Outcomes > Professional requirements

Outcomes that reflect the accreditation requirements of industry and professional bodies may also be important. If there are accreditation requirements, educators need know how the assessment tasks contribute to developing the required competencies. This may go beyond covering particular content, and extend to engaging learners with specific practices and skills. Some of these outcomes may already be mapped at the program level, and it may be a matter of consulting with colleagues to locate that documentation. Professional requirements may form a significant part of the design/redesign of assessments. It is also worth considering what other knowledge and skills your learners need to prepare for a profession. These might include dispositions and attitudes, as well as knowledge and skills not expressed in competencies. This gives the opportunity to think more generally about what it takes to be a successful person in that profession.

Assessment considerations:

  • Are there specific competencies required by accrediting bodies that learners are expected to demonstrate?
  • How do these appear in the program structure?
  • How is the unit in which the assessment sits to address the professional requirements?
  • How does the assessment design contribute to learners achieving those competencies?
  • Are there further skills and knowledge you would like to develop in your learners that will help them in their future professional lives?
  • Are there dispositions or values you would like to instil in your learners that they will need to be successful professionals?
  • How can these be embedded in the assessment design?

Also refer to:

Context > Professional, vocational and employment related

Outcomes > Learner development

Tasks > Criteria for successful completion

Tasks > Identifying which tasks are graded

Educator experiences

Building professional skills

The assessment is geared around the fact that teaching is a collaborative profession and more and more teachers are required to work with a colleague or in teams to develop a unit of work. So I’ve changed the mode of presentation to include a conference. Part one is students write the teaching and learning plan. Part two is students presenting three of the highlights from their teaching and learning plan in a conference. I’m going to invite students from the other three units to be part of the audience to get ideas too. So the assessment models what qualified teachers do. – Education lecturer

Demonstrating competencies

We have a national set of competencies for our health profession. Over their four years of study, students have to develop a portfolio of evidence where they document how they meet all these competencies. In their final semester, our fourth year students do a 10-week placement, and come back with four weeks before they graduate as real life therapists. In that final four weeks they write a reflection piece on their portfolio which is handed in and marked. Then students do oral viva in front of two academic staff members and one or two members of the clinical professional community, in which they explain why they think they are ready and competent to practice as a health professional. – Health professions lecturer

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