Developing ‘know how’: a participatory approach to assessment of placement learning

Abstract

This paper is based on research undertaken on the supervised practice of an undergraduate programme of study which leads to both BA (Hons) degree and a professional qualification in youth work in a university in England. Youth work, for those unfamiliar with it, is a form of informal and experiential educational practice with young people often located in community settings. The purpose of youth work is to help young people learn about themselves, others and society through the use of educational activities which combine enjoyment, challenge and learning. Importantly, however, the findings of this paper we would argue are directly transferable to a variety of practice-based educational and vocational settings where students need to reflect on, analyse and either assess their own practice or have their practice assessed by others.

Keywords:

• assessment
• workplace learning
• vocational HE
• education and training assessment
• learning theory

Notes

1. The assessment of supervised practice on the first- and third-year practice elements are also based on written academic tasks.

2. The project characteristically consisted an informal education programme of one ‘2 h session’ with a group of 6–8 young people delivered over a six-week period.