticeship Service Support on 08000 150 600 or email helpdesk@manageapprenticeships.service.gov.uk

Ryan Tozer

Managing Director