Function of Assessment in Learning and Development Research Example

1.1 Function of assessment in learning and development

An assessment is a process involving the collection of information, identifying issues, needs and evaluating the issues and needs using the collected information. The purpose of assessment in learning and development is to provide a measurable indicator of the student progress from the information collected by the assessor (Gravells, 2014, 12). Assessment has a vital role in how students learn, their motivation to learn and how the teachers teach. An assessment provides a medium for measurement and recording an achievement to student, teacher or parents. The calls for celebration for the success, plan interventions and support for continued progress.

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The measure of the learner's competence is done against agreed standards and criteria of assessment by an awarding body. This help to identify the knowledge, skills, and competence acquired by the learner in the learning activities assessed. This information is vital as it gives insight to the teacher into what the student understand, help to plan and guide instructions provided.

Assessment as learning help the students create awareness of how they learn, use the awareness to adjust and advance their learning taking an increased responsibility for their learning. The outcome of the assessment motives the student to develop and add more knowledge, skills, and understanding to the subject as it is an evidence of performance if the student performed well. The assessor provides guidance to the learner in places where the learner did not perform well.

Assessment serves as means for the students to track their progress in a learning activity which inspires them to achieve more thus reinforcing the learning and understanding of the subject matter. The knowledge and skills will determine whether the learner is fit-to-purpose from the assessment feedback supplied to respective bodies.

1.2 Key concepts and principles of assessment

Assessment is meant for learners, trainers, assessors, employers, and organization to help monitor the performance of various activities under investigation. The concepts of assessment are the aspects involved throughout the assessment process. They include accountability, benchmarking, evaluation, progression, and transparency (Gravells, 2014, 24-25). The assessor should be accountable to the learners and organization to ensure the assessment process is carried out correctly. The assessor should give reasons for the assessment judgment and decision made in line with the assessment criteria and the requirement to the learner and the organization involved.

Transparency is also key to assessment process as it confirms learning activities are taking place in the required way. The assessment process should show the progression of the learner, in achieving their target goals. The feedback provided should help improve the learners' performance and supported in areas where the learner needs help to improve his/her skills in the learning activity.

The principles show how the assessment is put into practice. The assessment should be valid in that it is appropriate to the qualification, only assesses what need to be assessed and learners work is relevant. It should be current, sufficient and reliable. It should cover all the assessment criteria, standards, and learning outcome. In addition, the process should be reliable, in that the learning activity is consistent and there is a clear process for the setting, marking, grading, and moderation of the activity. (Gravells, 2014, 26-27)

The activity being assessed also should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound.

1.3 Responsibilities of the assessor

An assessor is a person who visits learners in their places of learning to see what they can do and whether their work meets national occupational standards for a particular skill. Assessors play an important role and responsibility in outcome-based assessment. They have a responsibility of planning- organizing and scheduling for assessment activities. They prepare an assessment calendar and avail it to the learners and organization to take part in the assessment process. (Gravells, 2014, 17-18)

Assessors assess the learner's activities awarding marks and providing grades to measure the understanding of the learner. The grades awarded help measure the knowledge, skills, and understanding of the student in the subject area being assessed against some standard criteria.

The assessor is also responsible for completing/updating and recording records of the learner details which serves as evidence of the learner's performance, which is evaluated and used to make decisions. The assessors forward the results to the learner and respective organization such as the awarding body (Kang, 2015, 557).

The assessor is also responsible for providing feedback to the learner about their performance and achievement in time. He/she gives a regular verbal response to learner pointing to the learner areas he/she needs to focus on to improve his/her performance in the subject area.

In addition, the assessor is responsible for fostering equality and diversity with the learner. He/she awards marks and grades to the learners fairly and also identifies any additional learning needs that the learner may need and provide the necessary support to the learner.

1.4 Regulations and requirement relevant for assessment

The assessment process is conducted in accordance with regulations and requirements set by various regulatory bodies of standards such as Ofqual, Sector skills council, awarding organizations and society for education. The regulatory bodies set directives and standards to be followed during the assessment process e.g. regulations covering sharing of assessment information or personal data to protect the learner's interests and promote public confidence in the national qualification system.

Other regulations include the Health and Safety at work Act (1974) which offers protection of health, safety and welfare at work of the learner, assessor. During an assessment, the workplace, activities, and equipment are risk assessed with appropriate control measures to ensure learners as well as assessors safety.

In the Data Protection Act (2003), the assessment evidence, observation records, physical evidence of the learners and witness statements are covered since data confidentiality is of importance and only shared with the involved parties. The data is stored securely and can be viewed by the learner on request in line with the Freedom to Information Act (2000).

Equality Act (2010) consolidates equality and discrimination legislation to protect people from discrimination due to gender, class, race, and health. the assessment activities should reflect the diverse nature of your learner groups such as culture, language, and ethnicity, not to be biased according to the person producing them.

Regulation and guideline provide us with influence on how to better development in our own qualifications and apprenticeships at the same time results to increase in skills and productivity (Gravells, 2014, 20-23).

L02: UNDERSTAND DIFFERENT TYPES OF ASSESSMENT METHODS

2.1 Methods of assessment

Formative assessment is an integral part of teaching and learning that involves the students actively in answering questions during the session. It is mainly a student teacher interactive session. The assessment also indicates what is not so good and how the work the teacher needs to improve during his or her teaching. The advantage of this session is that it is not graded in any part of the learning process hence there is no anxiety among the student. The assessment also serves as practice for students to get assistance along the way before the final tests. However, this method of assessment is time consuming hence the teacher may not finish what was intended for the lesson (Gravells, 2011, 28).

Summative assessment demonstrates the extent of a learner's success in meeting the assessment criteria used to gauge the intended learning outcomes. Summative assessment is a critical part of the program and it contributes to the final mark at the end of the module. Summative assessment is advantageous since it is used to provide motivation for students to study and pay attention hence giving a thorough insight to the teacher about the student performance. However, summative assessment reflects closely on teacher performance and it mainly favors the drilling of students to work many exercises instead of reading and writing to improve their knowledge (Molyneux and Schuwirth, 2013, 734-744)

Authentic or work integrated assessment tasks is whereby the asks and conditions are aligned to what one would experience within employment. Its strengths can be attributed to the building of the student's connection with real-life skills since it allows the students to demonstrate their knowledge. It also combines teaching, learning and assessment activities in order to promote students learning, and engagement. However, it is difficult to assess what is relevant and important due to limited time between the limits and skills and knowledge that is assessed (Ruijven and Koelbl, 2013, 15-27).

Diagnostic assessment is intended to improve the learner's experience and build upon their level of achievement. Apart from this, it assesses what the learners already know and the difficulties that are experienced by the learner during the certain experience. Its strengths are that it establishes a baseline for the class and it also allows for the better differentiation plans for the students. Although the strengths are significant, this method may cause the instructor to make incorrect inferences about a child's ability levels (Cook and Guerrero, 2013, 751).

Dynamic assessment is a method used to measure what the student has achieved during the teaching of an unfamiliar topic or an unrelated field. It is used to assess potential or specific learning in a particular field mainly without any prior attainment in the new field. It is advantageous due since it fosters an abundance of information and offers a substantial starting point for the instruction. However, it possesses a challenge in terms of reliability in its delivery procedure since the students may have a bad reception to question that they do not know (Gravells, 2011, 30-32).

L03: UNDERSTAND HOW TO PLAN AN ASSESSMENT

3.1 Key factors to consider when planning an assessment

Before conducting an assessment of a learning activity, some factors need to be considered for the process to be effective. First, as the assessor know the reason/objective of the assessment which will act as your road map for the assessment process. The assessment should focus on achieving the objective. Then, choose activities that meet students' needs to support their development in knowledge, understanding, and skills as per the standard criteria (Gravells, 2011, 37-48)

Select a suitable assessment method depending on the learning activity being assessed. Some of the method used include observation provide performance evidence, test, and multi-choice questions, reporting writing, assignment provides written evidence for gathering information which will be used to determine the understanding of the learner. (Gravells, 2011, 32-34)

Review and recognize the regulatory body, awarding organization and center requirements and standard criteria which will serve as guidelines during the assessment process for quality decision making and judgment of information. Select a suitable venue such as classroom, workshop and set a time and date of the assessment and inform the learner (Nejati, 2013, 107).

3.2 Benefits of using a holistic assessment approach

Holistic assessment focuses on the assessment of...