Ascentis Level 1 Award in Understanding Community Interpreting

Qualification Overview

This qualification offers the opportunity for learners who are speakers of other languages to learn about the area of Community Interpreting. Learners may wish to study the subject as they have an interest in the topic or they may wish to use the qualification as a stepping stone to becoming a Community Interpreter.

The qualification offers the opportunity to learn about the language skills required when working in the community – giving an awareness of how language changes depending on the situation. There is also an opportunity to look at how Public and Voluntary Service sectors work and their interaction with the community. The role of the interpreter is also explored and discussed.

The award consists of three mandatory units

There are several features of this qualification that make it very appropriate for its target learners

• It allows the learners to learn about the role of a Community Interpreter
• The learners can start to explore public sector services both statutory and voluntary and how they support community needs
• Unit certification is available for each of the units
• Verification and certification can be offered throughout the year, allowing maximum flexibility for centres

Aims

The aims of the qualification are to enable learners:

• To learn how to use language skills to the best advantage in bilingual contexts
• To learn about the sectors where interpreters may be required to work
• To learn about the role of the Community Interpreter

Target Group

This qualification is aimed at a range of learners, including:

• Those who have an interest in working with different linguistic groups in the community
• Those who have an interest in learning about the role of an interpreter
• Those who wish to acquire further qualifications to enable them to work towards becoming a Community Interpreter

Assessment Method

All units are internally assessed through the learner building up a portfolio of evidence that covers the relevant assessment criteria, internally assessed, and verified by the centre and then externally verified by Ascentis.

On completion of the learners’ evidence for either the individual units or the qualification, the assessor is required to complete the Summary Record of Achievement for each learner.

The Summary Record of Achievement asks assessors and the internal verifier to confirm that the rules of combination have been followed. This is particularly important in cases where a learner has taken units at different levels.

Centres are required to retain all evidence from all learners for external verification and for four weeks afterwards in case an appeal is made. The overall grading of this qualification is Pass or Fail.