Capability Building – Assessment

Chifley Hotel
South Australia
22nd October, 2009

Rob Stowell: gave examples of Qld Program eg:
*John Tucker developed on line materials for RPL to make decisions

*Serina Russo – Commercial Cookery: An image of competency – clarifying learning intentions improving performance

Introduction: John Mitchell

Being involved is showing respect for profession – seeking clarification; new definitions; keep learning…

Advanced Practice

Research: Aust Chamber of Commerce and Industry: employer practice - research employment re Mature Age Apprenticeships

SWISI – ‘mini’ RFF

Major changes impacting on T&L in VET
- ‘endless’ change
- changes in TAA (TED)
- contestability and funding – instability
- intellectual; emotional challenges
- new TP’s
- tertiary system
- in road of Private Providers
- clients better informed; demand driven
- element of competition
- higher qualifications – university pathways
- articulation arrangements
- industry driven
- collaboration in market place: working together
- attitudes and assumptions
- generational ‘me’ factor
- technology; ICT; blended delivery
- clientele adults; school
- economic factors
- employer expectations
- relationship btwn DFEEST; RTOs
- govt expectations (govt); staff members
- content of training packages
- environment around accountability; funding (influencing method of delivery and assessment)
- to have more qualifications; higher level skills
- contextualised training (detailed level)
- solving ‘problems’- innovative
- tension btwn commodity and quality
- politics of sector

What’s not changing?
- RPL – employer views
- Industry driven
- Quality occurs btwn interaction and learner
- Passion of educator never dies continue to soldier on
- Always be variation between quality
- Change is constant
- Need for quality TAA
- To keep up with industry – vice versa
- Manager involvement
- Need for employer ‘buy in’
- Compliance
- Assessor PD
- Expectations of facilitators (should be changing)
- Continuous improvement
- Need for a ‘Frame work’
- Some TAFE training

Publications: Teachers who change lives’ (…Andrew Metcalfe and Anne Gain)
- expertise and values of the teacher; the art of teaching is not changing; heart of practice

‘Advanced VET Practitioner’ (John Mitchell) www.ibsa.org.au/jma

Eg characteristics
- Experience
- Idea how to respond to a new situation
- ‘drivers’; motivation; commitment
- Leadership; overtly influence
- Knowledge worker
- Changing mindset
- Mentor and support others
- Keep up to date industry, technology and VET
- Never stops learning
- Communication and people skills
- Ability to change and adapt to different contexts
- High level of delivery and assessment
- Strategies for meeting client needs
- Partner with industry
- Innovative models and approaches



What would you talk about to help someone understand being a VET practice?
- meeting client needs
- relationships with clients
- enabling others
- focus on others
- help develop people; workforce
- ‘how can we support you?’; understanding different needs
- Sharing knowledge and skills
- Outcomes for clients – ‘whole person’; needs
- Customer service
- Partnerships; collaborative approach
- Service and delivery
- Professional basis
- History, context, environment
- Values and philosophy; humility

After a.m. tea ** copy of ppnt from Rob

Managers (check MP3 player and ppnt for John session)

Rob Stowell – value for your organisation will be taking assessment agenda forward;

Role of Managers
Time and space
Input
Work effectively with participant
Support through application of project ‘critical friend’
Engage with participant
Involved in communicating project in organisation
Critical ‘eye’ on what participant does and provide feedback to DFEEST

Focus
What makes good assessment?
How do you get assessment ‘right’?
What have we learnt about quality assessment?
Introduce quality assessment principles

Aims
Build capability of assessors to work within organisation and systemically

Be exposed to new ideas and thinking with opportunity to try out; review; improve (applied learning)

Establish network of practitioners; spreading skills widely…

Quality Assessment ‘What does it mean?’

- To have clear and well understood benchmarks
- Underpinned by principles
- Decisions based on evidence (rules)
- Quality assurance
- Quality judgments
- Informed by research
- Integral part of learning and training process
- Link btwn assessment and learning (re engage relationship = better student learning; more relevant…)

‘Assessment for Learning’ UK Kings College…
Focuses on gap btwn where they are and where they need to be…to enable student to move to desired level of performance. Identify competency to be achieved; strategies to put into place

Publication: ‘Inside the Black Box; Raising Standards through Classroom Assessment (Paul Black and Dylan Wiliam, 1998)
- Formative assessment integral to learning and teaching (Davies and Eccleston)
- Outcomes of assessment are used in planning next stage of students learning and meeting needs to achieve
- Assessment evidence is used to plan, modify and meet the needs of learning; boost learning and improve performance
-
Type of assessment practices help students move fwd:
- Effective feedback
- Active involvement of learner – personal engagement
- Teaching to take in results of assessment (collecting info about performance)
- Good assessment practice recognises profound impact of assessment on students motivation (emotional experience)
- Self and peer assessment strategies

*Policy and practice driven by motivation, inclusion, engagement…instead of ‘improving performance’

Action Learning (knowledge base) for Participants
- Introduce participants to literature
- Equip with strategies to apply
- Building image of competent performance
- Developing learners capacity for self assessment; manage own development; peer assessment strategies
- Helping learners to develop guild knowledge (what constitutes good practice…)

Principles of Assessment for Learning
- building assessment strategies into planning
- how learners learn
- inform the design of learning; through scaffolding; naturalistic; work place ‘assessment’
- assessment is central to delivery –diagnose strengths and weaknesses…promoting learner achievement
- using assessment evidence to work out where the person is; gaps and moving forward
- high level quality interactions
- questioning skills
- assessment is a key professional skill
- assumes they understand what it means to be competent
- ‘picture of competent performance’
- Receiving constructive feedback (developmental)
- Reflective thinking
- Recognise full range of achievements of learners…some form of ‘recognition’

5 Strategies
- sharing learner expectations: clarify and share what criteria for successful performance is
- questioning: boost quality of teacher skills; range of strategies…to cause thinking…
- feedback: moving learners forward; stimulate thinking; guidance; opportunities planned as part of learning process
- self assessment: activating learners thinking to analyse their performance…recognise success
- +peer assessment: instructional resources for one another

*Using assessment to adapt and modify

Managers to:
Think about principles and key strategies; how can we apply it to our organisation and improve student performance

Assist participants with meeting demands; facilitate their involvement; create ‘space’; active particpation

Focus on a defined problem ie in a particular strategy eg students understanding of what competent performance looks like (bringing in examples of good quality work:
- identify problem
- strategies to use
- action
- impact on student performance

Expectations of Participants

- Commitment
- Attendance
- Centred around an organisation ‘issue’ (addressed to assessment for learning principles)
- ‘small project is a good project’
- ‘learn by doing’
- Plan, implement and review project
- Form a network

Key things to do:
- Provide time/quality time/availability/thinking time *find synergies in persons job role
- Support; practical and ‘listening’
- Personal support – respect; embedded in culture
- Keep them focused
- Keep project in line with organisation need
- Keep projected within ‘scoping’
- Communicate project to peers and ‘management’ ie ‘what’s in it for others’
- Define project and plan with ‘outcomes’; benefits

Problems
- Supervisors’ time
- Isolation
- Completing tasks ‘at hand’
- Not becoming derailed…
- Degree of flexibility
- Not having desired outcomes
- Finding backfill with expertise
- Own pressures and needs


Strategies to minimise problems
- Negotiate work loads; backfill (time commitment may be influenced by nature of task and organisation)
- Regular meetings/discussions/conversations
- Identifying needs
- Brainstorm possible solutions
- Plan early; communicate early
- Start introductions
- Report regularly – keep up to date
- Monthly report of what’s been achieved; what needs to be done; what is being achieved; what’s working and what’s not…


- Discuss profile of the organisation…business planning framework; present to business management; feedback to managers…

After lunch

Rob Stowell

Quality Assessment
If we build quality assessment; quality and compliance, AQTF outcomes will come…

VET sector needs good educational minds

What works; what do we know intuitively

Shift in power play – challenge for VET Practitioner to use practical skills using ‘assessment principles’

Shifting Responsibility to enable learners to make decisions in the workplace

Helping make connections for learner between ‘milestones’

Assessment principles Activity: encouraged conversation, compromise, collaboration; analysing; encourage thinking; interactive…

Activity: Areas for investigation
*in what context might these ideas be examined
*pick up central ideas and see what impact they have…
- peer assessment; questioning for reflection; ‘responsive’ feedback
- Child care: existing workers (RPL)
- TAA convenor; peer/self assessment
- Hairdressing: establishing a picture of competence
- Hourly paid instructors: philosophy and principles
- Auditing: using sphere of influence – recognise and define model of ‘good practice’; outcomes based auditing; questions to ask practitioners/RTOs
- Desire to get ideas into general practice - representing ‘good practice’
- E learning mentors
- Resource industry: giving clear understanding of what a competent worker looks like – impact on quality of student learning


*start to develop ideas of what project will be…
*explore principles of assessment…and impact; *remember scale of project; how to actively engage with managers
*think about your time and space

Next workshops:
- Learning Intentions and Success Factors
- Questioning
- Feedback
- Self and Peer Assessment
- Implications for learning for VET Practitioners
- Implementing assessment for learning

Be Brave; try out ideas; what can we do to improve; take an ‘intellectual’ risk