A statement jointly developed by Skills for Care, the Higher Education Academy and the Department for Education explains that holistic assessment is used in situations where learning or performance objectives are inter-twined and complex and where established standards are used to measure such learning or performance. In Social Work, these standards are set at different levels of practitioners’ careers through the Professional Capabilities Framework ( PCF ). An inter-relationship of knowledge, skills and values stands out in Social Work practice and the expectation is that Social Work students make significant progress in these domains during their training. Instead of just a snapshot of ability at a point in time, holistic assessment should capture the progressive development of the learner/practitioner over a considerable period of time.
Critically examine the complexities of professional judgement and holistic assessment in Practice Education
Edward Ted Sesay
London, United Kingdom
A statement jointly developed by Skills for Care, the Higher Education Academy and the Department for Education explains that holistic assessment is used in situations where learning or performance objectives are inter-twined and complex and where established standards are used to measure such learning or performance. In Social Work, these standards are set at different levels of practitioners’ careers through the Professional Capabilities Framework ( PCF ). An inter-relationship of knowledge, skills and values stands out in Social Work practice and the expectation is that Social Work students make significant progress in these domains during their training. Instead of just a snapshot of ability at a point in time, holistic assessment should capture the progressive development of the learner/practitioner over a considerable period of time.
To explain holistic assessment, Maclean and Lloyd (2013) cites the College of Social Work’s analogy of eating a meal:
“ A holistic assessment is made when the meal is judged on its overall taste, quality and presentation etc. However, if one part of the preparation or an ingredient is missing or below standard, then this will impair the quality of the final product.”
The above analogy makes clear to practice educators that in assessing the progress that the student has made, it is important that consideration is given to the student’s practice overall before forming a view as to whether their practice is good or bad and a reflection needs to take place on what elements of the student’s practice have informed the practice educator’s views.
Where learning or performance objectives are complex, the judgement of the assessor is considered central in making a holistic decision about the quality of performance (Biggs, 2007). Biggs further explains that judgements are reached through an understanding of the whole in the light of the individual parts. In other words, though the value of the individual part is not ignored, that value makes more meaning when it is integrated with the rest of the other parts. What this means for the holistic assessment of a student’s progress is that all capabilities (knowledge, skills and values) are to be demonstrated at the required standard and measured through the PCF to be assessed as fit for practice.
The 2011 Munro review of Social Work practice in England highlighted the importance of undertaking assessments in a way that helps in the holistic understanding of service user needs and the need therefore for practitioners to recognise the importance of professional judgement. To assess students holistically therefore is to be seen as a step in the right direction as it reflects the shift towards holistic assessments within the profession as a whole.
Holistic assessment of the student relies on the professional judgement of the practice educator. In day to day Social Work practice, professional judgement goes with making decisions for which we are accountable as well as assessing and managing risk. Standing ( 2010 ) and Taylor ( 2013 ) cited in Rutter and Brown ( 2015 ) state that due to people being prone to making mistakes, there has to be reasonable expectations of social workers’ ability to predict and manage future harm but that while working with uncertainty, the professional judgement task should be “sound and robust.” According to Taylor, B. ( 2017a ) cited in Taylor and Whittaker (2018), professional judgement and decision-making are often associated mainly with the making of big decisions such as placing a child in foster care, detaining a mental health patient in hospital against their will or recommending that an elderly person goes into residential care. They state however that it is important that we recognise that as social workers, we take numerous decisions everyday in our professional lives that may not be necessarily high profile, but could be just as important. As practitioners, even as social work students, we make many judgements in the process of recommending certain courses of action even though the power of making the final decision is in the hands of our supervisors and managers.
Huba and Freed ( 2000 ) see holistic assessment as a process of putting together and making sense of information from many and various sources in order to form a view of what students understand and what use they can make of the knowledge gained from their learning. They state that implementing this type of assessment requires a reflective approach as this can provide a framework for achieving this in practice learning situations.
A number of actions are recommended and one of these is, planning. For the assessment to be fair and reliable, it should be made clear to the student what is being assessed and how this will be done. The National Organisation for Practice Teaching Code of Practice states that a practice educator should ensure that:
“There is an agreed understanding about the purpose of assessment and about the methods by which the assessment of the Professional Capabilities Framework is carried out according to the levels required by the degree programme. (NOPT 2013).
The student is to be encouraged and supported to contribute to the planning of the assessment process. The NOPT guidance states that while the Learning Agreement will cover assessment issues, supervision is the time and opportunity for planning specific assessment activities such as direct observations of practice.
A range of methods can be used to holistically assess students and since holistic assessment is evidenced based, it must show a variety of evidence. Maclean and Lloyd (2013 ) state that using what is referred to as Triangulation to gather evidence is a useful approach. The approach is based on a triangle of evidence sources: observation of practice ( include direct observation, video and audio evidence ) , testimonial evidence ( feedback by team colleagues, service users, other professionals etc. ) and product evidence ( recordings, letters, supervision notes, assignments etc ).
A model for Direct Observation developed by the University of York ( 2000) states that, observation which is considered the strongest source of assessment evidence has a number of benefits for all involved parties: the student, the practice educator and the service user. For the student, it offers opportunities for reflection, of benefitting from the PE’s view about their work, of demonstrating capability and be provided with confirmation of what they do well in and to identify areas for improvement and be provided with guidance in those areas. The PE on the other hand has an opportunity for knowing the current level of the student’s abilities, to identify areas for further work and learning opportunities to go with those. The observation also provides the PE with evidence that informs their professional judgement and decision-making. To the service user, the observation offers a safeguard since the student’s work is scrutinised by an experienced practitioner. The observation can also often lead to the evaluation and improvement of the service being provided.
It is not always possible to observe all areas of practice, so in undertaking holistic assessments, the practice educator should consider a few other areas. Though the focus is to assess the student holistically, there will be occasions when the PE should examine in depth a specific aspect of learning using the detail of the learning assessment criteria considered most important in the placement or areas of practice that the PE has the greatest concern about the progress that the student is making. The PE should also bear in mind that in holistic assessment, they are in a way researching the quality of practice of the student. It is important that the PE has a clear understanding of the student’s ability, but for the assessment to be holistic, the PE needs to go further on to explore how the student does what they do and the reason for that.
According to Maclean and Lloyd ( 2013 ) , assessment in practice placements, like social work practice in general, requires a close partnership of those involved in the assessment process: the student, PE and service user and the role of the PE in making this partnership work is crucial to the assessment process. Ongoing assessment activities ( formative assessment ) that happen throughout the placement duration involve close partnership working between the student and PE and such assessments have great learning value. The final stage of the assessment process (summative) forms an overall view and it indicates where the student is at their learning. It is important therefore that it is borne in mind that paying attention just on the summative assessment takes away learning opportunities for the student. Ongoing assessments that take place during the course of the placement inform the final assessment where the PE makes the professional judgement.
A holistic approach to assessment focusses on capability and not just competence. McNay et al (2009 ) cited in Stone ( 2014 ) argue that professionals such as social workers when faced with situations in their practice should be able to consider a variety of options, draw upon experience and knowledge, and then make a decision. McNay et al state that this cannot be achieved by just following the competency approach because such an approach does not facilitate the theoretical, analytic and reflective skills needed for the work. Alongside practical skills social workers also require creativity and critical thinking (Page and Knight, 2007 cited in Stone, 2014 ). Bogo et al. (2006 cited in Stone 2014) use the term ‘metacompetencies’ and these include creativity, mental agility, learning skills, problem-solving and analytical capabilities. These are skills that are essential for social workers in order for them to be able to make informed decisions in their day to day practice. It is important that the social worker or the student is able to draw upon theoretical knowledge, use observational skill, and analyse environmental and relationship factors. They then need mental
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- Edward Ted Sesay (Autor:in), 2019, The Complexities of Professional Judgement and Holistic Assessment in Practice Education, München, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/536430
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