Involving the learner in the Level 3 Certificate in Assessing Vocational Achievement (CAVA)

Why involve the learner in the Level 3 Certificate in Assessing Vocational Achievement

As an assessor, its imperative that you involve your learners in the assessment. Whilst completing your Level 3 Certificate in Assessing Vocational Achievement (CAVA), you need to know what you need to do. Surprisingly some training providers expect you to get on with it with no support or help but as an assessor you need to talk to your learners and discuss what is expected and guide them to solving it. The biggest obstacles in the Level 3 Certificate in Assessing Vocational Achievement (CAVA) are planning your assessor observations to ensure that they content is correct and that you meet all of the required learning outcomes to pass. I like to involve my learners and find ways which they already meet the learning outcomes and then focus on that.  

Basic information to discuss in the Level 3 Certificate in Assessing Vocational Achievement

Basic information to discuss is when is the assessment, where is the assessment? Without these, we can’t assess. These conversations typically lead to transport access, I can’t get there at that time because there are no trains. We can’t use that room as it’s booked out by someone else. I remember completing my management qualification whilst I was working nights therefore my assessor had to come in the evening to see me. Sometimes you may plan to assess all of your learners at the same time and in one go. And there is nothing wrong with this, but you need to consider whether all learners will be ready at that time. Remember everyone has their own things going on at home.

Planning the Level 3 Certificate in Assessing Vocational Achievement

During the planning stage of assessment, ask your learners is there anything you can do to make their assessment a good experience. In the Level 3 Certificate in Assessing Vocational Achievement (CAVA) we will discuss this in their induction. Are there ways we can adapt assessments to overcome disabilities? Do we need to be asking written or verbal questions or do we need to use printed handouts in a particular colour, font or do we need to increase the size to suit particular learning requirements? The construction skills tests are good examples as the assessments give learners to choose to take the assessment in their native language meaning language barriers can be overcome to prevent any disadvantage to learners.  

We should always consult with our learners and in particular find out about their previous experiences and their current work placements as we can find opportunities for them to complete assessments at work or in the classroom so they can be assessed in an environment where they are more comfortable. When I did my teacher training 20 years ago, most of my assessments took place in the sports centre coaching which put me at ease as a was being assessed in my most natural environment.  

Talk to your learners, ask about their progress. In the Level 3 Certificate in Assessing Vocational Achievement (CAVA), we provide lots of opportunities for formative assessments to check learners progress to see if they are ready for assessment. Learners will progress at different rates therefore it is useful to keep in touch with learners to check when they are ready. Be careful not to push learners into assessment too quickly, particularly summative assessments but you can create formative assessments in a way that leads to progression preparing your learners for their final assessment. Therefore, break assessment into stages first so they can progress through each one in a progressive manner.  

Communicating assessment in the Level 3 Certificate in Assessing Vocational Achievement

Do we need to communicate assessments to others? Your IQA may need to monitor you, you may need to make plans with a facilities department to rent out a room, we need IT access therefore is IT departments needed? Do we need permission form an employer to assess learners in their workplace, maybe we need security access? Think about who else you need to involve carrying out your assessments.