TY - CHAP

T1 - Assessing the complexity of professional achievement

AU - Yorke, Mantz

PY - 2011

Y1 - 2011

N2 - Professional achievement is not limited to the well-established professions since professional behaviour isrequired in a wide range of occupations and voluntary work. This situational variety makes the detailedspecification of achievement standards (as some are seeking) extremely – and in most circumstancesprohibitively – challenging. Approaches to assessment that are rooted in ideas of scientific measurement (whichinflect a lot of assessment in contemporary higher education) are inappropriate to the assessment of professionalachievement and need to be replaced by an approach based upon professional judgement. This can becharacterised in terms of a shift away from realism and towards relativism in assessment. Two consequencesare the need to take a critical perspective regarding the merits of technicalities of assessment that reflectpsychometric thinking and, where an overall grade is involved, the need to consider the appropriateness ofprivileging assessments of academic work over those of professional achievement.The challenges faced in work and volunteering range from the routine to the novel. The professional has to dealwith both, often in situations in which a ‘good enough’ solution is the best that can be achieved. The assessorhas the task of judging the achievement with respect to the prevailing circumstances. Assessors fromworkplaces often prefer to make broad judgements of achievement. A key issue is the capacity of assessors tomake sound judgements. In some areas of higher education assessors are well-versed in assessingprofessional achievement: in others there is less expertise in such assessing, and hence there is a strongargument for relevant development work.Assessing professional achievement is demanding on resources. Assessment regimes have to be realistic interms of what is practicable and what limitations follow regarding what can formally be warranted.

AB - Professional achievement is not limited to the well-established professions since professional behaviour isrequired in a wide range of occupations and voluntary work. This situational variety makes the detailedspecification of achievement standards (as some are seeking) extremely – and in most circumstancesprohibitively – challenging. Approaches to assessment that are rooted in ideas of scientific measurement (whichinflect a lot of assessment in contemporary higher education) are inappropriate to the assessment of professionalachievement and need to be replaced by an approach based upon professional judgement. This can becharacterised in terms of a shift away from realism and towards relativism in assessment. Two consequencesare the need to take a critical perspective regarding the merits of technicalities of assessment that reflectpsychometric thinking and, where an overall grade is involved, the need to consider the appropriateness ofprivileging assessments of academic work over those of professional achievement.The challenges faced in work and volunteering range from the routine to the novel. The professional has to dealwith both, often in situations in which a ‘good enough’ solution is the best that can be achieved. The assessorhas the task of judging the achievement with respect to the prevailing circumstances. Assessors fromworkplaces often prefer to make broad judgements of achievement. A key issue is the capacity of assessors tomake sound judgements. In some areas of higher education assessors are well-versed in assessingprofessional achievement: in others there is less expertise in such assessing, and hence there is a strongargument for relevant development work.Assessing professional achievement is demanding on resources. Assessment regimes have to be realistic interms of what is practicable and what limitations follow regarding what can formally be warranted.

M3 - Chapter

BT - Learning to be professional through a higher education

A2 - Jackson, Norman

PB - Sceptre

ER -