The Crux of the Matter - Training Queensland - Queensland ...

Formative assessment is an ongoing collection
of information about learner progress. It enables
teachers, trainers and assessors to track, support
and guide learner’s continuous progress and
improvement towards the expectations of the unit
or course assessment expectations. This ongoing
assessment determines what the learner knows,
is able to do and can apply, and points to the next
steps for teaching and learning.
Formative assessment is conducted throughout
teaching and learning to:
• keep everyone focused on the purpose of the
lesson / activity / unit / program
• provide information about the progress being
made
• determine the effectiveness of instruction in
helping the learner to achieve the purpose.
It includes the collection of samples of learner’s
work, and observations by teachers, trainers, other
learners, workplace supervisors or mentors. Multiple
forms of evidence build a ‘competence portfolio’ that
can be used as part of summative assessment.
Case study
Jamal was really pleased that his second go at writing an OH and S incident report was better than his first.
His teacher had explained that sometimes it was better to put information into a series of dot points so that
it was easier for someone to read and understand. On his second go at the task he had used dot points and
he could see it did make the result much clearer. He’d only ever written stories and essays at school and
hadn’t liked that much. He was pleased to learn a new way of writing down information.
Summative assessment occurs at the end of a
period of learning. It is often used in combination
with data from formative assessment and provides
the learner with opportunities to demonstrate their
achievement against competency standards in a
Training Package qualification or accredited courses.
It is important that the LLN requirements of an
assessment are not more complex than is required
by the competencies.
When it comes to LLN skills within a vocational
course, these should be assessed in context as the
vocational skill is assessed.
37