Impartiality
ISA seeks to ensure certification decisions are made without improper influence from commercial, training, employer or candidate interests.
Quality Policy
The International Skills Authority is committed to maintaining quality, fairness, transparency and integrity across competency standards, assessment processes, credential decisions and verification records.
This policy sets out the quality principles that guide ISA’s recognition activities and support public confidence in ISA-issued credentials.
Policy Statement
ISA exists to provide credible recognition of professional capability. To fulfill this purpose, ISA must ensure that its frameworks, assessment processes, credential decisions and records are administered with appropriate quality controls.
ISA’s quality approach is designed to separate learning from certification, ensure assessment decisions are linked to defined competency requirements, and provide relying parties with a clear mechanism for understanding and verifying credentials.
ISA is committed to conducting its activities in a manner that is impartial, evidence-led, accessible, documented and accountable. This includes maintaining clear standards, consistent processes, secure records and appropriate mechanisms for review, complaints and improvement.
Quality Objective
ISA’s quality objective is to ensure that issued credentials are meaningful, defensible and verifiable.
A credential should provide a reliable statement that an individual has been assessed against a defined professional competency standard and has met the applicable requirements.
Quality Principles
Evidence-Led Recognition
Recognition decisions are based on candidate evidence, assessment outcomes and alignment to defined competency requirements.
Consistency
ISA uses documented frameworks, decision rules and review procedures to promote consistency across credential pathways.
Transparency
Certification areas, credential status and verification pathways should be clear to candidates, employers and relying parties.
Accessibility
ISA supports recognition of capability developed through multiple learning pathways, including work experience and self-directed learning.
Continuous Improvement
ISA reviews standards, assessments, processes and feedback to improve recognition quality and maintain current relevance.
Traceability
Credential decisions, issue records and verification information are managed to support accountability and credential integrity.
Professional Trust
ISA’s quality controls are intended to support confidence in credentials used by individuals, employers and other parties.
Quality Commitment
ISA will maintain documented processes for competency framework development, assessment review, certification decision-making, credential issue, verification and records management.
ISA will review these processes periodically and make improvements where required to support the ongoing credibility, fairness and usefulness of ISA recognition.
Quality Controls
Quality controls are applied across the ISA recognition lifecycle. These controls help ensure that standards are suitable, assessments are appropriate, certification decisions are recorded, and credentials remain verifiable.
Because ISA recognizes capability developed through multiple pathways, quality controls are especially important. They help ensure that flexible recognition does not become informal recognition. Candidates may have different learning histories, but each credential must still be linked to defined standards and evidence requirements.
Scope of Quality Controls
- Competency framework governance
- Assessment method design and review
- Credential decision rules
- Identity, declaration or evidence checks where applicable
- Credential issue and records management
- Complaints, appeals and review handling
Quality Area
Requirement
Control Activity
Framework Governance
Competency frameworks should define clear professional capability areas and evidence expectations.
Frameworks are documented, reviewed and updated where standards or practice requirements change.
Assessment Integrity
Assessment activities should test the relevant knowledge, judgment and applied capability.
Assessment items, evidence requirements and decision thresholds are mapped to the applicable framework.
Certification Decisions
Credential decisions should be consistent, documented and linked to the relevant credential pathway.
Records are maintained for certification outcomes, issue information and credential status.
Credential Verification
Issued credentials should be capable of being checked by employers and other relying parties.
Credential IDs, register entries or verification pathways are maintained to support confirmation of status.
Review and Complaints
Candidates and relying parties should have access to appropriate review and complaint mechanisms.
Concerns are recorded, reviewed and used to inform improvement where appropriate.
ISA quality controls are designed to protect credential value.
A credential should be useful because it is linked to a standard, supported by assessment and capable of verification.
Complaints, Appeals and Review
ISA recognizes the importance of fairness and procedural clarity. Candidates, employers and other parties may require a pathway to raise concerns about assessment processes, credential information or administrative decisions.
ISA will maintain procedures for receiving, recording and reviewing complaints or appeals. Where a concern identifies a quality issue, ISA will consider corrective action and any broader process improvement required.
Procedural Fairness
ISA aims to ensure that concerns are handled fairly, respectfully and in accordance with documented procedures.
Outcomes may include clarification, administrative correction, reassessment, process review or no change where the original decision is confirmed.
Concerns about process, service or conduct
Complaints may relate to administrative handling, communication, access, service standards, credential information or broader quality concerns.
Review of an assessment or credential decision
Appeals provide a mechanism for candidates to request review of a certification outcome where they believe a relevant issue has occurred.
Using feedback to improve recognition quality
Feedback, complaints and appeals may be reviewed for trends that can inform framework updates, assessment improvements or process changes.
Candidate and Public Confidence
ISA’s recognition model depends on trust. Complaints and appeals are not only administrative mechanisms; they are part of the quality system that supports accountability and continuous improvement.
Records, Verification and Continuous Improvement
ISA maintains records to support credential verification, quality review and organizational accountability. Records may include candidate credential status, issue date, credential ID, certification area and relevant assessment or evidence information.
Continuous improvement is embedded in ISA’s approach. As professional work changes, including through automation, digital tools and AI-assisted learning, ISA will continue reviewing its frameworks and processes to ensure they remain relevant and credible.
- ✓Framework Review
Competency frameworks are reviewed to ensure they remain aligned with current professional practice and workforce expectations. - ✓Assessment Review
Assessment methods are reviewed for relevance, fairness, clarity and alignment to the applicable framework. - ✓Credential Records
Credential records are maintained to support verification and preserve the integrity of issued credentials. - ✓Corrective Action
Where a quality issue is identified, ISA may take corrective action and update processes to prevent recurrence.
Quality is central to ISA’s role as a standards body.
Our quality policy supports recognition that is flexible in pathway, but rigorous in standard.