Initial Assessment In Training

Initial Assessment is a part of the course where you begin to know your learners in order to you pitch your programme at the right level

. I have taught in a variety of different teaching environments, from colleges and universities to bespoke business to business training and conferences and have found the approach to Initial Assessment is vastly different in each environment. In work-based learning, for example, Initial Assessment takes a large part of the course, taking up to six weeks to complete. In business to business situations, however, (for example IT training) the initial assessment part can often be a quick question, about how confident the learner is with IT. So why is initial assessment not given as much prominence within business-to-business training? Should greater use be made of initial assessment?

So why implement assessment before a course has started? My recent article on assessment suggested alternative ways assessment can be completed, but why implement a period of assessment before training has even started? As long as the delegate sees the point of Initial Assessment and it is done WITH the delegate, not TO them, the process can be a positive, motivating experience, assisting in the identification of strengths and areas for improvement. The course can then be tailored to the individual delegate, so that time can be focussed on the development needs than on areas the delegate is already confident the training thus becomes more relevant.

One problem is that it takes time to look at the findings of initial assessment and to tailor the programme to the results. However, even short one-day courses can include initial assessment - one answer to the lack of time problem is to compose a short survey to be completed by learners before the programme commences. The results of this may be used not just to tailor the programme to the appropriate level but also give information on which areas of the training to spend more time on. The results might also inform how groups are organised, do you want groups where more confident and less confident delegates are grouped together? Do you want less confident delegates grouped together on a different session? Having access to initial assessment information before the teaching starts gives time to think these issues through before you are stood in front of a group of delegates. Questionnaires are far from perfect, however and a short meeting before the programme begins may give better results in some circumstances. Longer courses will benefit from a discrete period of initial assessment, where the delegates past learning, experience and expectations are considered.

One impotant benefit of a period of initial assessment is that it may help justify the time and money spent on the programme. The initial assessment is a benchmark, which can be used to evidence distance travelled, which, as well as being useful for motivating the learner, shows that your training session has been successful to whoever is commissioning the work. This can't be a bad thing.

by: Matt Henley

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