What I have described does not fit easily with any model of education
that assumes a hierarchical relationship between teacher and student with
neat packages of knowledge flowing in one direction from teacher to student.
Nor does it assume that assessment is solely about the student as a passive
provider of ‘answers’ to be ticked as either ‘right’ or ‘wrong’.
Rather it sees assessment as essentially a dialogue in which assessment
rationales are constructed through mutual education and dialogue concerning
an assessment text. It is my argument here that the integration of
assessment, education and professional action is fundamental to professional
education at every level of qualification and experience. It is only in
this way that assessment can be made to work in practice not as a burden
but as an essential component of high quality practice. What we presently
lack is a well thought out conception of the practice curriculum, until
we have that, assessment cannot hop to be appropriate to the workplace
and will simply not work in practice. It is our hope that PANDA’s
final report due at the end of 1999 will contribute to these developments.
