Scenario 1: Jasper is at nFinity marketing with a candidate
Jasper recently did some assessments for the customer service staff at nFinity Marketing, who had recently completed some units on selling skills. The performance criteria had a focus on positive body language as a key communication skill, but because these nFinity staff work completely over the telephone, body language is not easily observable.
Jasper contextualised his assessment plan by asking the candidates to do a short role-play scenario. By playing the customer in a face-to-face sales situation, Jasper was able to observe the body language used by the candidates and carry out an assessment on their competency in this area.
Scenario 2: Stephanie is at a workplace
Stephanie recently developed a work-based skills recognition program for some team leaders at an insurance company. The participants were required to put together a portfolio of evidence to support their claim for competency against a range of relevant skills and abilities.
This particular client was not interested in the attainment of a qualification as such, but was still keen for their employees to get formal recognition of their existing skills, knowledge and abilities. The solution was for Stephanie to develop an assessment plan that was a combination of competency standards from different units within a qualification. This enabled the candidates to receive a Statement of Attainment against the competency standards.
Scenario 3: Ruby is at a workplace
One of the candidates Ruby was assessing recently had a vision impairment, and although she had excellent touch-typing skills, her accuracy deteriorated if she tried typing over a certain speed.
The competency standard called for a typing speed of 80 words per minute with 100% accuracy, however this was impossible for the candidate to achieve since she used assistive technology to enable her to “see” the words on the screen. Based on her experience and knowledge of industry standards, Ruby considered that a reduction in typing speed to 70 words per minute was a reasonable adjustment as appropriate in this instance, so she contextualised the assessment requirements to meet the characteristics and needs of the candidate.
Scenario 4: Stephanie is at a retail store
LIV TRAINING recently ran some training for people wishing to enter the retail industry. The units delivered were from the Certificate II in Retail Operations, which calls for a workplace demonstration of skills and knowledge in order to meet competency standards.
However, these particular candidates were not yet employed in a retail store, so Stephanie was able to use a work environment simulation for the purpose of assessment. For this to be a valid assessment, Stephanie ensured that the simulated environment contained all the elements that would be present in a retail store, including equipment, and engaged some of the LIV TRAINING staff to role-play customers for the candidates to interact with during the assessment.
Scenario 5: Frank is at Ruth Barnes’ Health Campus
Following his delivery of some OHS training for staff at Ruth Barnes’ Health Campus, Frank was required to do an assessment. Although his knowledge of OHS issues is extensive, he is not familiar with medical terminology and equipment and was concerned that his lack of knowledge could cause problems during the assessment.
To address this issue, Frank arranged for a member of staff from Ruth Barnes’ medical team to be on hand during the assessments. This way, Frank could verify the information given by the candidates as being correct, and was able to assess their competency.