The Key Concepts and Principles of Assessment

The process of assessment allows the learner to be judged as to their knowledge, skills and competence measured. Assessment has to remain fair, consistent and valid to ensure all learners have an equal and fair chance of receiving a fair assessment decision. An assessor cannot be biased to give a learner an easier assessment because he/she favour the learner.

Validity is essential for assessment and it ensures that the assessment tasks and the criteria are suitable enough to measure student attainment effectively for the learning outcomes defined by the awarding organisation at the appropriate level. Assessment should be consistent and reliable. The assessment has to be reliable and requires clear and consistent processes for the setting, marking, grading and moderation of assignments.Information about assessment should be explicit, accessible, accurate, uniform and on time. Information about the assessment tasks and the assessment procedures should be available to the learners, staff and the other external assessors or examiners from the awarding organisations.

Assessment should be comprehensive and reasonable enough to maintain the academic standards. At the same time, assessment has to be inclusive and equitable to ensure that the given tasks and the assessment procedures do not discriminate any group or individual. Assessment should be an integral part of programme design and should relate directly to the programme aims and learning outcomes.Assessment tasks should primarily reflect the nature of the discipline or subject but should also ensure that students have the opportunity to develop a range of generic skills and capabilities.

The amount of assessed work should be manageable. The scheduling of assignments and the amount of assessed work, required should provide a reliable and valid profile of achievement without overloading staff or students. Formative and summative assessment should be included in each programme. Formative and summative assessment should be incorporated into programmes to ensure that the purposes of assessment are adequately addressed.

Many programmes may also wish to include diagnostic assessment.Timely feedback that promotes learning and facilities improvement should be an integral part of the assessment process. Students are entitled to receive feedback on submitted formative assessment tasks and on summative tasks, where appropriate.

The nature, extent and timing of feedback for each assessment task should be made clear to students in advance.Staff development policy and strategy should include assessment. All those involved in the assessment of students must be competent to undertake their roles and responsibilities.