Ptlls - Assessment Methods

Initial assessment is the starting point of a learning journey. The information gathered provides a base on which to plan your learner’s progress. Initial assessment is very important so you find out the learners individual needs in order for you to support them appropriately.

2.2 The strengths and limitations of a range of assessment methods in relation to the individual learner needs:

Unit 1- 1.1, 1.2-This is a reflective account of the things I have done, experience and knowledge I have gained throughout the assessor 's course mainly during the process of assessment. First, I would like to describe the definition of assessment, its key concepts, stages to show the knowledge and understanding I have gained throughout the course. An assessment is a pre-agreed formal session with the learner. Assessment is judging performance against an agreed standard and is also a way of finding out if learning has taken place. It enables yo assessor to ascertain if learner has gained

In my point of view assessment is a testing tool by which a teacher or assessor can use to detect the outcomes of teaching, learning or assessment process with the learners by

Initial assessments aim to find out essential information about students. This could be done in a variety of ways; in general, we would first use an application form, and then a face-to-face interview, for the majority of our initial information. We then give students brief tests on basic literacy and numerical ability, and learning styles questionnaires. This allows me enough initial

The assessments have been done during and after the lesson in a variety of ways; verbal response, written response, pair and group work, and making posters as a visual outcome.

Before any actual classroom teaching can take place, initial and diagnostic assessments must be carried out. These are paramount in agreeing individual learning goals, and planning the progression of the learner with the teacher.

Assessment is used to make a specific educational decision and is the process of evaluating the extent to which participants in education have developed their knowledge, understanding and skills.

An initial or diagnostic assessment establishes the starting point and ascertains the student’s previous skills and knowledge. This enables the student to see how much he/she achieves during the course, it also fosters a more reflective approach to learning and enables the teacher to effectively plan the individual student’s needs. The teacher can then review the students’ progress and achievements, which improves the quality of teaching

The initial and diagnostic assessments are closely linked; all information gathered from these assessments are put together to help the learner and the teacher build a clear picture of the individual. This information will then be used to agree goals and actions, personalise learning, develop an ILP, tailor session plans to meet the individual learners needs and use teaching methods to cater for all learning styles.

Assessments are used to track not only learner but tutor progress. Below I have documented some utilised in my everyday teaching life:

Assessment is carried out through formative (checks throughout the course), ipsative (to test against previous marks), and/ or summative (at end of course) activities to help the learner see their development whilst allowing the Assessor to give valuable feedback when appropriate. It’s purpose is to measure the learners understanding of the subject against the anticipated outcomes set by the criteria.

The learner must have sufficient time to prepare for an assessment. Learners must have clear instructions, dates, times and be aware of what treatments that they will be doing.

Although this is primarily for younger children this idea can be used straight through life-long learning. Assessment enables the teacher to see what objectives have been met and what still needs to be addressed. This is often called formative assessment or assessment for learning. ‘Assessment for Learning is the process of seeking and interpreting evidence for use by learners ad their teachers to decide where the learners are in their learning, where they need to go and how best to go there’ (Assessment Reform Group, 2002).

Initial and diagnostic assessment can often assist the teacher in deciding on the most appropriate teaching method to use in order to meet the needs of the individual learner. An initial assessment could indicate that a learner requires additional support for a number of reasons.