Our Approach to Teaching, Learning, and Assessment

Significant period of change

Education and learning have been through a significant period of change, with new technologies (such as AI) and the legacy impact of the COVID-19 pandemic being key drivers. These changes, together with our ambition to deliver even higher quality apprenticeships, are the main reasons for updating this document in 2024.

The pace of change and expanding possibilities in professional education has never been greater– shifts in learning following COVID19, an exponential growth in learning technologies, including generative AI, and a national imperative to right-skill the workforce makes this an exciting time for the learning and education sector.

Lisa Nelson Director of Learning and Curriculum at Kaplan UK

Inspiring every learner to succeed

We pride ourselves on the overall experience a Kaplan learner enjoys, inspiring them to succeed not only in terms of their learning journey but also in their longer-term career aspirations.

Many of our learners are on apprenticeship programmes, whilst many others learn with us to achieve a recognised qualification. Whichever route they take, we want learners to develop as individuals, competent in the skills they develop, confident in themselves and capable of independent thinking. We support learners to develop transferable skills which will ensure they are credible in the workplace and well prepared for the next stage in their careers, able to navigate the inevitable changes of the digital workplace and be of real value to employers.

Inclusivity

We take an inclusive approach, recognising the variety of backgrounds of our learners and the different range of experiences they may have had. We believe that everyone regardless of ethnic origin, age, gender, sexuality, educational background, religious beliefs, or disability, should be given the opportunity and support to achieve their goals.

Curriculum, programme, and course design

We take a data-driven, evidence-based approach to learning design and our curriculum is informed by our sector expertise and strong relationships with employers. Learning is carefully sequenced, increasing in complexity as learners grow in both competence and confidence - supporting the transfer of what is learned to long-term memory.

This approach has helped shape how content is structured, drawing a distinction between declarative knowledge (factual information, ‘knowing what’), procedural knowledge (task and skill-based application, ‘knowing how’) and conditional knowledge (‘knowing when and why’) to help identify and clarify the most applicable pedagogical activity.

Delivery channels and learning technology

We offer students a range of ways to study. Our four delivery channels have unique attributes, but also much in common, as one channel can be blended with another offering learners both structure and flexibility.

The four delivery channels

people

Classroom

Synchronous, scheduled, face to face

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Live Online

Synchronous, scheduled, online

subscriptions

OnDemand

Asynchronous, flexible, online

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Distance Learning

Asynchronous, flexible, remote^*

*Distance learning is not available for apprentices.

All channels use technology to support learning and both our Classroom and Live Online study channels offer a blended approach to learning. This mirrors the expectations of the modern workplace, particularly post COVID19 where many Kaplan learners perform their job roles both in the workplace and remotely from home. Our blended approach provides opportunities for learners to develop the required skills to be successful in a modern, hybrid work environment.

Assessment

Assessment provides feedback to both learners and those supporting them, to close the gap between present and potential learning. Tutors, Talent Coaches and markers offer advice and guidance as to what the learner needs to do to improve and the next steps they should take.

For apprentices, we take a broad view by assessing the development of their knowledge, skills, and behaviours required by the occupational standard and beyond, as well as supporting them through our personal development curriculum.

Learning quality

Identifying and measuring the impact of learning allows us to assess the effectiveness of learning and educational interventions, providing us with confidence that we are investing our time and resources wisely in the areas that best meet the needs of our learners. We take a comprehensive approach to measuring learning quality which stretches beyond simply asking learners if they are happy with their learning experience. We believe that learner motivation, confidence and engagement are key enablers to learner progression and success.

We cannot deliver consistently good teaching and learning without high quality standards. We achieve this by recruiting people, Tutors, Talent Coaches, Curriculum Managers and Learning Designers, with a passion for what they do, providing them with the very best training, and offering feedback and guidance so they can improve what we do for the benefit of our learners.

Looking for more detail?

This is a summary of the key elements of our Approach to Teaching, Learning and Assessment. An abridged PDF version of Kaplan's Approach to Teaching, Learning and Assessment is available on request.