Assessment

Assessing the competence must be fair, relate directly to the evidence route being assessed against, be reliable and be based on sufficient examples of evidence.

Registered Assessors are trained to conduct assessments by interpreting the amount and reliability of the evidence presented when judging a candidate’s competence. However, it will always be a matter of judgement on the part of the assessor as to what actual evidence will be considered in a given situation or workplace environment. NVQs are not examinations, there are two outcomes following an assessment, competent or not yet competent.

Types of evidence that an assessor can consider for an NVQ assessment includes:

• Workplace observation
• Information provided by peers/seniors
• Competence skill test
• Assignment/projects
• Oral questions
• Multiple choice questions
• Naturally occurring evidence like production records etc.
• Computer based tests

From the above list it would seem that workplace observation is perhaps the most potentially reliable source of evidence but it must be noted it is not the only one. Taken in isolation it will not necessarily test the candidate’s knowledge and understanding of essential principles. Therefore if there is to be assessment of underpinning knowledge this should be carried out by questioning verbally and/or by question paper. To ensure there is continuity in how questions are presented, an assessor will pre-prepare a question paper for this purpose. Probably the easiest way is to use a multiple-choice paper, once again there is no pass or fail, candidates will attempt the questions until they satisfy the assessor.