A work placement provides the perfect opportunity for competency-based education and assessment, as it is an ideal setting to integrate and stimulate students’ knowledge, skills and attitudes. At the start of the work placement, the learning outcomes are specified in the work placement objectives the student should acquire, which are, in turn, in line with the programme-specific competencies. 

 

The learning outcomes are a valid reflection of what is expected from the trainee. Assessment of the work placement must therefore always refer back to these learning outcomes, and measure to what extent the student has acquired them. Make your learning outcomes as specific as possible, or specify them further in the form of observable criteria. They can then serve as a standard during observations, or for work placement reports. 

 

Final assessment of the work placement comprises three criteria:  

• the products (or the visible achievements); 
• the process that the students have to go through to deliver these products;
• the students' ability to reflect on their own actions during the work placement. 

Product and Process Assessment

The final assessment of the work placement can take into account the products students have delivered or achievements they have made (cf.  product assessment). The way in which students have completed specific assignments and the progress they have made during the work placement can also be taken into account (cf. process assessment) by means of interim assessments. 

• the students’ progress during the work placement can be documented in the form of interim reports by the work placement supervisor, or self-reflections in a portfolio;

• clearly explain how the process and product assessments count towards to the final mark (e.g. 60% product vs. 40% process assessment).

Self-reflection

Often, one of the objectives of a work placement is that students learn to reflect on their own professional actions and how to translate that self-reflection into appropriate solutions or changes to their approach. If self-reflection is part of the work placement objectives, the quality of these reflections will also count towards the final mark.

 

Tip! 

Determine Clear Assessment Criteria 

Clear and objective assessment criteria are always a must, be it for product assessment, process assessment or the assessment of the self-reflection.  In case there are multiple assessors, always make sure that their assessments are in alignment.

In the context of work placement assessment, objectivity can be quite a challenge: students find themselves in different settings, are given different assignments, are supervised by different people, and are assessed by multiple assessors.  Equal work placement achievements run the risk of leading to different results because the final mark partially depends on coincidences such as the host company where trainees end up, the supervision, personal preferences of the assessors, etc...

To make sure that students are all assessed more or less in the same manner, and the final mark is sufficiently substantiated, work placement assessors should all use the same assessment criteria.