8 Understand types and methods of assessment used in education and training

The three forms of assessment that I have chosen to focus on are initial, formative and
summative assessment approaches, and I am doing so because they cover the entire pre,
current and post spectrum. However, I believe that it is important to note that there is scope
for differentiation of approach and delivery for all assessment strategies, and educators
should endeavour to tailor their approaches to best meet the needs of individual learners.

Initial Assessment
This form of assessment is used to highlight the needs, strengths and weaknesses of
students. It is undertaken pre-course, or at the beginning of a course of study, to ensure that
educators can make informed decisions on how best to support students, and even to verify
that their chosen course of study is suitable for them.
This type of assessment can take the form of an informal question and answer session or a
written questionnaire. It may even represent a basket of assessment approaches in which
more than one form of assessment is undertaken.

Formative Assessment
This is an ongoing form of assessment that is useful for monitoring ongoing progress and
engagement, and to help enable educators to accordingly modify their approaches, so as to
continually meet the evolving needs and requirements of their students.
This type of assessment can be conducted in a variety of ways: informal diagnostic tests,
quizzes, teacher observations, class, pair, of group work discussions, and other forms of
informal assessment. The emphasis on “informal” methods of assessment is key here, I
think, because an important purpose of formative assessment is that it helps educators to
judge the progress of their learners and to to identify when they might be ready for formal
summative assessment of their progress.
There is,the risk with formative assessments that they can give false indicators of concrete
progress. I have witnessed learners being given positive formative assessments that have
led to inaccurate predictions of success in future summative assessments. I think that this
might be because when one conducts in- class formative assessments of skills and abilities
that have been practiced immediately prior to assessment, one prompts learners’ to draw
upon their short term memory skills rather than upon any truly internalised skills or
knowledge. For example, I have recently assisted in a course of French lessons at the
secondary school where I work. The students undertook frequent formative assessments
that seemed to demonstrate progress, but if asked to recall a topic’s vocabulary a month or
so after moving on to a new topic, they typically were unable to do so. This is because they
never actually memorised the vocabulary in the first place.

However, formative assessments do play an important role. When planned and delivered
carefully, they provide learners with a reasonably relaxed and stress-free opportunity to
demonstrate their progress, which not only enables them - and their educators - to get a
“feel” for their progress, but can also help learners to develop the confidence to later
undertake summative assessments without having their attempts undermined by stress and
worry.

Peer and self-assessments can help learners to reflect upon their own learning and progress
and adopt a more proactive approach to self-learning, which can lead to greater engagement
and further progress being made.

Natalie Bowen.
8 Understand types and methods of assessment used in education and training
As life skills, such as numeracy and literacy skills, can be folded into lessons almost by
stealth, so too can formative assessments. Teacher observations, for example, can be used
to assess learners who, for various reasons, struggle with more obvious assessment
approaches, thereby providing a more “gentle” method for both learners and educators to
assess progress.

Summative Assessment
This form of assessment takes place at the end of a period of study, for example at the end
of a learning session, a module, or a course. It enables learners to learners to reflect upon
their progress, upon their own evolution and in regards to how well they have met their own
personal and mandatory course objectives.
This form of assessment, frequently formal in nature, represents a mandatory assessment of
learners’ abilities, and as such it can be used as official evidence that they have met some
type of required success criteria. It can take the form of a graded essay, such as this one, or
an exam of some sort.

Summative assessments can certainly be rewarding experiences, but they can also be
highly stressful ones, too. In some cases, the strain of undertaking summative assessments
can undermine their value. This is because it can prevent learners from working at their peak
effectiveness, thereby limiting their ability to fully display their skills, knowledge and
competency.

This problem can be minimised to some degree, although I would argue that the ability to
perform well when experiencing stress is a life skill that should be experienced and
cultivated, by various means: for example, if an assessment takes the form of a traditional
“hall-based” examination, the learner could be allowed to be removed to a less daunting
environment, where with the aid of a separate invigilator, and perhaps a reader of scribe, or
an OLM modifier, depending on the learners individual needs, the examination could then
take place.

Natalie Bowen.
8 Understand types and methods of assessment used in education and training