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Extract from IVA Newsletter Winter 2009/10
Assessing Learning by Doing
I want to start this article with a question, is an assessor just an assessor, or an assessor and advisor or an assessor, advisor and teacher? I would guess that most assessors and verifiers would quite rightly point out that an assessor is called an assessor because that is their role. Others might contend that the assessor has always had an additional role of advisor, after all they are often the individual who inducts the candidates and part of their role is to advise the candidate on how to gather evidence of performance. Very few would choose the last option of the assessor as a teacher, however this may be an unrecognised but important assessor responsibility.
I am going to look at some of the theory behind ‘learning by doing,’ after all this is what NVQs and vocational learning is all about. Then I can apply the results to the assessor role and see if this influences the question.
In the training of teachers the Honey and Mumford questionnaire is used to identify learning traits of students. The purpose is to show that all students can be differentiated according to their learning preferences. The teachers are encouraged to ensure that they use material that will include all students, and appeal to their learning style preferences.
Peter Honey and Alan Mumford based their questionnaire on the work of David Kolb. Kolb identified a form of learning that is based on experiential theory; this is a “process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience. Knowledge results from the combination of grasping and transforming experience.” (Kolb 1984:p41). Put simply this is a process by which people understand their experiences, and then because of that understanding, modify their behaviour. A very simple generalisation would be that it is a trial and error type of learning, the more we think about an issue, the better chance we have to refine and develop our approach.
David Kolb (1984) suggested a four step learning process within a continuous cycle of learning. He theorised that people learn through four distinct processes: 1.Concrete Experience, 2 Observation and reflection, 3 Abstract Conceptualisation and 4 Active Experimentation. This was simplified by the IVA audience at this year’s international conference to:
According to Kolb the truly effective learner has abilities in all these four areas. (Armitage et al 2006:p81) One of the lessons for teachers is that in order for student to learn most effectively they have to be able to progress through all four steps.
The simplified model can now easily be applied to assessment of candidates undertaking NVQs. Candidates gather experience in the workplace or in some simulated activity, they recall or identify the important events from which they can evidence their competence. They think about the event, apply the performance criteria and identify how much of the performance criteria they have met. In order to achieve their award it is likely that they will need to modify their behavior so that they meet all the criteria next time the experience the same or a similar event.
If we take the Kolb theory this tells us two things:
- Some candidates will be better at some elements of the NVQ process than others.
- We can help candidates to learn by encouraging them to undertake all four steps of the NVQ process.
The Kolb learning process when applied to NVQs evidences that an NVQ is not just about developing a candidate in their work role. They can be, and are an alternative pathway in the development of the individual. Think about the importance of the ability to understand and apply criteria when applying for a job, attending an interview, undertaking a yearly appraisal or having work quality assured.
If we now apply this outcome to the role of assessor we can see that there is something missing from the assessor and assessor/advisor title. It takes no account of the assessor’s role in developing the candidate in the learning process. The application of the Kolb model suggests that, if the student is to achieve all they can from the NVQ process, they must be supported in undertaking all four steps of the NVQ process. Candidates who achieve this are in addition to developing their vocational competence developing their ability to learn.
This does not mean the assessor and verifier can say to the candidate here is the criteria over to you. Rather that the assessor and verifier have an additional responsibility to help the candidate to develop themselves as learners through the assessments of their experiences. I would contend that the assessor is an assessor, advisor and teacher, what do you think?
References
Armitage A, Bryant R, Dunhill R, Renwick M, Hayes D Hudson A, Kent J, Lawes S (2006) Teaching and Training in Post-Compulsory Education.
Kolb, D. A. (1984) Experiential Learning, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.: Prentice Hall.
Dr Andy Hills FIVA Canterbury College
2010: A Landmark Year
2010: a landmark year for NVQs as assessors and verifiers prepare for the changes initiated by the introduction of the Qualifications Credit Framework (QCF) and mull over the effects a new government may have on vocational education. However many existing NVQs remain available for new registrations until the end of July 2010, meaning the usual External Verifier visits and awarding body requirements will remain in place for some time. Among the QCF changes will be the demise of the current NVQ Code of Practice – although it will undoubtedly be replaced by a similar document.
With NVQs still available until at least the end of 2010, it’s worth continuing to familiarise yourself with the NVQ Code of Practice and associated documents such as Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency (QCDA) Key Messages and Principles, to help you assess in a cost-effective, efficient manner.
So how familiar are you with the content of the NVQ Code of Practice and QCDA’s Key Messages and Principles?
Did you know…
1. Use of an Evidence Record Sheet to match evidence is not a specific requirement within the NVQ Code of Practice. An audit trail linking the candidate’s competence to the evidence and the assessor’s decision is all that is needed.
Code of Practice para 40
2. Signing and dating each piece of evidence by the assessor and candidate is not necessary, as there should be a written declaration of authenticity in the front of the portfolio.
Code of Practice para 43
3. It is not compulsory to use awarding body paperwork. Centres can create their own, subject to approval by the External Verifier.
Code of Practice para 22
4. Evidence does not have to be collected and kept in one place. It can be left in the candidate’s workplace as long as it is clearly signposted in the portfolio.
Code of Practice para 22 and 40
5. Assessors must record and explain their assessment decision or judgement; however referencing evidence to criteria on an Evidence Record Sheet is not in itself a judgement.
Code of Practice para 22
6. Assessment carried out in a language other than English or Welsh must show that the candidate is competent in English or Welsh to the standards required for competent performance in line with the NVQ standards. Important to know if you are assessing candidates whose first language is not English.
Code of Practice para 39
If this information has had you reaching for your well-thumbed copy of the Code of Practice, you may also be interested in the following resources:
www.ento.co.uk/products/backtobasics/index.php (video)
www.qcda.gov.uk/libraryAssets/media/NVQ portfolios-Key messages
Of course, any proposed changes to your Centre’s assessment strategy and documentation must be approved in advance by your External Verifier. By the same token the next time your External Verifier has a recommendation which your Centre wishes to challenge, remember to ask “Where does it say that in the Code of Practice?”
Rachel Evans FIVA
Extract from IVA Newsletter Autumn 2009
ICT and its impact on future Assessment and Verification
Once upon a time in the mid 1970’s when the school received its first computer, I was selected to become the “computer expert” and to advise other staff on how to use it for professional and student development because, as a typing teacher, I knew what a keyboard looked like. As there was very little software around, it was essential to learn how to program and create multi-questions for a variety of subjects. During this process, I quickly identified the benefits of using Text Processing software for program editing purposes and this led me into using this particular application for word processing – a “eureka” moment, as students fought to use the computer instead of the typewriter to achieve better presented and more accurate printouts.
At the same time, staff in the staff room would make jokes and pass comments about computers never catching on in the classroom – even saying the day would never come when people would happily use plastic cards to obtain money from the “hole in the wall” or to pay for their groceries at the supermarket. And look at the impact of ICT in education today – interactive whiteboards, data projectors, digital recorders, scanners, laptop computers, digital/video cameras, video conferencing, the Internet etc etc! Schools and colleges are awash with kit today, with teachers/lecturers and students becoming more and more ICT literate – the latter in order to feed the ever-growing demands of employers for highly skilled employees when it comes to the key skills or core skills, or whatever other name may be devised for those essential employability skills of literacy, numeracy and ICT.
Why this article? Well, I have seen how ICT has been adopted and adapted over 30 years to enhance teaching and training, and to make both assessment and verification more effective, efficient, and economical. Word processing is now the norm. Assessment can be done on-line either through logging on to a website to carry out tasks or simply by attaching documents to an e-mail. E-portfolios are increasing in popularity. And if it is felt that going down the line of E-portfolios is not the best route to go, then an awful lot of what goes into a paper portfolio could be saved onto a CD-ROM or memory stick. Furthermore Professional Discussions and Witness Testimonies can be recorded using digital recorders, and video recordings can be made of assessments taking place. Scanners can be used to store images of paper-based evidence. Most laptops and VDUs incorporate web cameras these days so it is possible for the Assessor to assess a candidate’s performance at a distance, or for an Internal Verifier to observe Assessors carrying out the task of on-site observation. The Assessor can word process verbally agreed feedback, reviews and assessment plans, and e-mail these to the candidate, copying in the Internal Verifier. It is relatively easy to create folders to organise the evidence, with hyper-links to the standards to facilitate verification. The Internal Verifier can sample assessment records and give feedback, advice and guidance via e-mail.
The list of assessment and verification activities that can be carried out is much longer than the few examples I have provided. What I am trying to say is that the days of the paper-based portfolio, and assessment and verification personnel (both internal and external) travelling around the country are numbered. The fear of global warming is making us aware of the necessity to identify means of reducing our energy needs. We need to reduce, amongst other things, the pulling down of forests for making paper and the use of fossil fuels for driving around the country, visiting candidates and NVQ centres and thereby adversely contributing to road congestion.
Therefore, I believe that in future Assessors and Internal Verifiers are going to have to be more creative in the way ICT is used, and that there is a strong possibility External Verifiers will no longer be visiting Centres. In my view of the future, the External Verifier will check the Awarding Body’s database for candidate registrations and request access to portfolios either via E-portfolio systems or by the Centre forwarding CD-ROMs or memory sticks containing not only the candidates’ evidence but also assessment and verification records. Reports are already done on-line, so no change there. Just think – the more creative use of ICT for assessment and verification will not only help reduce the adverse impact of transport on our roads and environment and reduce driving times to facilitate more productive work, but also reduce the administrative costs of S/NVQs for all concerned.
If reading this has made you feel panicky at the thought of what you might need to do in order to prepare for significant changes in current practice and thereby your own essential up-skilling/professional development, fear not. Start today with “small steps” that will enable you to meet the future with “giant strides” – for example, if you are not already using e-portfolios, why not get your students to store evidence on CD-ROMs or memory sticks, and for Assessors and Internal Verifiers to do likewise with their records. Get to grips with using e-mail more creatively for those essential assessment and verification tasks. At least one reward will be that you will no longer have to physically haul around those heavy portfolios in preparation for External Verifier visits!
After being involved in the implementation and development of NVQs as an Assessor, Internal Verifier and External Verifier since they were first devised, I have at last decided to retire. By getting out of the business at this point in time, I think I may just have escaped going to my grave with my knuckles scraping along the ground through the stretching of my arms following all those years of carrying portfolios around from candidate to verifier to the external verifier! With best wishes for the future - may you successfully prepare to meet the demand for enhanced ICT skills in assessment and verification practice.
Pauline Butler MIVA
Extract from IVA Newsletter Summer 2009
The Supportive Employer
In this article I ponder the role of employers in NVQ programmes. Employers’ interest levels are often associated with achieving a quality award such as Investors in People, improving business performance and developing their most important asset, their staff.
Employers are essential to the whole success of NVQ programmes. Quite simply they agree which NVQ programmes will be supported, they appoint a proportion of their budget to support the NVQ programmes, they release staff to be assessed, they reward staff successes and accept the qudos for allowing all this to happen.
So how do we use employers? And, What does this mean for the candidate?
Over 10 years ago I established an NVQ Centre and made a fundamental mistake at the outset. This was to have top-level management support and appoint a senior manager as Centre Co-ordinator but then to perform the role of Centre Coordination myself. The effect of this was that the manager was disengaged from the day-to-day running of the Centre and only became aware of issues (usually concerned with having sufficient time for assessment and sufficient resources to assess) when these were brought to their attention. When faced with these issues they were largely sympathetic but unconcerned because the business was not suffering. I realised my mistake and tried valiantly to rectify it but this adage became true...
'I am here to help you; but if I let your problem become my problem, then you will no longer have that problem and I cannot help someone who doesn't have a problem.'
However, if employers are not controlling the resources required to operate assessment then they are not fully supporting the NVQ programme. Do not become a victim of your own success, stay in control by delegating authority to its rightful owners at the outset.
NVQ candidates need and deserve the support of their employer. Qualified staff by definition are usually better equipped to perform efficiently and effectively. This should be truer in the case of NVQ qualified staff because, as we all know, an NVQ describes a whole Job Role performed competently. As an Internal Verifier one must engage with the candidate's employer and motivate them to support the NVQ programme and thereby enabling them to build a long standing relationship with the achievements of their staff and value the cost benefits of operating NVQs.
Having sorted out that dilemma, the rest is plain sailing!
"It is written, we learn through pain until we evolve to learn through joy."
The Teachings of Buddha
Chris Mason MIVA
Extract from IVA Newsletter Spring 2009
The Importance of being an Assessor
S/NVQ Assessors come in all shapes and sizes, but above all they must comply with A1 standards, the Code of Practice and be occupationally competent. Therefore, I would argue that they are perhaps the most important people in the chain of assessment and verification when it comes to ensuring relevant, up-to-date competence of candidates that positively facilitates the future success of a business organisation – especially in to-day’s financial climate – as well as the ability of a training organisation/college to achieve national targets.
Why do I believe this? Rather than an Assessor going into the workplace to follow a formulaic process of planning, assessing, reviewing, questioning witnesses etc, using the “tick box” approach whereby all a candidate has to do is demonstrate current competence against each of the performance criteria/indicators, the “good” Assessor will be keeping up-to-date with current practice through continuous professional development and will pass on that experience to the candidate by encouraging the latter to think about whether there are better ways of doing things, and even demonstrating more efficient/effective methods when necessary. The “good” Assessor will also discuss candidate performance with the candidate’s line manager or those who report to the candidate and, in a sensitive, tactful, diplomatic manner, question whether there are opportunities to improve working methods. All such Assessor activity can only have a positive impact on the business organisation.
Meanwhile, the “good” Assessor’s ability to enthuse and motivate candidates, and to open up access to assessment that takes into account individual candidate needs, can only lead towards the highest successful candidate achievement rates – indeed why not 100% achievement all the time?
So what does it take to encourage and develop “good” Assessors? How about:
• allowing them time to carry out a consistently good job through being able to meet regularly with their candidates and line managers;
• ensuring that they fully understand their role and purpose in upholding and even improving standards within a business organisation;
• providing effective internal verification support that focuses on best practice when it comes to assessment planning, conducting and recording candidate observation and professional discussion, as well as providing effective feedback;
• opening up access to appropriate professional development externally whilst ensuring standardisation events address not only the S/NVQ and A1 requirements but also opportunities for Assessors to share good practice they have seen, and even experienced for themselves, in the work place.
Yes, this all requires considerable financial investment, but I would suggest the gains made by the provider, employer and candidate, as outlined above, can be very rewarding indeed.
Pauline Butler MIVA
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