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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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

While the number of entrepreneurship education programmes offered around the world is on the rise, research into the assessment of entrepreneurship education programmes is still lacking. The purpose of this paper is to take the stance that entrepreneurship education has to focus on a set of transversal competences aimed at teaching individuals to become more enterprising, and develop a framework and practical proposal for the teaching and assessment of entrepreneurial competences.

The authors followed a three-pronged research design. First, the authors reviewed the literature and practices on the definition of entrepreneurial competences and measures for their assessment and identified a rubric of competences and a set of assessment tools. Second, the authors tested the identified tools to assess entrepreneurial competences through the development of an intensive extra-curricular initiative on entrepreneurship based on a business model challenge. Third, the authors evaluated the outcomes of this experience based on 72 student pre-test and post-test survey responses.

The authors assessed the impact of participation in a business model challenge with regard to five competence areas: positive attitude and initiative; communication and interaction; team-work and collaboration; critical and analytical thinking or problem solving, including risk assessment; creativity and innovation. The authors found no relevant changes across these dimensions, concluding that the mere exposure to the business challenge was not a sufficient condition for stimulating the development of entrepreneurial competences in our sample.

This work provides a relevant contribution to researchers, educators and policymakers by taking an interdisciplinary approach to reviewing previous literature and proposing ways of assessing transversal competences in the context of entrepreneurship education.

This chapter outlines the challenges that research and practice in higher education have faced in measuring students' competences and learning outcomes. Particular attention is given to the systematic and institutional contexts in Germany. Based on the outlined national and international contextual framework, the Germany-wide program “Modeling and Measuring Competences in Higher Education (KoKoHs)” is discussed in terms of its two central working stages, key outcomes and lessons learned. In particular, the central results of the second phase are presented for the first time and integrated into the current state of international research. Based on this analysis, perspectives for further research on student learning in higher education and implications for practice and policy are derived.

Focuses on competence assessment, and its development in the context of self‐management. Detailed case histories are included. Concludes that competence assessment will be an approach adopted by an increasing number of companies.

The development of competence‐based assessment in the UK has been strongly influenced by the introduction, in the 1980s, of National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) and Scottish Vocational Qualifications. The introduction of these qualifications has raised the profile of competence‐based assessment and, arguably, its credibility. But it is responsible for creating some misconceptions. Attempts to centralise and prescribe criteria and processes have stifled innovation and have restricted the wider application of and involvement in competence‐based assessment, particularly at the higher levels. This article describes the background of competence‐based assessment and NVQs and identifies some of the misconceptions which exist in this area. Taking the Association of Accounting Technicians as a case study, the article aims to correct these misconceptions and demonstrate the real potential of competence‐based assessment in vocational and professional contexts.

The purpose of this paper is to find a framework for the assessment of the learning outcomes of entrepreneurship education as a cross-curricular subject. The problem is twofold: the first difficulty is the relationship to the general issues regarding competence and its assessment; the second difficulty is the assessment of competencies in cross-curricular education in diverse contexts such as school and work.

The European key competence for lifelong learning of the sense of initiative and entrepreneurship and the European qualification framework (EQF) are convenient to benchmark the outcomes of enterprise education. In order to assess and develop competence in vocational students, educators should design real life problem solving situations, which are new for the students and closely related to their vocations.

The study describes an assessment process of the learning outcomes in terms of knowledge, skills and competence. While the authors tested knowledge by giving the students open-ended questions, the authors assessed the skills and competence with a practical problem concerning the students’ vocational discipline to be solved in groups.

The paper calls for a better alignment between work experience, teaching for competence and assessment of key competences – such as the sense of initiative and entrepreneurship – taught as a cross curricular subject.

The assessment makes use of a theoretically grounded definition of competence, and considers varied forms of evaluation of entrepreneurship education. Educators can use it across Europe as it refers to a common background, the European key competences and the EQF, and it promotes the students’ transitions to work and mobility. It is rigorous, and, at the same time, adaptable to the context. It is meaningful for the various stakeholders at various levels: students, employers, schools, workplaces and institutions.

Relying on a design science paradigm, the purpose of this paper is to describe the development and evaluation of items for an ICT artefact that supports the assessment of transversal professional competences within the validation of prior learning (VPL). To do so, the authors build a conceptual bridge between the Occupational Information Network (O*NET) and the European Qualifications Framework (EQF).

Design science research paradigm, in particular the participatory development of candidate items and their evaluation in a multi-stakeholder approach.

The authors find that a self-assessment of professional competences should be comprised of 160 items in order to cover the breadth and depth of the O*NET in the hierarchical taxonomy. Such quantity of items sufficiently builds a conceptual bridge between the O*NET and the; EQF.

When designing procedures for the VPL, it is imperative to bear in mind the purpose of the validation procedure, in order to determine relevant stakeholders and their needs in advance as well as the; required language proficiency of the assessment instrument.

The innovative value of this approach lies in the combination of an underlying hierarchical taxonomy with assessment items that are developed based on the qualification standards of different Austrian professions. Together with specific verbs that were adapted for each particular item, an innovative self-assessment is proposed. Thereby the authors aim to account for some of the mentioned shortcomings of the EQF.

This paper applies a design science paradigm to develop an ICT artefact that should support the VPL. By reflecting on the design process, the authors introduce a theoretical bridge between the O*NET and the EQF. Thereby the authors aim to account for some of the mentioned shortcomings of the EQF.

Provides a contribution to the debate in the UK on the appropriateness of competence‐based qualifications. Identifies a number of weaknesses in the competence philosophy as currently defined, and a number of operational problems in implementing a national scheme of competence‐based vocational qualifications. Argues that the change to competence qualifications is unlikely to bring benefits commensurate with the required investment, and that the approach will be unworkable for higher level professional and managerial jobs. The first in a series of three, which is intended to stimulate critical debate within the education and training professions. The series will end with recommendations on a way forward within the established NCVQ framework.

Using the UK's recent disability legislation as a trigger, the paper explores issues in evidencing competence in the current context of using assessment as a tool for learning.

A modified version of the pragmatic method is used, in which assessment theory is used to explore the tension in assessment which is both legislatively compliant and theoretically coherent.

In the current context of requiring assessment to be edumetrically sound, the legislation of competence standards is problematic in four respects. Task validity is now a much more diffuse concept. Scoring validity has to contend with many possible accommodations. Assessment generalisability has to consider both the relevance and representativeness of the assessment task. Consequential validity is essentially concerned with formative assessment, which is considered pedagogically important but, politically, is of less significance than summative assessment.

The analysis here is in terms of legislation within the UK and therefore may not refer to nuances of difference in the anti‐discrimination legislation in other jurisdictions.

The study offers academics and administrators a framework within which to review the edumetric soundness of their assessment practices and policies. In so, doing possible difficulties in equitable assessment can be made explicit. This, in turn, has implications for staff development.

The paper uses significant pedagogical theory to illuminate a legislative requirement and thereby contextualise difficulties in implementing equitable assessment.

The purpose of this paper is to review and provide propositions about survey assessment tools of the key sustainability competencies (KSCs) of education for sustainability. UNESCO points out how education plays an important role in transforming societies towards a sustainable future and achieving the United Nations’ sustainable development goals. To plan education for sustainability, teachers need to know the students’ competencies for sustainability before they come to class. Thus, a formative assessment about student competence for sustainability is needed.

Firstly, a structured literature review of assessment tools used to measure sustainability competencies by questionnaire survey is presented. Secondly, the authors’ conceptualise how the competencies influence each other and provide propositions for future research.

The literature demonstrates that there is much ambiguity between prior research about the scales used and what they represent. A lack of validation across disciplines is apparent and an assessment tool that includes all eight KSCs could benefit education for sustainability. Future research could investigate how the competencies influence each other and which drivers are stronger for each discipline across different countries. A formative assessment tool can address this need.

The findings provide a new analysis about questionnaire assessment tools used in prior research to measure sustainability competence. The authors’ offer a discussion about the strengths and weaknesses found in prior research and propose suggestions for future research. Their conceptualisation also provides propositions for validating the KSCs presented in a recent framework.