Table of Contents
Challenges in Assessor Trainings. 2
What Matters To The Quality Of Good Assessor Training In Assessment Centers. 3
Best Approach to Train Assessors. 4
Conclusion and Recommendations. 5
Abstract
This paper assesses the importance of assessor training in assessment centers, the costs incurred. The paper will also discuss the roles of assessor training and the challenges that exist during the assessment. The paper will also discuss what matters to assessor training in assessment centers and the best approaches meant to training assessors.
Introduction
Assessor training typically involves planning and delivering vocational training programs and workshops. Assessors asses candidates’ performance in various tasks and ensure that the competence level displayed meets the international standards and the learning objectives. Assessors observe and assess the participants in their various workplaces. It involves also the examination of participants’ portfolios of evidence and thereafter they give feedback and also offer advice in cases where they feel that the standards have not been achieved (Gaugler, Rosenthal, Thornton, & Bentson, 2017).
Roles of Assessor Training
Assessors keep a close eye on their learners at their workplaces and provide necessary support and guidance. They do this by gathering evidence and assessing participants’ capabilities thus enabling them to achieve their desired goal (Klimoski & Brickner, 2017).
As an assessor, one must continuously keep records of their learners at every stage so as to be able to track their progress, making sure that it is in line with the requirements of the awarding body. Assessors also do have joint meetings to deliberate on their course of actions and also brain storm on how their objectives would be best met (Schleicher, Day, Mayes, & Riggio, 2016). Assessors work closely with training staff and the participant’s immediate supervisors.
It is a mandatory requirement for all assessors to be occupationally competent and possess the necessary skills in whatever field they are approached to assess. Assessors have to be competent and professional enough because they are the main point of contact for learners (Howard, 2018). This contact breeds a strong working relationship and as it is evident, it is most people’s preferred part of the job.
Challenges in Assessor Trainings
The main factor that may impact the outcome of assessor training is lack of boundary between coaching, training and assessing duties. We find that most participants in assessor training sessions would also like to be coached and mentored. Most of the times the assessor would find themselves doing more of coaching and mentoring of the participants than the assessment work (Moses, 2015). Coaching and mentorships have become part of assessment and separating them has become nearly impossible. Most assessors would prefer and strongly suggest that these three roles be separated and different special sessions be held for each (Thornton III & Gibbons, 2016). Participants in these assessment sessions on the other side would like the three to be done simultaneously.
Another challenge facing the assessor training is lack of a dedicated supervisor or management. Most supervisors interfere with the assessor’s sessions and often override the assessor’s decisions. This really is demoralizing to the assessors and they might end up not delivering. A supervisor who never went through assessor training may not really understand the need to support the assessor and let them do their job (Thornton III & Byham, 2017). The management sometimes also does not offer the necessary support in times of the provision of the required resources for the assessor training.
The other challenge is lack of enough experienced professionals to conduct the trainings. The number of participants vis-a-vis the trainees does not balance. It takes time to assess a trainee given the different and mandatory stages that they have to be taken through and also the continuous tracking of their records and developments. With no enough assessors, the quality of the job they do could be compromised as they rush to at least attend to every participant.
What Matters To The Quality Of Good Assessor Training In Assessment Centers?
The most important thing that matters to assessor training is the content validity. This is to say that the assessment measures what it is intended to cover and achieve. An assessor should strictly adhere to the assessment design which clearly articulates what shall and ought to be covered during the trainings (Howard, 2018). Content validity therefore is the foundation to every assessor training.
The other factor that matters is the incorporation of participants’ engagement and motivation. Assessor training should give a room for those being trained to freely engage with the trainers and reap the most out of such sessions (Schleicher, Day, Mayes, & Riggio, 2016). An assessor should strive to always try to motivate the trainees and make them fall in love with the session and also boost their morale (Howard, 2018). Always motivate a trainee and assure them that they are doing well and should not give up.
Best Approach to Train Assessors
To conduct best assessor training, every effort should be made to have the training centered on one’s own assessment process. To do this, each organization should build their assessment paperwork and process to be used during their assessor trainings (Moses, 2015).
The other tip is to make the assessor training as practical as possible to help the assessors understand the motive of the assessment. This will boost the confidence of the assessors as they embark on the assessment work at their workplaces (Moses, 2015).
Another important approach is to constantly give feedback. Giving feedback is not that easy especially for assessors without much experience (Schleicher, Day, Mayes, & Riggio, 2016). By covering this area of giving feedback, you prepare your assessors to be able to deal with the most demanding situations when they finally go back to also start assessing others (Moses, 2015).
Conclusion and Recommendations
Assessor training is an important role in assessing participants in their workplaces. Assessors are important since they keep an eye on the learners during the training program among other duties. However, assessor training comes with several costs has discussed in the paper. There are different approaches that are aimed at improving assessor training including giving consistent feedbacks. Having discussed the assessor’s roles, it is evident that an assessor should be an individual who upholds high work ethics to be able to produce experienced and quality assessors. Assessors need to understand every bit of their work and the scope of the exercise. The management needs to be supportive of the assessors in order to help them achieve their goals as far as their assessment work is concerned.
References
Gaugler, B., Rosenthal, D., Thornton, G. C., & Bentson, C. (2017). Meta-analysis of assessment center validity. Journal of applied psychology, 72(3), 493.
Howard, A. (2018). An assessment of assessment centers. Academy of Management journal, 17(1), 115-134.
Klimoski, R., & Brickner, M. (2017). Why do assessment centers work? The puzzle of assessment center validity. Personnel Psychology, 40(2), 243-260.
Moses, J. (2015). Assessment centers work, but for different reasons. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 1(1), 134-136.
Schleicher, D. J., Day, D. V., Mayes, B. T., & Riggio, R. E. (2016). A new frame for frame-of-reference training: Enhancing the construct validity of assessment centers. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87(4), 735.
Thornton III, G., & Byham, W. (2017). Assessment centers and managerial performance. London: Elsevier.
Thornton III, G., & Gibbons, A. M. (2016). Validity of assessment centers for personnel selection. Human Resource Management Review, 19(3), 169-187.