Essay Assessment and Lifelong Learning Sector

Submitted By poppysox
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City & Guilds Certificate in Teaching in the Lifelong Learning Sector
Theory 2

This assignment will look at the four main areas of the Principles and Practice of Assessment, including different methods of assessment that are relevant to my own expertise and how they effectively meet the individual needs of my learners. The assignment will also show how I promote learner involvement and personal responsibility in form of peer and self assessment and in addition to this, how feedback and questioning contributes to the assessment process. It will also cover the different types of assessment records which are used to meet organisational and external requirements.

As I currently teach in Hospitality and Catering I am teaching practical classes with two different types of qualification. Vocational Related Qualification (VRQ) and National Vocational Qualification (NVQ). A small majority of my learners that are doing their VRQ will most likely continue on with an NVQ.
VRQ’s are a work related practical qualification which helps learners to develop their employment skills and is designed to bring real business benefits through its strong focus on practical skills and assessment. VRQ’s are a great way to prepare for progression to NVQ’s, apprenticeships and employment. They allow learners to aim towards their NVQ in stages by enabling them to build up their confidence through smaller steps. My learner VRQ consists of diagnostic assessments to identify their capabilities or skill level. In order for them to pass the course they are required to complete synoptic assessments. These assessments pull together independent assessments from a number of modules into a single assessment. This helps to:

“Promote active learning by allowing students to learn that a solution for the problem statement for one assessment requires the knowledge and experience of the subject areas from different modules. Reduce the overall students’ workload by combining one or more assessment exercises’. To make assessments more significant and broaden the students’ understanding.”
(www.ics.heacademy.ac.uk/events/8th-annual-conf/presentations/phyokyaw.ppt)

NVQ’s are assessed on practical assignments and these form a portfolio of evidence. A qualified assessor will observe the learner and use direct questioning to them about the work they carry out in the training kitchen.

In terms of Blooms Taxonomy “ questions can be employed to encourage high levels of thinking”.(www.teachit.co.uk) The Taxonomy is often presented as a pyramid which makes it easier to appreciate the hierarchy of competences, from the foundation “lowest order” thinking skill “remember” to the higher order pinnacle, “create”. The idea being that you can’t get to one level until you have achieved the one below, to help learners move on in their learning, you need to be able to judge where they are/what they can do, then work out how to help them get to the next stage.

The assessor will test the learners’ knowledge and understanding as well as their actual performance. It is then that the assessor will sign off individual units within the NVQ when the learner has reached the required standard. The learner will then write up the task in their portfolio explaining how they did it and also how they feel it went as evidence of completion.

The training kitchen is open every day and my learners prepare and produce dishes for paying customers, therefore assessment during the course is formative, allowing an interim judgement or decision about progress which is reported to the learner. This enables my learners to consider what they are good at and build on their strengths, whilst informing them of improvements that need to be made to meet the requirements of the assessment or qualification.
City & Guilds Certificate in Teaching in the Lifelong Learning Sector Tracey West
Theory 2

“Careful feedback can motivate,