| In this meet-the-team article, we talk to Deborah Hoggett, Head of Product and Assessment at SIAS. Thanks for joining us, Deborah, please tell us a little about who you are and your role at SIAS. Hi, I’m Deborah, one of the Head of Product and Assessment at SIAS. So my role is to develop the products for our end-point assessment standards, and that involves development of the actual assessments themselves, and the guidance materials, and support materials for apprentices, employers, and training providers, as well as guidance for the end-point assessors we work with. How long have you been at SIAS for? I’ve been at SIAS for around four months now, so I’m still relatively new. What was your background before you joined the organisation? I’ve always worked in education and training, I started my career working in further education with colleges, and then I moved on working for the Sector Skills Development Agency, which looked after the sector skills councils and then more recently I went back to university to study psychology and cognitive neuroscience. From that I went to a charity which helped people who were neurodivergent back into education, training, and employment, and then did a bit of a circle-back, working back in assessment and awarding. So yes, I’m back to the beginning, I suppose! Tell me about going back into education. That must have been a leap? What was it particularly about that subject area that interested you? It’s something I’ve always been interested in and feel like I’ve done things a little bit back to front! I had children when I was young, and then I decided to go back into university. I studied hard as a mature student and did quite well. I think, with psychology and education, thinking about assessments, it’s all interlinked, so I wanted to use what I’d learned and put it back into to what I’m passionate about. What does a typical day look like for you? There’s not really a typical day, I suppose, when you’re working for an end-point assessment organisation, and that’s something that I really like about the role – I like the variety. One day I could be working on developing assessment materials with some of our subject matter experts and it can be quite technical when you’re thinking about science and engineering, and then the next day I might be picking apart an assessment plan, so we’ve got a really good understanding of what’s involved with that, and then possibly discussing that with stakeholders. Tomorrow I’m going to a conference and delivering a presentation to some apprentices, so again that’s quite different, but it’s all exciting. There’s lots happening at SIAS with a growing product portfolio. What have you found to be the most exciting thing? I think it’s great to be part of such a really forward-thinking and customer-focused organisation. We are growing and there is a lot happening, and it’s really exciting to think about how far we can go as an organisation, and to always try to aim higher and be better for our customers, and ultimately for the learners. Please tell us a little bit about Deborah outside work? I’ve got three children aged 21, 18, and 13 so family time is really important to me. I grew up learning how to play the piano, so we’re quite music-focused in our house, we’re always listening to it, or I’ll be playing a tune of some kind. And I’m also a bit of a Formula One fan too – I love watching the races and I’ve been lucky enough to attend a few. Do you have a final thought for our readers? I think it’s a really exciting time as both for us an organisation and also for the sector, given the regulatory changes and all the rapid changes around us in the labour market. So it’s more important than ever that we give apprentices, employers, and training providers a quality service. We have a great bunch of people here at SIAS, everyone comes to work with this shared mission and it’s a pleasure to be part of it. |
Meet the team – Deborah Hogget
In this meet-the-team article, we talk to Deborah Hoggett, Head of Product and Assessment at SIAS.
