Are we asking the experts? Practice teachers' use of client views in assessing student competence

Abstract

The Diploma in Social Work (DipSW) has made great demands on practice teachers with regard to their assessment of student competence. Practice teachers are required to substantiate their assessments with firm evidence of competence, and need to consider carefully ways in which evidence can be collected. Involving other people in assessment can be an important means of safeguarding objectivity. The client studies tradition and the need for services to be responsive to consumer opinion suggest the possibility of user views being incorporated in student assessment. Despite a dearth of literature about work being done in this area, the study reported here was prompted by a suspicion that some practice teachers are seeking the views of their students' clients. Practice teachers in a local authority Social Services Department were asked for their views about this method of assessment, and about ways in which they were attempting to put it into practice. The findings are reported and indicate support for involving service users in assessment, and some evidence that this is already taking place. Practice teachers are struggling with the ‘how’, and it is argued that systematic methods of obtaining user views need to be developed.