A guide for DofE Assessors

Thank you for offering your time and expertise to be an Assessor for the DofE Award Volunteering Section. Please read on to find out more about your role.

What would you love to do?

Your role involves supporting the participant with their volunteering, checking completed work/evidence, and submitting a report to DofE.

You can support them by:

talking to them about what they want to get out of volunteering with us and helping them set some goals
supporting and encouraging them
discussing transport with them (if necessary), plus how feasible these tasks may be for them and any accessibility needs they may have
monitoring their progress
reviewing the work they complete, including looking at images of completed tasks (making sure you can’t see people’s faces in the images), checking answers, and reading any written pieces.

They will meet DofE requirements if they undertake their activity regularly (averaging at least one hour per week) over either 13 or 26 weeks and have shown effort, perseverance and improvement.

What happens once they’ve finished?

Once the participant has completed their tasks, they’ll send you their evidence booklet and certificate of completion. You’ll need to check that everything is ready and complete, then submit an Assessor’s report on the DofE website.

What you write will form part of the permanent record of their DofE programme. With this in mind, please celebrate the participant’s achievement and make your comments personal, positive, constructive and engaging. Remember to include the activity’s start and end dates.

To submit your report visit: DofE.org/assessor and follow the instructions. You’ll need the person’s name, their eDofE ID number, their DofE level (Bronze or Silver) and the section you’re assessing (Volunteering).

You can also watch this video.

Any questions?

For more information and support please speak to the participant’s DofE Leader. If they can’t help, you can email us at: dofe@rspca.org.uk

Safeguarding

If you have an urgent safeguarding concern, the NSPCC has excellent advice on who to contact.