The present training approach is called Competency-Based Education (CBE). In short, it means that students should be able to achieve the written objectives of their program. In the professions, it generaly means that students can do the job for which they are being trained.
As an assessor, you find out how well they can do it and students will be certified on that basis. So a large part of having credible graduates rests upon how well you assess. In short, CBE is assessment-driven.
The abilities that make up a degree or job should be written down as a list of skills. For example, a trainee team leader's list might be:
"The student will be able to:
- provide leadership, direction and guidance to individuals and teams
- maximise own performance outcomes
- manage effective team relationships
- manage and improve the performance of individuals
- support, participate in and review team development
These are real skills and are basically observable, but the role of primarily conceptual work is important.
The idea of listing skills means that:
| Being competent at the job students are being trained for | should be the same as | The list of skills that students must have to pass the training program |
|---|
Of course, being good at the job and the list of skills are not always the same. A student might be able to think through issues very well without having the related work skills. The opposite might also be true: students might be good at routine skills, but not know what to do when the job requires conceptual work. In this case, the course produces people who can't really do the job they're trained for.
Most applied work skills require some knowledge and understanding, and this is also listed in the units. (More about that later). A competency-based approach means that students who are brilliant at theory but can't actually have the required work skills don't pass the course. In some situations, of course, the ability to think through issues is the main skill that students need to learn, and the competency approach can be effectively used for academic skills.
The learning activities must naturally suit what you're teaching. We can also look ahead to how to provide practice and give assessment:
The skill to be learned must match:
- the way it is taught,
- the way it is practiced, and
- the way it is assessed
For example, if the skill is bicycle riding, you teach it with a bicycle, then the learner practices bicycle riding, and then you assess it through a demonstration of bicycle riding. Writing essays on bicycle riding doesn't help anyone learn to ride a bicycle.
Training that is based on competencies is known as Competency-Based Training (CBT), and its assessment is Competency-Based Assessment (CBA). Together they are known as CBTA (Competency-Based Training and Assessment).
Your organization also has a quality assurance process. It includes actively seeking feedback and advice from colleagues and students.
At this stage, however, it's necessary that you identify the documents in your organization that tell you what you must do as part of its quality system. The documents could be a policy, a procedure, an orientation handbook, a memo, your job description, or instructions on a form. The institution should also identify your legal and specific ethical responsibilities. Some ethical items may be called regulations or professional codes of practice, or discussed as risks. You will find that systems and practices of prevailing industrial and employee relations will affect how you do them.
You'll need to identify them and understand them know how your system works. You will also have to show that you follow them.
You will commonly face operational limits within which you will have to work. You will probably have a designated level of responsibility and limited autonomy. You will face limitations in staffing resources and in your physical environment. You'll have limits to the time and funds available, and scheduling can be difficult.
If you're either in an audit or contributing to program improvement, you might want to know what is going on.
Here's how it works ...
Quality systems are basically about checking that you have proper ways of doing things and reviewing them so that they can improve. Systems tend to be cyclical: after you run the program, you check it, improve it, run it again, and so on.
For example, this simple quality system is assumed in this Certificate IV:
Sophisticated quality systems usually have the following components: