The TAEDES412 Design and develop plans for vocational training is a core unit of competency for the new TAE40122 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment qualification. It describes the skills and knowledge required to design, develop and document delivery plans and session plans within the Australian VET system.
The TAEDES412 unit specifies that the delivery plan and session plans must include formative assessment activities. This is the second of two articles about formative assessment. The previous article is titled:
In this article, I shall cover:
- Incorporating formative assessment into a training delivery plan
- Incorporating formative assessment into a training session plan.
Let’s start with establishing a common terminology.
Explaining the terminology
The terms formative assessment and summative assessment may make sense for a school or higher education context but they can be confusing when applied to the Australian vocational education and training (VET) system. Different people use these terms to mean different things.
Australia has a competency-based VET system. And it uses assessment to determine if a person is competent. Summative assessment can be described as the ‘assessment of competency’.
Formative assessment can be describes as the ‘assessment of learning.’ [1]
The following shows a better way of expressing these terms for VET.
Also, we should keep our terminology as simple as possible by making the distinction between the assessment of learning and the assessment of competency.
Assessment of learning occurs during the delivery of training to check if the learning objectives have been achieved and to monitor progress.
Assessment of competency occurs after the delivery of training covering a unit or cluster of units. It is used to determine if a person is competent.
Assessment of learning should not to be confused with assessment of competency. The assessment of learning can to be informal, and may not be related to the performance of work tasks because it may relate to the learning of a piece of knowledge or the learning of a foundational skill. The assessment of competency tends to be more formal, and it should include the performance of work tasks in a workplace or a simulated workplace that has the characteristics of a real workplace.
When can formative assessment occur?
The TAEDES412 Design and develop plans for vocational training unit of competency specifies that the delivery plan and session plans must include formative assessment activities. Therefore, I am using the term ‘formative assessment’.
Formative assessment can occur:
- At the end of a training session to check if the knowledge or skills covered during the training session have been learnt
- At the end of a training day to check if the knowledge or skills covered during the training day have been learnt
- At the start of a training day to check if the knowledge or skills from the previous training day or days have been learnt
- At the end of a training topic or module to check if the required knowledge or skills have been learnt before moving onto the next topic or module.
Incorporating formative assessment into a training delivery plan
The following shows the outline of a training delivery plan with a four day duration. Each red dot indicates when a formative assessment is planned to be conducted. Six formative assessment on Day 1. One formative assessment on Day 2. Two formative assessment on Day 3. And two formative assessment on Day 4.
Day 1 is an example of formative assessment being conducted at the end of every training session. This scenario is unlikely to be implemented for various reasons including time constraints.
Day 2 is an example of formative assessment being conducted at the end of the training day. It should be noted that formative assessment does not have to be conducted on the same day as the learning.
Day 3 is an example of formative assessment being conducted twice during the training day. This checks what has been learnt in the morning and what has been learnt in the afternoon.
Day 4 is an example of formative assessment being conducted at relevant times, such as at the end of a topic or before moving onto a new stage of learning.
What are the different types of formative assessments?
The Australia VET system aims to help people learn the knowledge and skills required to perform work tasks.
Questions or quizzes can be used to conduct an assessment of learning for knowledge. Observed practice can be used to conduct an assessment of learning for skills or the performance of a work task.
Why are formative assessments conducted?
Formative assessments maybe conducted for various reasons, such as:
- To determine if the learning objectives have been achieved
- To determine if the person has the required knowledge and skills before moving onto the next topic or module
- To determine if the person is ready to commence their assessment of competency.
Incorporating formative assessment into a training session plan
In theory, every training session shall have documented learning objectives. In theory, every training session shall include planned activities that have been designed to help a person learn the knowledge or skills being covered. And in theory, formative assessment shall be conducted before every training session concludes to determine if the learning objectives have been achieved.
Training session plan for knowledge
The following example shows the incorporation of formative assessment into a plan for a knowledge training session.
There are a range of variables that can impact the training session plan, such as:
- Total duration of the training session
- Amount of content to be learnt
- Complexity of the content to be learnt
- Resources available
- Characteristic of the learner or learners.
Therefore, the above example is provided only as a guide.
Training session plan for a skill or task
The following example shows the incorporation of formative assessment into a plan for a skill or task training session.
Again, there are a range of variables that can impact the training session plan, such as:
- Total duration of the training session
- Difficulty of the skill or task to be learnt
- Safety precautions when the skill or task may be dangerous
- Availability of facilities, equipment, materials or resources
- Characteristic of the learner or learners.
Therefore, the above example is provided only as a guide.
The importance of feedback
Formative assessment must include the provision of feedback. Feedback can be motivational and should be constructive. Feedback should identify areas needing additional training or further practice.
Formative assessment is essential for helping people progress towards achieving learning objectives. It is used to monitor progress. And it can identify the need for learning support. Feedback from the trainer may include the development of an action plan designed to help the learner progress.
In conclusion
People studying for their TAE40122 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment qualification will be required to incorporate formative assessment activities into their training delivery plan and training session plan.
It is essential that the learning objectives are clearly documented. It is essential that activities are conducted during a training session to help people learn. And before the end of the training session, we can conduct a formative assessment to determine if the learning objectives have been achieved and give feedback to the learner or learners.
Formative assessment is the assessment of learning. Questions or quizzes can be used to conduct an assessment of learning for knowledge. Observed practice can be used to conduct an assessment of learning for skills or the performance of a work task.
Reference
[1] VOCEDplus website assessed 25 April 2023
Feedback
Please let me know if this article has been useful or interesting. And please remember to share, comment or give feedback after you have read this article.
Do you need help with your TAE studies?
Are you a doing the TAE40116 or TAE40122 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment, and are you struggling with your studies? Do you want help with your TAE studies?
Ring Alan Maguire on 0493 065 396 to discuss.
Training trainers since 1986
On Target Work Skills 