TAEASS501
Provide advanced assessment practice
Use a range of assessment methods
Broadening your skills takes practice. If you were to assess written tests day after day, without the opportunity to develop your observational skills, there is little doubt that this would have a detrimental effect on your professional assessment practice. Using a variety of assessment methods is not only more interesting, but it is the best practice for a professional assessor.
According to Bloom’s classification of learning outcomes (Bloom 1956), no single form of assessment can capture all the evidence of a unit (or set of units) of vocational competency.
We now look at how each of the many different assessment methods might be used to meet some basic VET competency standards.
Observation: the performance of skills can most simply be assessed through observation. A checklist is used to ensure that the standards of the unit of competency are measureable against what the assessor sees.
Portfolios: a range of observations, activities and knowledge-based evaluations can be gathered over time using this common method. Units of competency, which cover a range of contexts or a large number of specific requirements, may be assessed best using this method.
Practical and theoretical tests: where skills and knowledge need to be demonstrated in real-world or time-sensitive scenarios, this method can capture the individual performance criteria of a unit of competency as well as successfully cover elements of the required skills and knowledge.
Product development review: evaluation of a completed product is a useful tool for demonstrating the critical aspects of evidence of units of competency in many fields, such as carpentry, mechanical fitting and fabrication, bakery.
Use a range of assessment methods
Broadening your skills takes practice. If you were to assess written tests day after day, without the opportunity to develop your observational skills, there is little doubt that this would have a detrimental effect on your professional assessment practice. Using a variety of assessment methods is not only more interesting, but it is the best practice for a professional assessor.
According to Bloom’s classification of learning outcomes (Bloom 1956), no single form of assessment can capture all the evidence of a unit (or set of units) of vocational competency.
We now look at how each of the many different assessment methods might be used to meet some basic VET competency standards.
Observation: the performance of skills can most simply be assessed through observation. A checklist is used to ensure that the standards of the unit of competency are measureable against what the assessor sees.
Portfolios: a range of observations, activities and knowledge-based evaluations can be gathered over time using this common method. Units of competency, which cover a range of contexts or a large number of specific requirements, may be assessed best using this method.
Practical and theoretical tests: where skills and knowledge need to be demonstrated in real-world or time-sensitive scenarios, this method can capture the individual performance criteria of a unit of competency as well as successfully cover elements of the required skills and knowledge.
Product development review: evaluation of a completed product is a useful tool for demonstrating the critical aspects of evidence of units of competency in many fields, such as carpentry, mechanical fitting and fabrication, bakery.