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On 10 December 2025, I attended a short online workshop to help OU Digital Technology Solutions (DTS) degree apprentices become familiar with what was required for their End Point Assessment (EPA).

What follows are a set of notes I’ve taken during the session which I’m sharing on the off chance they might be useful for any of the apprentices I’m supporting.  I’ve also taken a few moments to share my own practical tips, which I hope are helpful. I’ve written it as if I was speaking with an apprentice (which reflects the workshop).

A professional discussion

The EPA is what is called a professional discussion. It is a formal assessment to determine your “occupational competence” but should also be considered as “a celebration of your apprenticeship journey”.  It is a conversation about all the experience and learning gained from your apprenticeship, drawing on evidence that have been uploaded to your ePortfolio. The evidence will, of course, demonstrates your meet all the knowledge skills and behaviours (KSBs) that all combine together to form the DTS standard.

The EPA is expected to take 60 minutes, and is likely to contain 4 key critical questions (which are related to themes). Each question is likely to lead to follow up questions. The first question is likely to be quite broad. A practical recommendation is to give clear examples that relates to the evidence that you have uploaded and the KSBs.

Your portfolio

The evidence that you upload to your ePortfolio must be your own evidence; it must relate to work-based activities that you have done yourself, and the learning that you have gained from that work.

Every piece of evidence that you add must relate to one or more of the standard’s KSBs. A practical recommendation is that every piece of evidence should ideally relate to a group of KSBs. Minimum of 6 piece of evidence, but typically about 10 pieces of evidence. Evidence could take the form of module assignments (tutor marked assessments), information about work based products, narrative summaries of work down (with screenshots), witness testimonies, and even video materials.

How do you make decisions about what to include into the ePortfolio? An important question to ask is “what is a particular piece of evidence trying to achieve?” Two accompany questions are: what does it show, and how does it relate to the KSBs? Also, does the piece of evidence have a clear filename and title? Is it well structured? Does it show clear evidence of learning and development having taken place?

To help everyone to prepare evidence, we were introduced to something called the STAR method, a simple framework that uses four words to encourage reflection. The words are: situation (what is the context in which something was done?), task (why was it needed?), action (what did you do?), and result (what was the outcome or impact?).

After a piece of evidence is submitted to the ePortfolio, your practice tutor reviews what has been submitted, and assigns it a grade. There are two possibilities: pass, or distinction. The criteria for each of these is described in the DTS standard. What typically distinguishes between a pass and a distinction is evidence of impact. One clear and direct way to evidence impact is though numbers. If you have made some fixes to software, how many users does this positively impact? If there have been some efficiency savings, what are these? Numbers represent a really powerful and concise way to evidence impact.

Useful tips

When it comes to preparing and writing evidence that you upload into your ePortfolio, it is important not to leave it to the very last minute. When you begin to contribute to your workplace, begin to evidence what you do and the impact you have, as soon as you can. When you get to your third year, you may well have forgotten about some of the good stuff that you have done in the first six months of your apprenticeship.

My own practical tip is: if you have difficulty writing or preparing evidence, do consider preparing a witness statement as a practical alternative. Speak with your line manager. Sometime your line manager will be able to offer a wider perspective about the work you are doing and the contributions you are making.

When it comes to your EPA, here are some simple and practical tips:

• Make sure you know the contents of your ePortfolio. You may be asked about anything you have uploaded.
• It is okay to have notes. Before your EPA, take a bit of time to prepare some notes to bring into your meeting. Write down examples of work that you are most proud of, and know how these examples relate to the KSBs.
• If you are asked a really difficult question, it is okay to pause for a few moments to allow you to collect your thoughts. Equally, it is okay to ask the assessor some clarifying questions. It is, after all, a conversation.
• Remember that you are approaching all this from a position of strength. You are the expert in your own ePortfolio and what you have done. The assessor is not there to trip you up; the assessor is there to be guided through a story of what you have achieved.

The project module

In my diary, this event was listed under the heading ‘TMXY476 workshop’. TMXY476 is the apprenticeship project module. The EPA is, of course, a professional discussion is about your entire apprenticeship full journey. By way of contrast, the project is a “deep dive” into skills, and has its own set of KSBs. Your project and work-based learning tutors will help you to work through these. During your project you may, of course, carry out some activities that can also evidence some of your apprenticeship KSBs.

Reflections

When I started as a practice tutor it took me quite a bit of time to understand what all the KSBs were all about. It is impossible to understand them all in one go. The only way to do it is to gradually chip away at it, and to understand different ways they can be related to what you do.

In the middle of all the work activities and the academic study, it is easy to forget about them, but it is important to keep clear sight of them. In one way or another, they should guide what you do, and also help you to relate the academic study to the industrial work. I think of them as a bridge between the two.

From my perspective, there are two significant take away points. The first is the question “what is a particular piece of evidence trying to achieve?” Clarity is important. It helps the discussion. Both the EPA and your ePortfolio are both about showing off, and celebrating what you do. The STAR framework looks like a really useful tool that can help with this.

Acknowledgements

The event was facilitated by Martin Rothwell and was attended by OU colleagues, and apprentices.  Words and phrases in quotes have been noted directly from Martin’s presentation. Many thanks to other OU colleagues in the apprenticeship team who may have contributed to this helpful workshop.

On 9 September 22, I attended a Digital and Technology Solutions (DTS) degree apprenticeship practice tutor (PT) training event, hosted by Chris Thompson from the School of Computing and Communications. I attended this event as a degree apprenticeship practice tutor.

What follows is a brief set of notes from the event, which might be helpful to fellow practice tutors, or any other colleagues who play a role within the DTS scheme.

For reference KSB refers to: Knowledge skills and behaviours. 

PT job description

One of the first slides reiterated the PT job description. 

Key points of the role include: to support each learner; to be a key point of contact; to prepare and support learners to commence their studies; maintain relationships between different stakeholders; to conduct review meetings; to coach and develop each learner to integrate academic learning with their professional work; and to guide each learner to develop a portfolio of evidence to demonstrate their technical competencies as required by the apprenticeship framework. 

When speaking to apprentices and employers, I emphasise my role in very similar terms, referring myself as being a bit of ‘glue’ between the academic study, and the apprenticeship.

ESFA requirements

ESFA is an abbreviation for the Education and Skills Funding Agency. We were directed to the Further Education and Skills Inspection handbook (pdf).

A point was made that each progress review should cover points p60.1 through to p60.7. These relate to: checking of progress against agreed actions; gathering of off-the-job training evidence; checking progress against a training plan; provide an opportunity to update the training plan; discuss concerns; discuss changes of circumstances; and agree and document actions, and have the progress review signed by all parties.

Inspection

Each degree apprenticeship programme is potentially subjected to an inspection. We were directed to another resource: the education inspection framework (pdf).

Ofsted are particularly interested in the impact of education and will look to evidence of progress. One of the notes I made during this section was about looking for evidence of where the apprentice started, and where are they heading to. One aspects of the practice tutor role is, of course, to be the glue, and to integrate everything together.

Practice tutors need to know core skills apprentices should be working towards gaining, and what is being taught through the academic content. If the work that the apprentice is currently carrying out doesn’t relate to the academic modules, it is a responsibility of the practice tutor to speak with the apprenticeship team.

Skills Scan

The skills scan is a document. Some apprentices may have completed their skills scan when they have started, and this should have been uploaded to the ePortfolio system. If a skills scan document doesn’t exist, it is important that a practice tutor asks the apprentice, or the APDM, if one has been completed.

One of the roles of the PT is to take what has been written on skills scan and relates it to the modules they are studying and the work the apprentice is performing. The skills, in turn, are related to the KSB criteria, and the PT needs to check through a skills scan document to make sure that everything makes sense.

Module briefing documents

PTs have access to something called module briefing documents. These summarise what KSBs are taught in which module. There is also a mapping of learning outcomes to modules, since some LOs are repeated across the curriculum. There is also a summary of what happens and when. In any 12 week progress review, there will be some items that have been covered since the last tripartite review meeting.

Tripartite meeting preparation

The first tripartite reviews is to take place within 4 weeks of an apprentice starting the programme, and the second one is expected to be face-to-face (unless good reason not to), another one within the 12 weeks. Over a period of a year, there should be 5 progress reviews within a year (which are fully documented within the ePortfolio tool).

The university is going to be publishing some further guidance about tripartite meetings, and more detailed will be provided within forthcoming PT training. The expectation is that all PTs will be expected to carry out to cover the same kinds of topics.

I made a note of suggested agenda items for a review. These included: actions from previous review, TMAs and EMAs, recording off the job time, KSBs, and English and maths skills. 

Key actions during the meetings included: updating the skills scan based upon their development of the knowledge, skills and behaviours (ticking things off); encouraging the apprentice to reflect on their role, responsibilities and progress (to add value for the employer); clarification of agreed actions to be completed by all, before the meeting. Also, connect employer targets to the apprenticeship programme. 

Other actions during the meetings may also include discussing any changes to working hours, career development, leave and opportunity for reflections, and ensuring that timesheets are completed and signed off.

Main tasks of the tripartite meeting

The PT must understand what KSBs apprentice needs to demonstrate to become competent at work and find ways to enable them to do this. Specifically, a PT must ensure that everyone has a good understanding of what is involved. The skills scan is considered to be the apprentice’s starting point, and is a tool used by the PT to find out about the progress they are making. 

During the meeting, the review meeting, the role of the PT is to discuss with the employer about possibilities in which they may be able to apply the KSBs, and achieving these should be evidenced in the ePortfolio tool.

Induction materials

The Computing apprenticeship team has been updating the induction materials that are available to new apprentices. There is a new area called “your study plan” which emphasises what needs to be done within the first 12 weeks of study. It also offers an introduction to each year.

Summary

The takeaway points from this session reflects the title. The main takeaway point is about KSBs; knowledge skills and behaviours. These need to be demonstrated in an apprentice’s 80% of workplace time, rather than the 20% of their academic study time. This also connects to the point that PTs play a fundamental role in ensuring that academic study is linked to work-based learning.

Another point is that the skills scan document plays an important role in relating what is done to the KSBs. On reflection, I need to make sure that I bring the skills scan document into my own practice. This will help me to gain evidence of an apprentice gaining their KSBs, which then, in turn, must be recorded within the ePortfolio.

A couple of new things for me were the module briefing documents, and the new induction materials. Before my next tripartite review, I plan to look through all these materials, to make sure I can share these with both employees and apprentices.