National Teaching and Learning
Change Programme
Improving teaching and learning in Adult Learning

Themes | Assessment | Initial assessment

Themes

• Introduction
• Assessment
  • Drivers for change
  • Initial assessment
    • How to do it
  • Formative assessment
  • Summative assessment
  • Assessing learners' achievement
  • Choosing the right assessment method for the job
  • Assessment design and practice
  • Preparing for assessment
  • Developing your assessment strategy
  • Feedback
• Improving teaching and learning
• Planning learning and reviewing progress
• E-learning and e-assessment

Initial assessment

Initial assessment provides the means for you and your learners to arrive at a mutually acceptable and realistic starting point. As you plan how to do this, bear in the mind the following suggestions.

• Identify the most crucial things you need to find out about learners at the start of their programme.
• Work out how to structure the process so that learners provide the information and the insights that you need to begin to plan learning.
• Find ways to make the process accessible to people who aren't fluent in written and/or spoken English, to people with disabilities and sensory impairments and to newcomers.
• Organise any support necessary for these potential learners.
• Keep the arrangements as straightforward as possible.
• Make sure learners don't feel threatened by the experience: give it the human touch!
• Work out how to maintain confidentiality where this is an important factor.

In some subjects or disciplines, you may find it necessary to start gathering information from learners before you actually meet them. This applies in Sport and fitness disciplines, for example, where learners' state of health is a factor in how you work with them.