On the reliability of vocational workplace-based certifications

Abstract

The assessment of vocational workplace-based qualifications in England relies on human assessors (raters). These assessors observe naturally occurring, non-standardised evidence, unique to each learner and evaluate the learner as competent/not yet competent against content standards. Whilst these are considered difficult to measure, this study aims to provide information on the operational reliability of assessor decisions for three workplace-based vocational qualifications in Hairdressing and Electrotechnical Engineering. It is shown how existing assessment records, typically generated locally by the training providers, were collected and used in a reliability study. A suitable methodology for estimating the inter-rater reliability and internal consistency was then used with this empirical data. In general, the reliability estimates measured may be considered high. This research study shows that it may be possible to measure reliability for these qualifications using commonly used measurement methods, although several characteristics of the assessment system should be considered in their interpretation.

Keywords:

• reliability
• workplace-based vocational assessment
• portfolio
• judgement

Acknowledgements

The authors extend their thanks to Professors Paul Black and Jo-Anne Baird and the three anonymous reviewers for very helpful comments on previous drafts of this paper and Inga Fitzgerald and Andrew Boyle for advice throughout this project. This work was carried out by City & Guilds, an English awarding body, using their own qualifications. The study was funded by Ofqual [The Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation in England] as part of the Reliability of Results Programme.

Notes

1. This study was carried out during a period of transition to a new national credit transfer system for qualifications in England, from the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) to the Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF). Under the QCF, the unit templates included assessment criteria, which specify the required level of performance a candidate must demonstrate to achieve a learning outcome.