Find out how you report training malpractice
Reporting training malpractice: who to tell and what they need to know.
We take training malpractice very seriously, as do our awarding organisation partners and the qualifications regulatory authorities. It is critical that we protect the integrity of our licence and the credibility of related qualifications.
What is training malpractice?
We define training malpractice as “any deliberate activity, neglect, default or other practice that compromises the integrity of the assessment process and/or the validity of certificates.”
Some examples of training malpractice are when:
- a learner cheats during an exam, or they help someone else to cheat
- the trainer gives out the answers before or during an exam
- the trainer passes someone who has not completed the required number of hours for the course
- the trainer falsifies records to make it look as though a learner did better in an exam than they really did
What should you do if you become aware of training malpractice?
You should report training malpractice to the relevant awarding organisation and qualifications regulator. Their compliance departments will investigate, and take action if they need to.
If you send us information about training malpractice, we will send it on to these organisations.
Awarding organisations
Send your report of training malpractice to the email addresses listed below:
- BIIAB: complianceandregulation@biiab.co.uk
- Highfield: centresupport@highfield.co.uk
- Pearson BTEC: pqsmalpractice@pearson.com
- Qualifications Network: feedback@qnuk.org
- SFJ Awards: qateam@sfjawards.com
- Trident Awards (LASER): compliance@laser-awards.org.uk
Qualifications regulators
Send your report of training malpractice to:
- the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual) if it happened in England
- the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) if it happened in Scotland
- Qualifications Wales if it happened in Wales
- the Council for Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA) if it happened in Northern Ireland
What should you tell them?
You should be as specific as possible in your report to the awarding organisation and qualifications regulator. There are some details they will need to know before they can begin their investigation.
You will need to tell them:
- who – the names of anyone you think is involved
- what – a description of the malpractice
- where – the training provider you suspect of involvement and the address of any training or assessment sites (some have multiple sites)
- when – the times and dates of the malpractice, and the times and dates of the training and assessment period as a whole
They will not be able to investigate unless they have this information.
Last updated 3 June 2024 + show all updates
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Amended to feature: examples of training malpractice; email addresses of the awarding organisations; links to the 'contact us' pages of the qualifications regulators.
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Removed NOCN from the list of awarding organisations.
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First published.