DCS is awarded for each individual qualification and therefore the number of learners sampled would be considered per qualification.
It also depends on the status of the centre and how many reviews you need to achieve DCS.
If you’re delivering the qualification for the first time and would like to achieve DCS in one review, then the following criteria must be met in your EQA report:
- exclusively grade ‘1’s
- no outstanding actions from previous EQA review report
- a minimum of three learner portfolios sampled, with at least two completed portfolios sampled and marked as ‘final’, other learners sampled can have ‘new’ or ‘mid’ status
- reliability of assessment graded as A.
If you’re delivering the qualification and would like to achieve DCS over two EQA reviews, then the following criteria must be met in your EQA reports:
- exclusively grade 1s, 2s and 3s; at least one month between the 2 reviews
- no outstanding actions from previous EQA visit report
- a minimum of 3 learner portfolios sampled on each visit, with at least 3 completed portfolios sampled over the 2 reviews and marked as ‘final’, other learners sampled can have ‘new’ or ‘mid’ status
- reliability of assessment graded as A or B.
If you already have DCS and plan to maintain this, then you must have one review within 12 months of DCS being achieved/maintained meeting the following criteria:
- exclusively grade 1s, 2s and 3s
- no outstanding actions from previous EQA visit report
- a minimum of one completed learner portfolio sampled and marked as ‘final’, other learners sampled can have ‘new’ or ‘mid’ status
- reliability of assessment graded as A or B.