Maria Vega Gonzalez – CPT3A course review

Maria Vega Gonzalez is currently a Secondary Support Teacher in an international school in Singapore. Prior to this, she was a Trust SEND Lead in an academy trust in South London that had five primary schools and before that a SENCO and a Year 6 teacher.

Earlier this year, she gained her Certificate in Psychometric Testing, Assessment and Access Arrangements (CPT3A) with us and chose the online self-paced route. She kindly gave us her feedback below.

Why did you want to undertake this course? What was your overall impression of it?

I initially wanted to complete the CPT3A course because I thought I wanted to apply for the SENCO role where I’m currently working, and I heard a lot from colleagues about the benefits of doing the access arrangements qualification with Real Training. I’ve since realised that I’m enjoying my current classroom-based role and don’t want to be taken away from that just yet – although I may go back into leadership at some point.

This year my workload was a little lighter than usual, so I decided to go ahead and invest that time in learning something new. I’m really glad I did because I found the course genuinely interesting. The CPT3A course has definitely benefited my practice. I regularly read assessment reports and adapt teaching accordingly, so having a much deeper understanding of where those reports come from and how assessments are carried out helps me make more informed decisions.

If I ever return to a primary setting, I know I will be able to support colleagues to interpret the data in reports from specialists. I would also be able to save the school some money on EP hours by doing some of the psychometric testing in-house.

What did you enjoy most about it?

For me, it was simply how interesting it was. I really enjoy learning, so having the opportunity to explore different assessments, understand how they work, and learn about the theory and reasoning behind them was fascinating. It challenged me to think differently, and I came away feeling I’d gained knowledge that helps me understand pupils and educational practice much better.

What was the support like from your tutors?

I think it’s one of the best courses that I’ve done because there’s lots of practical and back and forth with your tutors, so you can build on your own knowledge.

The best thing about the exam access arrangement course was the extensive knowledge of the tutor. What I really liked was the level of detail in the feedback and how she drew on the latest legislation to explain why small tweaks really mattered.

What was most useful?

You are constantly required to apply what you’ve learned – adapting the knowledge to what your setting actually needs in that specific moment. I think this is the most useful aspect of the course.

The case studies help connect the theory with real-life situations. Understanding not just what the access arrangement guidance says, but how it applies in practice, was really valuable.

There’s also an amazing library with loads of resources that you can just go back to and read and share with your team.

Do you think schools could be making greater use of psychometric testing to support earlier intervention, as well as access arrangements?

Absolutely. One thing I’ve noticed is that, in many schools, access arrangements tend to sit with one person, usually the SENCO. That’s a huge amount of responsibility resting with one individual, and sometimes the process isn’t as collaborative as it could be.

Ideally, it should be much more holistic, with parents, pupils and teaching staff all understanding the reasons behind decisions and the support that’s being put in place. Too often it can become something that’s done quite quickly because of exam deadlines. I do think schools are gradually moving towards earlier identification and intervention, but there’s still plenty of room for improvement.

Do you think more primary school professionals could benefit from completing CCET?

In primary schools, it’s obviously not mandatory for the SENCos to have these qualifications. But yes I think it would be very useful for many of them just to have it to understand how to interpret the reports that they receive, how to explain the data to the parents, and also how to choose better tests for the baseline assessment of children.

Would you recommend this Real Training course to others?

Yes, definitely. I really would recommend it. When I was researching courses, I struggled to find many alternatives that offered the same qualification, and overall I thought the quality of the course was very good.

It gave me a much better understanding of assessment, legislation and access arrangements, even though I’m not currently working in that role. It’s been valuable professionally, and I think anyone interested in developing their understanding of SEND and assessment would benefit from completing it.

Explore more about our assessment courses by visiting our webpage here