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.