A conflict of interest is an activity in which an individual or the centre has competing interests or loyalties. This may lead to an individual or individuals acting in a way contrary to the interest of the centre, awarding organisation and integrity of the qualification.
A conflict of interest may arise in a variety of different situations associated with the delivery, assessment and examination of qualifications. The following list is not exhaustive but provides examples of common potential conflicts:
- Where an individual has personal interests that conflict with their professional association with Titan Development Centre;
- An assessment and internal quality assurance activity on a single course is undertaken by the same person;
- Where an individual is internally marking assessments of a learner who is a friend or relative;
- Where a tutor invigilates examinations for a course of study that they have taught.
In implementing the approach for identifying conflicts of interest, everyone at the Centre is required to abide by the following principles:
- All must commit to identifying conflicts of interest and in doing so, raise any possible conflicts of interest with the Head of Centre;
- All must be proactive in the identification and management of conflicts of interest that may affect learners, the Centre or the Awarding Organisation;
- All must be open about the nature of any conflicts of interest and not try to hide or present them in a better light – managing conflicts of interest is about preventing issues from occurring that may impact on learners, the Centre or the Awarding Organisation;
- Strive to identify and deal with conflicts of interest sooner rather than later;
- Controls to manage the effect of any potential conflict of interest must be proportionate to the risks associated with the identified conflict.
Where a declaration of an actual or potential conflict of interest is identified, then the process for managing the conflict will follow these steps:
I. Head of Centre assesses the impact of the conflict or potential conflict of interest;
II. The conflict is either removed of managed;
III. Where it requires to be managed, the Head of centre will liaise with the relevant programme manager to discuss the necessary actions/controls to manage the conflict, mitigate any impact on the organisation and ultimately to ensure that the learners are not adversely affected;
IV. Conflicts of interest will be monitored and reported to the Awarding Organisation where applicable.
The Centre will maintain a record of any declared conflicts of interest or potential/perceived conflicts of interest, recording them in a Conflicts of Interest Register that includes the nature of the conflict, potential adverse effect and the mitigating actions.
If a conflict of interest occurs that has not been disclosed then the Centre will refer to the relevant policy for Malpractice and Maladministration, Appeals or Staff Disciplinary.