Strategies for the Assessment of Competence

Abstract

The paper examines three different strategies for the assessment of competence. The strategies are different because they base their Judgements about competence on different forms and amounts of evidence and they adopt different procedures for obtaining this evidence. Each strategy is illustrated by means of an analysis of an assessment programme in operation. The programmes are drawn from an investigation of competency‐based training programmes in TAFE colleges, industry and various training institutions carried out in Australia and Great Britain during 1992. The analysis brings out the strengths and weaknesses of each strategy as well as the particular problems and difficulties associated with the assessment of competence and the procedures that must be followed to ensure that principles of sound assessment are adhered to.