I was recently invited to write an article about developing effective assessments. In fact, I was asked to discuss how to ‘develop assessment tools that even an auditor would be proud of’. Now, it is great that an auditor loves your work, but ultimately the true test of a successful assessment tool is whether it is a good fit for the benchmark standards, the candidate/s and the workplace the competency is to be applied. Moreover, just because it looks good and ticks all the auditor’s boxes, this doesn’t necessarily make it right for all occasions.

Yes and No. In a sense the traditional concept of “teacher” is one which has diminishing impact. The notion of what a teacher is and does is changing and being increasingly replaced and extended by the role of guide and mentor. More than “redundant”, teachers are at risk of becoming irrelevant. No longer are teachers the bastions of knowledge and harbingers of a single, right way of doing things. Moreover, learners are not looking for that structured, linear style of learning either. In a Post-Google world, learners are wired to use networks and search engines to find answers quickly.

Whist I normally write about the challenges facing practitioners in the vocational education space, I thought it wise to review the student experience before they reach us and the baggage they may bring from their school experience. I think there are implications for us, if we have a disaffected group graduating into our learning environments and feel the timing is right to discuss some of these issues here. I continue to be troubled by our school system that is high on pursuit of excellence rhetoric, but has internal systems which actively work against teachers who perform exceptionally.