Autumn '22
The apprenticeship is assessed in two ways:
When you enter EPA gateway we must submit:
You can only enter the Gateway period when these are ready
Founders and Coders will support you throughout the lead up to and during EPA gateway
Each term, Gregor is available for regular check-ins and portfolio feedback
We’ll also hold ‘tripartite reviews’ between you, your employer, and us
| Activity | FAC22 | FAC23 | FAC24 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Start apprenticeship | 27/09/21 | 10/01/22 | 09/05/22 |
| Earliest date to enter EPA gateway | 27/09/22 | 10/01/23 | 09/05/23 |
| Latest completion date | 26/03/23 | 09/07/23 | 08/11/23 |
Your portfolio is not directly assessed.
It is used as the basis for the “professional discussion”, which determines 50% of your grade.
The portfolio ‘typically’ contains 10 pieces of evidence
Each should relate to at least one of the required knowledge, skills or behaviours. And most likely, they’ll cover many.
There is no specific structure for the documentation
Evidence is documentation which:
Build your portfolio throughout your apprenticeship
Focus on WHAT you did and HOW you did it.
WHO is important too - but your assessor will be looking to hear what you did, so always use I, me, my and avoid we, us, our.
Also consider, WHY you are making the technical decisions that you are.
Put together a narrative of what you did on the project, and use supporting evidence.
Mapping to KSBs comes after documenting, and in a separate document.
Put together a separate document with a table
| KSB | Definition | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| K1 | All stages of the software development life-cycle (what each stage contains, including the inputs and outputs) | Update contact form - Page 2 |
| K3 | The roles and responsibilities of the project life-cycle within your organisation, and your role | New login modal - Page 4 |
| K4 | How best to communicate using the different communication methods and how to adapt appropriately to different audiences | Update contact form - Page 10 |
| … |
Map to KSBs and not criteria
The mapping is where you feel you’ve met the criteria.
In your evidence you don’t need to respond directly to each KSB. Follow a documentation first approach.
The aim of the project is to research and develop a software solution to meet a specification provided by a customer or other stakeholder.
The project should:
The project is submitted in the form of a 4,500 word report.
It has a set structure with sections for each part of the software development lifecycle.
Appendices do not count towards the word count
The report, and the questioning will inform your grade
BCS require 10 working days to approve or reject a gateway request
During this time, they assess the project summary, review the portfolio, and give advice
Qualifications must be submitted to enter gateway, whether you went to school in the UK or not
The maximum time from entering gateway to completing your project report is 9 weeks. If you don’t meet the deadline, you fail 🙀
Assessment will be booked within a few weeks of the project report coming back
Portfolio assessment may happen during the 9 weeks
During the portfolio assessment, they want you to talk about all 21 criteria. They may cut you off - this is not a bad thing.
The portfolio documentation (and project summary, report, etc.) must be uploaded to the assessment platform
This means no external links, and… no Notion 😥