A cognitive assessment tool that ignites learner capability and drives achievement
We created Aptem Assess in response to feedback that external systems and lengthy assessments often leave learners with a poor experience, and admin teams chasing learners to complete onboarding tasks.
Topics covered within this brochure
Why Aptem Assess exists
Apprenticeship training providers should be assessing learner support needs and taking action where a need is identified, to meet the requirements of the funding rules.
We created Aptem Assess, embedded within Aptem Apprentice, in response to feedback that external systems and lengthy assessments often leave learners with a poor experience, and admin teams chasing learners to complete onboarding tasks.
Aptem customers have spoken about the limitations of current cognitive assessment tools that don’t link Learning Plan adaptations to Additional Learning Support (ALS) funding claims and ILR.
Why Aptem Assess?
- Seamlessly integrate cognitive assessment into the onboarding process or where needed in the delivery programme.
- Offer 87% of learners an experience that takes no more than 15 minutes.
- Enable learners to complete assessments on a device of their choosing - mobile, tablet or desktop.
- Obtain guidance on reasonable adjustments for Learning Plans and End Point Assessment.
- Access learning support materials via the Aptem Resource Centre.
Learning support: what is expected of providers?
It is widely accepted that it’s good practice to assess and address an apprentice’s learning support needs.
As a provider, you will want to mitigate the risk of drop-out, by giving learners the support they need.
Ofsted will want to know that you are assessing the individual needs of each learner, to ensure you are not disadvantaging the learner.
With approximately one in seven (13.5%) apprentices having a neurodivergent profile, a provider with 2,000 learners could statistically have around 270 with additional learning support needs. The importance of cognitive assessment and tailored learning support is clear, particularly in light of the sector's collective effort to achieve a 67% apprenticeship achievement rate by 2025.
Our focus is on providing high-quality, inclusive training for everyone, regardless of their background. A cornerstone of our strategy is ensuring that every learner has the best chance of success. As part of this effort, we are excited to participate in the pilot programme for Aptem Assess. We are impressed by its engaging design, efficient completion time, and accessibility across all devices. The academic foundations are strong, and we look forward to piloting it with our learners.
Specialist Skills Hub
The 2023/24 funding rules state that providers must undertake a screening exercise for learning support as part of the initial assessment. You will also need to be taking action when a need is identified. Your subsequent ALS funding claims rely on a robust approach to how that assessment is addressed – and evidenced – in learning delivery through Learning Plan and EPA adaptations. It is widely accepted that it’s good practice to assess and address an apprentice’s learning support needs.
* https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-catalogue/apprenticeshipsandtraineeships/2021-22 – of 288,800 apprentice starts in 2021-2022, 38,980 were Learners with Learning Difficulties or Disabilities
What is Aptem Assess from Aptem Apprentice?
Aptem Assess is a cognitive assessment tool, integrated within Aptem Apprentice, that enables you to seamlessly identify learning needs as part of your onboarding and Initial Assessment, and where needed during the delivery programme.
It is built into the Aptem onboarding process, so there is no need for a user to log off one system and on to another. Flexibility within Aptem’s onboarding allows you to select when this assessment takes place. You can also choose to assess a learner, or group of learners, at any point in the delivery programme, should a coach or learner flag a concern. Aptem Assess helps you to identify learning needs and offers you guidance on how to help the learner succeed in learning. Aptem already provides the tools to easily evidence the action and support you have given.
Aptem Assess takes care of your cognitive assessment obligations and advises on how to adapt the Learning Plan and EPA. All within one system with no external logins.
How does Aptem Assess work within Aptem Apprentice
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Start the assessment
On a device of their choice, learners navigate to Cognitive Assessment within the onboarding section of Aptem Apprentice. If they are already on programme a notification will appear on their dashboard and a requires attention card.
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Full-screen, distraction-free
When they click 'start assessment', they will be taken to a full-screen overlay, designed to minimise distractions.
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Eight cognitive areas
They then work their way through an assessment covering eight cognitive areas of the brain: working memory, processing speed, numerical reasoning, verbal reasoning, spatial reasoning, literacy, executive functioning, short term memory.
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Adaptive questioning
For each cognitive area, if no evidence of additional learning support needs is identified in initial answers, the learner will progress to the next section. If evidence of neurodiversity is identified, further questions will be asked in order to accurately identify the learner's level on a normal distribution.
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15 minutes, on average
Due to its unique adaptive format, for an estimated 87% of learners, this assessment should take no more than 15 minutes.
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Accuracy and quality scoring
Aptem Assess will look at accuracy and speed to determine where the learner sits on the benchmarked scale, and whether they need additional learning support from their provider. A quality score is included for Skills teams to assess the accuracy of the results. Retesting is available if a learner is borderline.
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One learner profile
The learner profile in Aptem Apprentice will be conveniently populated with the cognitive assessment results rather than a separate PDF, alongside their responses to ILR questions, and their English, Maths and Digital Skills Initial Assessments. Assessors can deep dive into the results and all information can be extracted using OData.
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Reasonable adjustments
The results will indicate where the learner scores on a normal distribution for each cognitive area. The report will suggest reasonable adjustments that should be made to the Learning Plan and the End Point Assessment, to give the learner the best chance of completing their apprenticeship.
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Visible to the right people
This information is available for the relevant people to see, this could be the Coach who is delivering the learning, the Compliance Lead who is making the funding claim, the Operations Manager who oversees quality, a separate ALS team, or indeed an Ofsted inspector or DfE auditor.
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Resources in one place
Additional learning support resources in the Aptem Resource Centre can be used to modify a learner's Learning Plan.
Supporting beyond assessment
If a learner is identified as having a learning need across one or more of the eight assessment areas, you can provide additional learning support resources to them. These are uploaded via SCORM into the Aptem Resource Centre or directly into a Learning Plan or sub-programme.
Why customers choose Aptem Assess over other cognitive assessment tools
Why customers choose Aptem Assess over other cognitive assessment tools
- What we heard: Providers underclaim ALS funding, or risk claw-back, as they lack the ability to link assessment with Learning Plans and evidencing of learning support.
- How Aptem Assess helps: By integrating this cognitive assessment tool into the system delivering the learning plan and supporting learners throughout their apprenticeship journey, it's simple to link assessments and evidence learning support..
- What we heard: Employers are frustrated with the amount of assessment that has to take place at the start of the apprenticeship.
- How Aptem Assess helps: Aptem Assess is an adaptive tool that only requires learners to answer enough questions to ascertain if there is a neurodiverse need that requires further assessment.
- What we heard: Learners expect the flexibility to complete onboarding on a device of their choice.
- How Aptem Assess helps: Aptem Assess is fully responsive and works on mobile, tablet or desktop. This contributes to a positive experience in the all-important onboarding period.
- What we heard: With already heavy caseloads, coaches struggle to keep on top of multiple systems.
- How Aptem Assess helps: For coaches, everything is in one place – from cognitive assessment results to subsequent Learning Plan adaptations. This frees them up to focus on quality of delivery.
- What we heard: Having a myriad of systems to access, learners frequently misplace logins and need prompting to complete each aspect of onboarding.
- How Aptem Assess helps: Learners will need to log in to only one system to complete their cognitive assessment and onboarding. A seamless experience, at a critical time.
- What we heard: With data siloed in multiple systems, providers struggle to accurately report on funding related to additional learning needs.
- How Aptem Assess helps: As with other Aptem solutions, in-built Power BI reports are included to give providers full oversight.
After a thorough review of similar products on the market, we found Aptem Assess to be the most user friendly for both staff and more importantly apprentices. It integrated into their existing learner management system which was really important to us, we feel this will improve engagement from learners having everything in one place. It also takes away any stigma that they may feel having a separate log in to something specifically for additional support.
Kelly McAllister, Head of Apprenticeships and Business Development, Bradford College
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