SECTION 1 – THE ASSESSMENT PROCESS

What Is Assessment?

Assessment is the process of judging a learner’s evidence against the standards and specifications set by an awarding or lead body. As a result of this process, you will assess a learner as being either competent or not yet competent and you will judge their evidence as being either sufficient or insufficient for them to have reached an appropriate standard.

What Are Assessment Standards?

Assessment standards are set by examining boards and lead bodies. All teacher/tutors must be familiar with these prior to any assessment taking place.
Standards are checked for fairness to all learners by internal and external verifiers, moderators and examiners as appropriate.

Who Is the Assessor/Teacher/tutor?

An assessor or teacher/tutor is the person who has the responsibility for marking/evaluating/assessing the work of learners against the standards set by the awarding body.

The Fundamentals of Assessment

The assessor must ensure that all the assessments on which they make judgements are:

1. fair – the same criteria are applied to all learners in the same way;
2. consistent – similar judgements are made about learners’ performance given the same criteria and evidence;
3. valid – the evidence is current (no more than two years old) and provides a true indication of the performance of the learner at the time of assessment;
4. reliable – the evidence presented represents the unaided work/performance of the learner;
5. sufficient – when all the requirements of the qualification as set by the awarding body have been met;
6. at an appropriate standard – as set by the awarding body.

Ensuring that Learners Have Access to Fair and Reliable Assessments

All learners should receive the same opportunities to achieve and if any learner has special needs, arrangements should be made for them to have extra personal or technological help in line with the Equal Opportunities, Sex Discrimination and Racial Discrimination Acts. A learner must not be penalised in the method of presenting evidence or in assessment decisions on the basis of age, race, disability, gender, or any other factor. This could involve the need to provide differentiated learning materials.
Disabled learners may require additional professional or technological support to help them to meet the performance criteria of any particular assessment. However, the standards and performance criteria set by the awarding body must be met by the learner and you must recognise that all learners will not be capable of meeting the requirements for all qualifications. You should take advice on this matter from the awarding body.
More inexperienced learners would need more thorough step-by-step guidance through the period of preparation for assessment.
Different learners may need longer to prepare and to actually do the assessment. Sufficient time should be allowed for this to take place without the learner feeling under time pressure unless the assessment is set as timed by the awarding body.
The place chosen for assessment should also not be intimidating and it is better if assessment takes place in familiar surroundings and with familiar people around.

Maintaining Consistency in Assessment

The role of the teacher/tutor is absolutely crucial in maintaining the trust of learners in the judgements made about their work and for the national credibility of the qualification.
In order to achieve consistency, teachers/tutors must make similar judgements about the performance of all learners given the same criteria and evidence.
To provide learners with fair and reliable assessment, all the teacher/tutors in a team must ensure that they are marking to the same criteria and to the same standards. This must be based on the standards and/or marking schemes and guidelines laid down by the awarding or lead body. This ensures that the learners' work is marked to a national standard of consistency, which is fair to them and lends credibility to the qualification. Standardisation meetings should take place regularly throughout the year.

The following advice will help to maintain consistency of assessment:

1. Observe other members of the team and where there are uncertainties, request double marking or team marking.
2. Re-evaluate portfolio evidence (i.e., look through a completed portfolio and compare your marking with that of others).
3. Sample the same work from different learners.
4. Write notes in the margins of the work.
5. Get learner feedback.
6. Attend team meetings and keep in regular communication with the team. This gives you a chance to discuss issues and concerns in order to achieve consistency in marking.
7. Get a range of opinions on the same piece or set of work.
8. Teacher/tutors could meet before an assignment is handed out to draw up a checklist of what is expected for various grades (if applicable).
9. Read the minutes of meetings.
10. Read feedback from internal and external verifiers/standards moderators and take appropriate action.

Checking the Reliability of Evidence

Reliable assessment evidence represents the unaided work of candidates so it is vital that you, as the teacher/tutor, are sure that any finished piece of work is genuinely the work of the learner who is claiming it as their own. This is not always easy, but there are some techniques, which you could consider using.

1. Whenever possible, learners could be observed in the process of producing the evidence they wish to submit for assessment. If it is not possible to observe the whole process, you could check on progress at regular intervals or at crucial points.
2. They could be asked to do a piece of work in the presence of the teacher/tutor if there was any doubt as to the authenticity of evidence.
3. Supplementary questioning and testing can be used to check the understanding and competence of a learner.
4. Experienced teacher/tutors do learn the styles and capabilities of learners through their approach to their work in class and with experience will come to know when careful checks must be made.

Checking the Validity of Evidence

Valid evidence is current and provides an indication of the capabilities of the learner at the time of assessment.
Relevant evidence presented by a learner could have been produced some time earlier in circumstances different from those in which you see them. This evidence could still be valid, but it is your responsibility to check it. Except in exceptional circumstances, it is unusual for any evidence that is over two years old to be acceptable (see guidelines under APL in ‘Evidence’).
When teachers/tutors acknowledge and accept skills capabilities and evidence which learners have brought with them, you must consider three types of evidence:
 
CLAIM PROOF
Achievement of a previous qualification which in itself goes part way towards the requirements of the target qualification.
Skills and knowledge which they say they already possess.

PROOF
A certificate.
They must prove to you that their skills/knowledge are acceptable for the target qualification.

Sufficiency of Evidence

If the learner has completed all the requirements to the necessary standard as set by the awarding body, the evidence is sufficient to make a positive decision. Check the marking criteria in the assessment pack for guidance on pass marks. If the learner has not achieved, then the learner should be given help and advice to enable them to provide whatever evidence is required for them to achieve at the next assessment occasion.

Making Judgements to an Appropriate Standard

1. Know the specification to which you are working thoroughly and use only the specified criteria as laid down in the specification when making judgements.
2. Make sure that any assessment briefs that you write are verified for their appropriateness for the assessment before they are issued to learners.
3. Seek advice from other assessors, internal verifiers and programme co-ordinators if you are unsure of anything.
4. As a team, hold standardisation meetings.

Difficulties You Might Have In Making Fair and Reliable Judgements

Teachers/tutors are only human and our judgements are subject to our own feelings and past experiences. A good teacher/tutor is aware of this and will try to be objective in their assessments.
Personal negative feelings towards a particular learner can have arisen as the result of that learner’s manner or past behaviour. Under these circumstances, it is important that the assessor acknowledges these feelings and concentrates on assessing the evidence presented only against the relevant performance criteria.
Learners with disabilities can also present the assessor with problems in making fair and reliable judgements. The assessor needs to be very clear in advance of assessment of what consideration needs to be taken, if any, of changes from what could be considered usual in the way in which evidence is presented. If these changes are likely to produce problems in making judgements against the relevant performance criteria, these should have been considered and if necessary discussed with experts, verifiers and the awarding body in advance of assessment.

Types of Assessment

The planning of assessment of learning needs to take place alongside the planning of lesson delivery. Flexibility also allows the teacher/tutor to meet the needs of the learners.

Continuous Assessment

Continuous assessment is when a teacher/tutor relies on observations, setting marked work and keeping records of each individual’s progress, throughout the course. Assessment is then based on these, rather than on an end of course exam. This gives a fairer view of performance sustained over a period of time, rather than a snapshot on an exam day when, for a variety of reasons, a person might not perform at her or his best. It is also effective at measuring the application of knowledge. These courses are NOT assessed by continuous assessment; however, all candidates are to keep a portfolio of evidence which can be used for revision as well as a measure of distance travelled while on their course.

Formative Assessment

In practice, continuous assessment is usually combined with formative assessment. This is an ongoing way of assessing that might be formal or informal in character. The teacher/tutor continually gives learners feedback about how they are achieving their learning outcomes, which can then be absorbed and used in planning their next step.

Summative Assessment

Summative Assessment is a type of assessment which is used to summarise a learner’s performance at the end of a period of time. It sometimes involves the use of an exam.

Normative Assessment

Normative Assessment is an approach to assessment whereby people are compared with what would be a “normal” level of achievement for their group. It tends to lead towards a competitive view of individuals’ achievements.

Self Assessment

Self Assessment involves the individual in assessing her or his own performance. Learners are expected to think about their performance during a course, and to record or explain their thoughts. This may be in the form of a learning diary, or it may be on a standard form produced for the purpose. Self assessment, as part of an organised course, would not usually stand alone and would normally be combined with teacher/tutorial discussion.

Criterion Referenced

In criterion referencing, assessment of a learner’s work takes place by checks being made that a series of previously agreed learning outcomes have been reached. Assessment criteria are fixed to correspond with each learning outcome, and evidence is needed to prove that learning has taken place.

The Difference between Assessment and Marking

Assessment
The process of assessment is making a judgement on the basis of the evidence produced and awarding the learner an achievement when they have demonstrated their competence or knowledge against the standards to your satisfaction. It is usually the summative part of the learning process. If a learner has not met these standards, they have the opportunity to revise the evidence or to produce more evidence until they have met the requirements of the target qualification.

Marking
Marking is the process of identifying when a learner has produced some good work and when errors have been made. It can be seen as being a formative and instructive process. In this case, corrections and revision are possible. Sometimes, marked work does not have to be corrected and the quality of the finished work is used to allocate a grade.