Assessment in GNVQs: learning the hard way

Abstract

This article suggests that the experiences of implementing General National Vocational Qualifications (GNVQs) have offered a number of insights into the limitations of the criterion-referenced assessment practices of GNVQs, modelled as they are upon the unit, elements and performance criteria structure of NVQs. As GNVQs evolve and, it would appear, move away from this NVQ ‘template’ on which they were designed, an opportunity has arisen for clarifying the purposes and scope of assessment practices in vocational courses such as GNVQ. This article attempts to (re)establish some broad principles of assessment in relation to GNVQs and to locate these principles in the day-to-day practices of lecturers. The article has arisen from ongoing research into the way lecturers in Further Education are coping with the changes brought about by GNVQs in Health and Social Care and, as such, owes much to the insights offered by practitioners and to their explanations of their own assessment practices.