Checking Assessment Judgments and Recording

• An assessment judgment was made.
• An action plan was developed (where learners were found Not yet Competent).
• Learner results were effectively recorded.
• Learners had access to an appeal procedure.
• The learner and assessor agree a re-assessment option in the case of a ‘not yet competent’ decision.

Only at this stage can you as moderator endorse or not endorse the decision to “uphold” the assessor’s judgement decision, i.e. you decide if you would have come to the same conclusion as the assessor in terms of assessment judgement.

It is vital that as an assessor, you understand that the judgement of competence needs to be the same for all your learners and that there must be a quantifiable measure for declaration of “Competence” or “Not Yet Competent”. You should be able to find the policies related to assessment as a guideline from the organisation for which you are assessing. These will have the following guidelines for you to utilise as assessor:

• Benchmark for competence, i.e. the learner needs to reach “x” to be declared competent – there is often some debate here, as there is a misconception that one cannot judge a learner through mark allocation. This is not strictly true; the assessor can, in fact, benchmark the standard for competence to be, for example 80%, even on answers where the learners’ own situation will determine the answer.
• Assessment instruments should be provided with a marking matrix or model answer sheet to ensure that the assessor judges all learners against the exact same criteria.
• The assessor should have clarity as to how many re-assessment opportunities the learner should get – most organisations have a 3-opportunities assessment policy for a learner registered against a specific programme and then learners are liable for the costs involved in assessment after the 3rd opportunity.

Bringing in External Judgements as Part of Learner Evidence

It is important to remember to build in “naturally occurring evidence” where possible as part of assessment. Many assessors make the mistake of re-inventing the wheel and frustrating the learner and the workplace where evidence can easily be gathered without the assessor’s presence.

Remember to make sure that any external evidence that is submitted by the learner can be verified, i.e. ensure that it is signed and dated by the person felling judgement and that the person can be contacted afterwards.