FAQs

No. The number of questions asked will vary depending on the length of responses given by yourself and your colleagues. You should not worry about the number of questions asked, it is no indication of how well you have done.

Yes. All assessors are required to have strong knowledge, understanding and experience of work in schools.

You will need to submit your tasks and documentary evidence to the assessor on or before the deadline date.  This can be done by attaching to an email.

No. The assessor will work from what you have listed on the grid. They will not give you any feedback on the number or quality of your documents.

You must have at least one document per standard and no more than two.  You should be able to attach and send your evidence via e mail to your assessor.  The assessor has a limited amount of time to evaluate them, only one hour, therefore it is better to have one strong document than two weak ones.

We advise candidates to organise their documents in standards order, it is important to:
1. label them with the standards you are demonstrating
2. highlight the parts of the document you want the assessor to note
3. add notes about why you have included the document, e.g. “I used the positive reinforcement part of the behaviour policy when I was rewarding the group in Task 2”.

No. If you have an additional document then include it, but you do not need to have two documents for every standard.

No. You can use one document to demonstrate your achievement of more than one standard – for example, your planning for a session could show:
• Standard 17 (your contribution to planning),
• Standard 18 (how you planned what you will do yourself),
• Standard 21 (what resources you planned and prepared and why they are appropriate),
• Standard 13 (your knowledge of the curriculum),
• Standard 14 (your knowledge of suitable objectives and activities to implement the curriculum) and
• Standard 10 (how you are using your area(s) of expertise to support children and young people).

No. The final version of your tasks is the one you sent to the assessor in advance.

Day 3 of preparation is when you will be able to review your tasks with colleagues within the group. The preparer can give you general formative feedback but there are strict rules that mean preparers cannot give you detailed individual feedback on all your tasks. Preparers are not allowed to give feedback after final preparation session.

No. You will draft as much as you can before the final day and will bring this to discuss with tutor and colleagues. You will have at least a few weeks to complete and make any necessary adjustments after the final day

Yes. 350-500 words per event/situation.

There is no set word limit or page number limit. You should write enough to make it clear what you did and why. Most candidates find that around 3 pages at font size 10 or 5 pages at font size 12 text for each of the 3 tasks is about right.

No. All evidence for HLTA must derive from work carried out as an employee. Volunteers are not allowed to apply for HLTA and no evidence can be accepted from work carried out as a volunteer.

Individuals can only be accepted onto the HLTA programme if they work with children from age 3 in a statutory school setting, follow the National Curriculum or Foundation Stage and work under the guidance of a qualified teacher. Other specialist early years qualifications may be more appropriate for candidates working with under threes or in a non-statutory setting.

No. You need either your original certificate or a letter of results from the exam board. This is the only proof of qualifications that is permissible. Contact the Provider of Preparation if you have a concern about your qualifications.

Yes. You will need to show your preparer/tutor your original certificates before you can proceed. This has to happen by session 2 of your preparation, so you need to have the certificates beforehand.

Save your documentary evidence as a PDF file as this takes less space – send your documents in stages attached to two or three emails – ask your assessor if you can use Drop Box or We Transfer.

You should not send documents with a link to the school server

Your F9/10 must be in word format – everything else can be a PDF.

Yes, you must complete all eight tasks.

No, all eight tasks should be written and no more or less tasks.

No.  There is no formal observation of your practice.  All candidates will experience the same assessment process and prepare the same number of tasks.