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Open Access
Article
Publication date: 22 February 2024

Daniele Morselli

This article focuses on the assessment of entrepreneurship competence by selected vocational teachers in Italy. The exploratory research question addresses the extent to which…

Abstract

Purpose

This article focuses on the assessment of entrepreneurship competence by selected vocational teachers in Italy. The exploratory research question addresses the extent to which entrepreneurship assessments are competence based, and the research seeks to identify fully fledged assessment programmes with both a formative and summative component, and the use of assessment rubrics. It also explores the extent to which entrepreneurship competence is referred to in school documentation and later assessed, and the tools and strategies used for such assessment.

Design/methodology/approach

This case study is part of a larger European research project promoted by Cedefop; in Italy it focused on six selected vocational IVET and CVET programmes and apprenticeship schemes. It used a wide range of instruments to ensure triangulation and multiple perspectives: analysed policy documents and undertook online interviews with experts and policy makers. At VET providers' premises it deployed: analysis of school documents; observations of learning environments; interviews and focus groups with (in schools) teachers, directors and vice directors, learners and alumni (in companies) instructors, company tutors and employers, apprentices and alumni.

Findings

Assessment tasks were rarely embedded within fully fledged assessment programmes involving both formative and summative tasks, and assessment rubric for grading. Most of the time, entrepreneurship programmes lacked self-assessment, peer assessment and structured feedback and did not involve learners in the assessment process. Some instructors coached the students, but undertook no clear formative assessment. These findings suggest institutions have a testing culture with regard to assessment, at the level of both policy and practice. In most cases, entrepreneurship competence was not directly assessed, and learning outcomes were only loosely related to entrepreneurship.

Research limitations/implications

One limitation concerned the selection of the VET providers: these were chosen not on a casual basis, but because they ran programmes that were relevant to the development of entrepreneurship competence.

Practical implications

At the policy level, there is a need for new guidelines on competence development and assessment in VET, guidelines that are more aligned with educational research on competence development. To ensure the development of entrepreneurship competence, educators need in-service training and a community of practice.

Originality/value

So far, the literature has concentrated on entrepreneurship education at the tertiary level. Little is known about how VET instructors assess entrepreneurship competence. This study updates the picture of policy and practice in Italy, illustrating how entrepreneurship competence is developed in selected IVET and CVET programmes and apprenticeships.

Details

Education + Training, vol. 66 no. 10
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0040-0912

Keywords

Content available
Article
Publication date: 17 January 2024

Daisy Grace Burden

Parents whose children have undergone an autism assessment often describe the process as extremely stressful. This affects how parents engage with services post-diagnosis, meaning…

Abstract

Purpose

Parents whose children have undergone an autism assessment often describe the process as extremely stressful. This affects how parents engage with services post-diagnosis, meaning less likelihood of using subsequent service support despite struggling to cope. Since parents already report many barriers to accessing services, e.g. long waiting lists, lack of co-ordination and limited resources (Sapiets et al. 2023), negative experiences during assessment should not pose another potential barrier to engagement. This study aimed to address how families’ needs can be better met during the assessment process.

Design/methodology/approach

In this qualitative study, the author conducted semi-structured interviews with 11 parents whose child had undergone an autism assessment in the last five years. Thematic analysis determined key themes.

Findings

The six themes were: clarity and communication, access to support and resources, aftercare, recognition of parent concerns, personalisation of the assessment process and concerns around the use of personal protective equipment/online assessments. These themes led to criteria to assess the quality of autism assessment services in line with parent perspectives.

Practical implications

These parent-informed criteria could facilitate the consideration of parents’ views into service evaluations of autism assessment services across the UK.

Originality/value

Previous research indicates that the autism assessment experience is often extremely stressful and overwhelming for families (Crane et al., 2016). Despite this, guidance to improve autism services rarely prioritises the opinions and experiences of service-users and their families. The criteria presented here were derived from themes identified by interviewing parents on their experiences of the autism assessment process, thus shifting the focus onto service-users.

Details

Advances in Autism, vol. 10 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2056-3868

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 10 July 2009

Tony Manning, Graham Pogson and Zoe Morrison

The paper aims to present and discuss research into the relationship between influencing behaviour and impact, including gender and seniority differences.

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Abstract

Purpose

The paper aims to present and discuss research into the relationship between influencing behaviour and impact, including gender and seniority differences.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper builds on previous articles considering influencing behaviour in the workplace. These articles present a model of interpersonal influence and describe how individual influencing behaviour varies in different contexts. They identified the need for further investigation into the effectiveness of such behaviours in those contexts. This research utilises 360‐degree performance assessments as an indicator of the “effectiveness” or impact of workplace influencing behaviours.

Findings

The findings extend previous work supporting the idea that there are few, if any, influencing behaviours that apply to all situations and highlight the role of expectancies in work place assessments of influencing behaviours.

Research limitations/implications

The research highlights ways in which the relationship between influencing behaviour and impact differ according to both the gender and seniority of those seeking to influence. This indicates that the “expectancies” of the influence or target affect perceptions of influencing behaviour and assessments of impact. This is consistent with the model of interpersonal influence previously developed, which includes explicit reference to feedback loops between behaviour, responses and expectancies. This raises further questions as to the impact of expectancies on 360‐degree assessment, and the nature and fairness of assessment within organisational performance management systems.

Originality/value

This paper challenges the idea that there are influencing strategies and styles that are effective, irrespective of context. It also highlights the role of expectancies within behavioural assessments in the workplace.

Details

Industrial and Commercial Training, vol. 41 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0019-7858

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 April 1999

Ton van der Wiele and Alan Brown

Based on two quality management self‐assessment survey projects conducted in Europe and Australia, the authors compare practices in these parts of the world. The main questions…

1506

Abstract

Based on two quality management self‐assessment survey projects conducted in Europe and Australia, the authors compare practices in these parts of the world. The main questions addressed are: why do organisations use self‐assessment?, how do they implement self‐assessment?, and what are the benefits which they obtain from it? Findings suggest companies in both regions differ slightly in how they implement self‐assessment. Both internal and external factors driving self‐assessment are identified, although in the case of Australia there are two different internal factors. One is related to rejuvenating flagging interest in TQM. Several approaches to self‐assessment are also identified including: assessor driven, management driven, employee driven and tools and techniques driven. Some variations between the two samples were identified here. Analysis of the links between success with self‐assessment and methods used suggested that a management driven approach which may be combined with a quality maturity matrix tended to work best.

Details

International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, vol. 16 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0265-671X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 20 November 2007

Larry Nash White

This is the second of two papers on the benefits and challenges of human capital assessment. The purpose of this paper is to review the most common challenges that library…

1015

Abstract

Purpose

This is the second of two papers on the benefits and challenges of human capital assessment. The purpose of this paper is to review the most common challenges that library administrators may encounter when developing and implementing a human capital assessment process in their libraries and offer suggested counter‐responses to reduce implementation challenges.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper uses a literature review to identify potential challenges and resolutions for library administrators who are developing and implementing human capital assessment. In reviewing human capital assessment from the literature from both outside and within the library profession, it is hoped that the most common challenges can be identified to allow library administrators an effective opportunity to plan and account for these challenges during development and implementation.

Findings

Human capital assessment is an increasingly essential element of organizational performance assessment for library administrators. There are several types of common challenges in developing and implementing human capital assessment processes: a lack of consensual operational definitions and assessment values for human capital valuation and assessment, complexity of process, subjectivity in application, and misaligned information needs of mid‐level administrators. However, if these development and implementation challenges can be reduced or eliminated through prior planning and aligning the valuation and assessment processes to the organization and its assessment information needs, there are multiple potential benefits for library administrators who wish to assess the human capital of their library.

Originality/value

Identifying the implementation challenges of human capital assessment for library administrators could reduce the initial challenges of in assessing the human component of the library's performance in meeting stakeholder's needs and accountability concerns.

Details

The Bottom Line, vol. 20 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0888-045X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 July 2000

Karen Holland and Sharon Fennell

The introduction of clinical governance in the “new NHS” means that National Health Service (NHS) organisations are now accountable for the quality of the services they provide to…

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Abstract

The introduction of clinical governance in the “new NHS” means that National Health Service (NHS) organisations are now accountable for the quality of the services they provide to their local communities. As part of the implementation of clinical governance in the NHS, Trusts and health authorities had to complete a baseline assessment of their capability and capacity by September 1999. Describes one Trust’s approach to developing and implementing its baseline assessment tool, based upon its existing use of the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) Excellence Model. An initial review of the process suggests that the model provides an adaptable framework for the development of a comprehensive and practical assessment tool and that self‐assessment ensures ownership of action plans at service level.

Details

International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, vol. 13 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0952-6862

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 January 1991

George Munchus and Barbara McArthur

The assessment centre method has received considerable historicalattention as an effective tool for management selection and development.The method, originally developed by German…

Abstract

The assessment centre method has received considerable historical attention as an effective tool for management selection and development. The method, originally developed by German psychologists, was used extensively during World War II by the Office of Strategic Services. Refinement of the method occurred at the American Telephone and Telegraph Company during the mid‐1950s in the Management Progress Study under the leadership of Dr Douglas W. Bray. The method found increased acceptance due, in part, to court decisions finding it in compliance with EEOC guidelines. The process used proposes to evaluate the relative strength within an individual of up to ten personality traits using exercises simulating job conditions and events. Studies performed years after assessment show impressive figures regarding the method′s ability to predict management success. Continuing research has shown a use for this method at all levels within an organisation.

Details

Journal of Management Development, vol. 10 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0262-1711

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 April 1991

Tito Conti

Second of a two‐part series. Suggests that external, third‐party assessment schemes no longer meet the needs of total quality organizations and that what is needed is a…

Abstract

Second of a two‐part series. Suggests that external, third‐party assessment schemes no longer meet the needs of total quality organizations and that what is needed is a self‐assessment process, based on a new reference model, capable of unifying an organization′s diverse assessment criteria regarding total quality. Highlights the “quality sub‐system” as the most important component in self‐assessment and examines a possible model in detail, including its relationship to the organizational system model. Concludes by summarizing ways in which external assessment can be improved significantly through incorporating these self‐assessment methods.

Details

The TQM Magazine, vol. 3 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0954-478X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 April 2014

David Giles and Kerry Earl

Current discourses on educational assessment focus on the priority of learning. While this intent is invariably played out in classroom practice, a consideration of the…

853

Abstract

Purpose

Current discourses on educational assessment focus on the priority of learning. While this intent is invariably played out in classroom practice, a consideration of the ontological nature of assessment practice opens understandings which show the experiential nature of “being in assessment”. The purpose of this paper is to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

Using interpretive and hermeneutic analyses within a phenomenological inquiry, experiential accounts of the nature of assessment are worked for their emergent and ontological themes.

Findings

These stories show the ontological nature of assessment as a matter of being in assessment in an embodied and holistic way.

Originality/value

Importantly, the nature of a teacher's way-of-being matters to assessment practices. Implications exist for teacher educators and teacher education programmes in relation to the priority of experiential stories for understanding assessment practice, the need for re-balancing a concern for professional knowledge and practice with a students’ way of being in assessment, and the pedagogical implications of evoking sensitivities in assessment.

Details

Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education, vol. 6 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2050-7003

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 3 July 2007

Diane Berrow, Charlotte Humphrey, Rosemary Field, Rena Jobanputra and Leyla Faw

The UK National Clinical Assessment Service (NCAS) provides local NHS bodies with advice and support in relation to concerns about individual doctors and dentists and in some…

Abstract

Purpose

The UK National Clinical Assessment Service (NCAS) provides local NHS bodies with advice and support in relation to concerns about individual doctors and dentists and in some cases also conducts a detailed assessment of practitioner performance. The purpose of this paper is to identify the contribution of NCAS performance assessment to clarifying concerns about clinical performance through comparison of concerns suspected at initial referral with those identified at assessment.

Design/methodology/approach

In the paper a sample of 50 NCAS medical cases, performance issues reported at the point of referral to NCAS and those identified at assessment were grouped into five broad domains (clinical care, behaviour, health, education and training, organisation). Concerns identified at assessment were compared with those reported at referral for each domain of concern. Conclusions and recommendations following assessment were also reviewed.

Findings

Within each domain, some concerns noted at referral were confirmed; others were challenged or redefined. In all areas, but particularly in respect of the work environment, new concerns were identified for the first time at assessment. In 20 percent of cases, the concerns identified at referral were not borne out at assessment. In 12 percent of cases the issues revealed at assessment were more serious than anticipated.

Practical implications

Findings indicate that the NCAS assessment process provides a more accurate and comprehensive “diagnosis” of performance issues, enabling more appropriate recommendations for “treatment” and helping to differentiate between potentially remediable and more fundamental problems.

Originality/value

There is currently little published evidence about the contribution of this type of performance assessment programme to clarifying performance issues.

Details

Journal of Health Organization and Management, vol. 21 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1477-7266

Keywords

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