Subject Experts
Do you want to help shape the future of qualifications? Do you have knowledge of qualifications, assessment and/or teaching?
In carrying out our work, we regularly rely upon the assistance of external subject experts to support our reform, approvals and monitoring work. This helps us to:
- ensure that qualifications comply with our requirements;
- ensure that qualifications and the Welsh qualification system are effective for meeting the reasonable needs of learners in Wales;
- promote public confidence in qualifications and the Welsh qualification system.
We use experts such as:
- Experienced teachers/tutors
- Examiners/ Quality assurance personnel
- Academics
- Professionals in assessment
- Professionals from vocational industries
The experts we use have detailed knowledge and experience of education and assessment and of how qualifications are taught and assessed.
We use experts for work relating to both General Qualifications and Vocational Qualifications.
If you have the required skills, knowledge and experience and an understanding of the Curriculum for Wales, and are selected to be included on our list, we will allocate work once we have considered:
- the area of expertise required.
- potential conflicts of interest.
- whether the expert has previously advised in respect of the matter.
- availability to complete the work.
Work varies from a few days reviewing material and attending meetings to several periods covering exam series. Some work is in groups and some individually.
Contracted experts are paid a day rate of either £300 or £400 inclusive of VAT, depending on the nature of the activity. These rates have been set following extensive benchmarking and we continually monitor market rates.
We award contracts for a period of three years with the option to extend for up to a further 12 months. The contracts allow us to ‘call off’ further work across the organisation from an expert depending on their skill set. We do not commit to offering further work to an expert under their contract.
Our subject experts are not considered employees but are independent contractors.
When we require subject experts, we advertise on www.sell2wales.gov.wales and, on the News page on our website.
Keep an eye on our social media accounts for news about which subjects where we may require experts’ assistance next:
https://www.instagram.com/qualswales/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/qualifications-wales
https://www.facebook.com/qualswalescymcymru
Qualifications Wales (@quals_wales) / X (twitter.com)
You will need to be registered as a ‘supplier’ on Sell2Wales to apply – see section below on how to register.
You can apply by downloading the response template from Sell2Wales and completing it with the required criteria/experience set out in the application. You should complete this and upload it along with your CV to Sell2Wales by the given deadline. A telephone interview may sometimes be undertaken in addition to our evaluation of your written application.
You will be informed if you are successful or not. We will provide you with written feedback on your application if you are not successful. Contracts awarded will be subject to the terms and conditions of contract for subject expert services.
Instructions on how to register as a supplier
Registration is free, only takes a couple of minutes and does not commit you to applying for a contract. Registration will also enable you to receive information about future opportunities with Qualifications Wales.
You may respond as an individual or via an organisation you work for.
The website contains lots of user guides to help you register and respond.
Website Help and Support - Sell2Wales (gov.wales)
Website user guides giving an overview of the specific function and processes used on the Sell2Wales portal, these guides include Postbox, registration and more:
- What is the Sell2Wales Postbox?
- New Supplier - Registering your account with SOC
- Sell2Wales overview guide 2021
If you complete your profile, this will allow you to receive email alerts and notifications for contract opportunities that are relevant to you and/or your business ensuring you make the most out of Sell2Wales.
The first section of the alerts profile will require you to enter product categories that are relevant to you. This will narrow the contract opportunities being shown, only showing contracts relevant to you.
The second section will ask you for geographical locations; this will be used to filter contract opportunities by geographic area, only showing contracts where you are willing to work.
Please note, we do not require applicants to hold a Dun & Bradstreet Number to apply for this role. To register as a supplier without a DUNs number, please leave this field blank and then click “look up.” A check box will appear which allows you to tick it and bypass this requirement and register as a supplier.
Response guidance
When responding to our adverts for new subject experts, please follow the instructions provided and include evidence of your skills, knowledge and experience against the required criteria. We will always provide a template to provide your response.
If you are unsuccessful, you will receive written feedback.
Performance Management
We will review the work you complete for us and provide a performance score, which we will share with you. The score will be considered when we have additional work and need to select from our pool of subject experts.
We have a standard set of key performance indicators for our subject experts:
- Ability to apply subject expertise and knowledge at the appropriate level.
- Ability to compose detailed, accurate and objective reports with reference to the necessary documentation.
- Professionalism at meetings (attendance as contracted, punctuality and conduct).
- Effective and timely submissions and communications with QW.
Additional work
Your contract will usually be for three years and typically you will be offered a set number of days to complete a piece of work for which you were awarded a contract. However, your skills and knowledge may also be relevant for other pieces of similar work, and we may offer you additional days.
You may turn this work down and it will not affect future opportunities.
When offered additional work, not only will we provide you with the outline of requirements and objectives, but also the number of days, the proposed timetable, the daily rate and contact point. This will be captured in a Statement of Work which will require signing and returning.
Payment
When you accept work, you will be issued with a purchase order (PO) number.
When you invoice us for completed work, you must quote the PO number (particularly important if you are working on more than one contract with us) and attach receipts covering any travel and subsistence we have agreed to the invoice. Please note that you are responsible for any tax payable as a result of this work.
Teachers that are awarded a Contract can only be paid the consultancy fee if they complete the tasks outside of school/college hours.
For tasks completed outside of teaching hours the expert may claim the full payable consultancy fee and will be fully responsible for any Income Tax and National Insurance contributions arising from payment made for the Services under the contract.
Experts may agree with their employer to have all payments made via their payroll in order to manage the deductions.
When the expert is required to attend training/and or meetings during normal teaching hours, they cannot claim the consultancy fee but their employer (school /college/Local Authority) may submit a Teacher Release invoice to Qualifications Wales, which is a set rate of £189 to compensate for any supply cover costs.
The number of days, if required to take place during teaching hours for each piece of work, will vary. Before accepting the work, the expert will need to agree with their employer that they can commit to the work during teaching hours. As an example, for qualification approvals work, the expert will be required to attend a day’s training and participate in around three panel meetings of a day each, depending on the qualification, that will take place during teaching hours.
You will need to complete a new supplier form so that we can pay for your work once completed. Your name, contact details and address will be required and includes the bank account to which we should make payment. (i.e. whether we are paying into your personal bank account, or into a school or limited company).
Publicity
To meet public procurement and payment transparency requirements, we publish a list of all our contracts on our website:
Transparency | Qualifications Wales
We also need to securely share your details with our finance system contractor.
Please see our privacy notice: Privacy Policy | Qualifications Wales
Contact
If you are an existing subject expert, you will have the opportunity to feed back to us during any performance review.
You may contact us at Procurement@Qualifications.wales for any contractual queries.