Assessment: the process of quality assurance for education and training

The author maintains that the problem is not in the quality of education systems or providers in Australia, it is that our quality checking is only in the middle of the production process, rather than throughout the process with the confirmation of a quality product being based on the fact that 'product' actually operates to an acceptable standard. A key fault with the current system of vocational education and training in Australia is simply that the relationship between the quality assurance personnel (off-job providers) and the operational staff (the workplace) is at best poor. The expert worker in the enterprise is the key person able to provide an important role in both formative and summative assessment, but educators must work with these people in the training and assessment processes rather than trying to do it for them. Assessment is the most critical part of the quality processes involved in the preparation of a competent workforce. The process of moving the education and training agenda from an institution-based, off-job task to a holistic process that is able to value learning and achievement of competence at many different times of a person's career/life and in many different circumstances, requires a generation of change. Show less