4 The fundamentals of fair and ethical assessment
Linked with the role of the practice educator is the importance of fair and ethical assessment. The assessment process is significant for the learner as it determines their progression towards achieving their qualification. As a practice educator, you have a key role in modelling ethical assessment for future practice. Through the supervision relationship you build with the social work learner, you will provide them with a model for professional practice and service user relationships.
The term assessment means different things to learners, so it is important to be clear about what this involves in social work practice learning. Assess is a form of the Latin verb assidere, to ‘sit with’. It is something therefore that you do with and for the learner, not something you do to them. An assessment is a comprehensive multifaceted analysis of performance; it must be based on evidence drawn from authentic practice tasks.
Activity 4 Ensuring fair and robust assessment
List some methods and approaches you might use to ensure that your assessment of a learner is a fair one.
Describe how these methods and approaches would lead to fair assessment.
Discussion
You might have noted that it would be important to be clear, and for the learner to know when and how they are being assessed. You might also have thought that giving clear feedback at different stages might give the learner a fair chance to build on their practice. Considering whether you are planning for a learner’s specific way of understanding might also be important.
As a practice educator, you are making a judgement, but the assessment judgement needs to be related to the requirements you are assessing the learner on. It is essential therefore to understand these and to have discussed these with the learner. You might also have reflected on your previous experience as a practice educator and how the assessment process felt.
Power
Reflecting on the power inherent in your role as a practice educator is an essential part of your approach. What are the power dynamics in practice education generally? What are some specific issues of potential power imbalance in any individual learner/practice educator relationship? How can you bring these power dynamics into your discussion as a practice educator? At the end of this course there are links to reading material, which can help you consider issues of power in practice learning.
Ethical assessment
Ethical assessment is always about being clear and framing feedback in relation to the standards you are assessing against. Setting out the ways in which you will gather evidence and provide feedback should be clearly negotiated in the practice learning agreement and woven through your practice education. If you are interested, you can read research from Jo Finch and Prospera Tedam [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] (2023) on issues relating to learners who are not progressing to meet the requirements in practice learning. Often practice educators are concerned about when learners or apprentices are not progressing well, but having a clear plan and pathway through the stages of your role can help support a fair assessment process.