Drivers for change
In recent years, inspectors have highlighted the need for a more structured and planned approach to assessment as a means of helping learners to achieve a better standard of work and more rapid progress. This is particularly important for the many adult learners who are on non-accredited courses and who therefore don't have a qualification to mark their achievements.
A powerful assessment strategy now in use in adult education is RARPA: a five-stage process of Recognising and Recording Progress and Achievement. This strategy supports quality improvement and promotes good practice and consistency amongst tutors.
Learners benefit too because it:
- enables them to take charge of their learning; and
- raises their awareness of the learning process, builds their confidence and encourages enthusiasm by using a more engaging manner of reaching personal goals.
It's important that you are familiar with the RARPA approach because, in the future, provision that does not use the approach will not receive public funding.
Your organisation should be implementing RARPA across all non-accredited provision, and you and your learners must be able to provide the evidence that shows how you are putting it into practice. The five stages of RARPA explains what sort of evidence is acceptable, drawing on guidance from the Learning and Skills Council (LSC).