Practical Evidence - Classroom Assessor Course

Practical Evidence

in Assessing Vocational Skills, Knowledge, and Understanding

"It is wrong always, everywhere, and for anyone, to believe anything on insufficient evidence."

― William Kingdon Clifford

One of the questions I am regularly asked is 'how do I give practical evidence for my AVS course?' It is an area in which many people often 'overthink' and therefore end up tying themselves in knots. Usually, they start uploading irrelevant and unlabeled information, which is then a waste of their very valuable time!  

About the Evidence.

In this blog, we will look at what you need to provide to ensure your practical evidence is appropriate, sufficient, and reliable. Evidence can differ dramatically depending on your industry, how you are operating, or who your awarding body is. For example, if you are doing this course in a private training academy, your evidence may differ from that you could provide if you worked in a local authority college; similarly, someone in the security industry will be providing different evidence of the practical elements to an interior designer. However, the important thing is to ensure your evidence is VASCR in all cases, whatever your circumstances.

How to Provide the Practical Evidence?

Within this course Unit 3 is your AVS practical assessment element, and this is where you provide the evidence through the practical element to prove that your assessments have been done. Your methods for this section are Recognised Prior Learning, projects, assignments, case studies, skills tests, oral/written questions, and Assessments in simulated environments. Unlike unit 2 of the Certificate in Assessing Vocational Achievement, there are no mandatory methods of assessment; however, you must demonstrate you have used at least 3 different methods from the list.

*Important: you need two learners, and each of these learners must do two assessments*   

….we are then merely just following their assessment journey with you!

The documents you will require in order to demonstrate your competence include the following:

• Standardisation activity: This is proof that you attend standardisation activities. 
• The criteria/curriculum/standards for your assessments
• Assessment plans: This is your assessment plan detailing the assessments, who they are with, and when they are taking place. 
• Assessment Evidence: Examples of assessment evidence are:
• Observation checklists (for observations, and skill tests)
• Marking sheets (for questions/exams)
• Learner work (projects/assignments)
• Photographs (for skills tests)
• Workbooks (for questions/assignments/projects/case studies)
• Screenshots (for e-portfolios)
• Short videos (for skills test/oral questions)
• Feedback Documents: Feedback video for us to do a performance review on your skills.

I always tell my learners to use reflection throughout the practical units. You are training to be an assessor, or maybe already working as an assessor, so think, 'If I was assessing this evidence, would I be happy that it meets the criteria? If you are not, the likelihood is that neither will I be!

There will always be grey areas that may be difficult to evidence, especially in the trying times that we have been through. If you have any uncertainty, do not dwell on it; give us a shout, and we can discuss it and go through the options together. Hopefully, we will find something that will work for you, us, and the awarding body.

Prove Your Assessments

Lastly, going back to the quote at the top of this blog, it would be wrong of us to believe anything on insufficient evidence. Hence it is your job to prove your assessments took place and were VASCR; you do this with the documents you upload and how you present them… So, make them clear, effective, and well labelled to ensure a swift and smooth qualification completion.

Cordelia Castle,

Tutor, The e-Learning Network