Assessment of Work Based Learning: Some Lessons from the Teaching Profession

The assessment of work-based learning is arguably one of the biggest challenges facing cooperative education practitioners worldwide. However, there are a number of professions such as teaching that have a long history of assessment, some of it informed by research. In this paper we examine current practice for the assessment of teaching practica in the United Kingdom and in New Zealand, illustrated by case studies from each country. We then consider what implications the experiences and research associated with assessment in teacher training may hold for other disciplines involved in work-based learning. The authors conclude that despite much debate and research, there is little consensus on the best means of assessment for teaching practica. Thus, the experiences of the teaching profession suggest that, despite assertions in the literature and governmental views, there are no simple solutions to the assessment of holistic learning experiences such as work placements (Asia-Pacific Journal of Cooperative Education, 2002, 3(1), 5-12).

[1]  M. Booth.  Training of Doctors in Hospitals: A Comparison with Teacher Education. , 1995 .

[2]  E. Stones,et al.  Assessment of a Complex Skill: improving teacher education , 1994 .

[3]  D. Lange.  Tomorrow's schools : the reform of education administration in New Zealand , 1988 .

[4]  Donald A. Schön.  The New Scholarship Requires a New Epistemology. , 1995 .

[5]  Understanding Teaching: A Model for Assessment , 1988 .

[6]  D. Schoen.  The Reflective Practitioner , 1983 .

[7]  E. Stones,et al.  implications for course design of failure and retrieval rates in initial teacher education , 1984 .

[8]  Sharon Price Bonham,et al.  Education and Employment , 1971 .

[9]  Teacher Perceptions of Their Needs as Mentors in the Context of Developing School‐based Initial Teacher Education , 1993 .

[10]  M. Polanyi.  The Logic of Tacit Inference , 1966, Philosophy.

[11]  The Council for National Academic Awards , 1964, Nature.

[12]  Anne Reynolds,et al.  What Is Competent Beginning Teaching? A Review of the Literature , 1992 .

[13]  M. Polanyi,et al.  Knowing and being : essays , 1969 .

[14]  Mark C. Lay,et al.  Ranking Workplace Competencies: Student and Graduate Perceptions. , 2002 .

[15]  D. Mcintyre,et al.  Mentoring: Perspectives on School-based Teacher Education , 1993 .

[16]  P. O'hara,et al.  What Employers Want to Read About New Teachers , 1994 .

[17]  S. Grainger,et al.  Accessing Professional Artistry: The Importance of Cooperative Education and the Limitations of Classical Research. , 2001 .

[18]  Louis J. Rubin.  Artistry in teaching , 1985 .

[19]  Aliisa Mylonas,et al.  Improving the Assessment of Practice Teaching: a criteria and standards framework , 1998 .

[20]  D. Schoen.  Educating the reflective practitioner , 1987 .