Assessment of Performance

Assessment planning

This is extremely useful for providing a bench mark of a person's level of achievement in relation to the Standards. Establishing this bench mark will indicate prior achievement and experience and will indicate areas needing further training, development and experience.

• Identify a recent, current or future work activity that would be used to satisfy the national standards.
• Agree what types of evidence would be produced from doing the work activity.
• Agree how the evidence will be produced.
• Agree how assessment will be organised.

Gathering and organising evidence

Providing that the types of evidence to be produced have been agreed it should be quite straightforward for the employee to collect and produce evidence. The method of producing the evidence will depend on whether a recent, current or future work activity has been chosen.

Judging evidence

The 'manager' and employee will sit down together to review the quality of the evidence against the Standards. The 'manager' will check that all the pieces of evidence are sufficient, authentic, relevant and current.

Reaching an assessment decision

At the end of a review meeting, there are several possible outcomes.

• In this particular area, the employee has demonstrated full competence.
• In this particular area, the employee has been unable to collect sufficient evidence - needs more time? or more appropriate opportunities?
• In this particular area, the employee has been unable to meet the Standards - needs training?

Successful and consistent performance and evidence of knowledge and understanding are the essential outcomes of assessment against the criteria in the Standards.

Assessment would be expected to:

• cover all the performance criteria specified for a particular Element within a Unit and include all Elements within a Unit: it will also ensure that there is clear evidence of the range - the breadth of experience and knowledge requirements - being satisfactorily achieved
• make use of assessment methods appropriate to the performance being assessed: for example, a portfolio of evidence, observation in the workplace; direct questions; simulation
• provide a progressive, cumulative record of the individual's performance
• generate a record of achievement which would indicate where and how competence was demonstrated: this in turn will facilitate credit accumulation and credit transfer
• indicate if and where further experience and knowledge may be necessary to meet the Standards in full.